Råå - picturesque in the south of Helsingborg

Råå is a charming old fishing village in southern Helsingborg. Today, it is a picturesque coastal community with a boat harbour, beach, restaurants, camping and nice pitches for motorhomes.

Råå in Helsingborg

Once upon a time, Råå was Sweden's largest fishing village. Today, fishing is more small-scale and many of the boats are used for purposes other than fishing. But this is still a cosy coastal community!

Råå is located in southern Helsingborg, on the west coast of Skåne.

Is it in or on Råå?

One of the first things we learnt when we started talking to Helsinki residents about Råå is that it should be called "on Råå" and not "in Råå". This seemed a bit strange at first, but when we read up on it, we realised that it has to do with the fact that the town has a history as a fishing village, and that according to older Scanian language tradition, people spoke of "on a fishing village" instead of "in a fishing village".

The river that flows through Råå was formerly written as Rååån and the eels caught in it were called roughly. It was long the only word in Swedish with four consecutive y's.

Wikipedia

Another interesting thing to think about when it comes to the place name is how many "å" you can get together in a single word. A long time ago I (Helena) attended a weekend course at a course centre in the area, and we joked that an eel caught in the river Råå should be a "Rååå eel". When I now read about the place on Wikipedia, there was also a paragraph about this ...

Råå - a picturesque gem

Råå is a truly picturesque little gem. When we arrived here, we immediately wanted to go out and take pictures of all the boats and small charming houses along the estuary. There are also several small restaurants and shops and the Råå Museum for fishing and shipping. We were also told that there is a "self-service dog wash" at 4 Tassarnas Trim, which is apparently unique in its kind!

Kallbadhuset Rååbaden

We walked down to the beach where one of Helsingborg's three cold bath houses is located. Rååbaden is a cold bath house with a sauna and is run by the association Rååbadarna on behalf of the city of Helsingborg. The bathhouse has a long history and was built in 1897.

Beaches

We then continued a bit along the beach at Råå. Here are small charming boathouses and nice small boats. In one place we found the sign "Stress-free zone", but the fact is that it felt quite stress-free everywhere along the beach ...

There are also dog baths along the beach, and if you walk a little further you will also find a naturist bath.

Pitches and camping at Råå

There are parking spaces in several places in Råå. On Kajgatan there are a total of 12 sites with electricity. We stayed here for two nights. In addition to standing nicely by the water, there is good service in the form of toilets, showers and the possibility of emptying and filling tanks. It is also possible to empty the grey water. Here the price was 200 SEK/day, and you pay in a vending machine (2021).

If you walk along the river towards the coast, we discovered another site with a view of the sea. Here it costs 270 SEK/day and you pay in the restaurant next door. There is also the First Camp Råå Vallar campsite nearby.

The church in Raus

Not far from Råå you can visit Rau's church, which is from the 12th century and thus one of the oldest preserved buildings from the Middle Ages in Helsingborg. In addition to looking at the church itself, from here you can find various nature experiences and hikes in the surrounding area.

Råån valley and nature reserve

Raus church can serve as a starting point for discovering the Rååns valley and nature reserve. The river runs 25 kilometres inland and the nature reserve extends for about five kilometres. Here you can hike or fish for trout, and there are also some historical remains in the form of old burial mounds and mills.

Landborg Promenade

Another nice walk that can be done starting from the church is the "Landborgspromenaden". We haven't walked this walk ourselves, but we suspect it's nice because we visited several of the places along the way. In addition, we had a nice chat with a lady at the information sign, who told us that she used to walk this, with a break for coffee.

This first section of the Landborg Promenade runs between Rau Church and Kärnan in Helsingborg. Along the way you visit a wide range of cultural and historical sites, including the Ramlösa well.

More to see and do in the neighbourhood

• Ramlösa Brunnspark
• Things to do in Helsingborg
• Sofiero castle and castle garden
• Fredriksdal Gardens
• The Tropicarium in Helsingborg