The county of Västergötland
Are you looking for a unique landscape South Sweden spend some time in Västergötland? Västergötland is a county in Southwest of Sweden and home to interesting nature sites, cities and table mountains.
The county covers many Swedish regions and municipalities. Therefore, you can find a variety of ancient lakes such as the big lake Vänern but also smaller ones. In addition, there are national parks and nature reserves with different rock formations, massive boulders and ocean-side cliffs.
Some of the main nature attractions visit (if you are interested in geology and nature are these nature sites and regions):
Bohuslän
North of Gothenburg you enter in the region of Bohuslän. Here you find the Bohus granite, a type of granite that you find along the Swedish West Coast and in Norway. You can go to Hunnebostrand, a cosy coastal town you can visit the Geoparken Bohusgranit.
Here you will walk through a beautiful landscape, follow the written signs and learn more about geology, archaeology, ecology and Swedish culture and the history of the Swedish West Coast.
Tiveden national park
Tiveden is a well-known Swedish national park. It lays between the great lakes Vättern and Vänern and on a massive granite bedrock. The creation of the area happened when the earth’s crust ruptured and formed Lake Vättern (900 to 1,400 million years ago).
Main features in this Swedish national park are the bedrocks with diamond-shaped patterns. In many of the valleys you can find large boulders.
The geopark Platåberget
“Platåberget is a so called Geopark ( see link to Unesco) you will find 14 table mountains featuring a great variation in rocks and bedrocks. There are several sights that you should not miss.
You can travel from table mountain to table mountain while you cover several municipalities and Swedish towns such as Trollhättan, Vänersborg, Lidköping, Skara, Götene, Mariestad, Skövde and Falköping.
You will encounter a unique natural environment featuring a great variation in ecosystems. There are alvars, rich fens, elks, beech forests, orchids, nesting birds of prey, dancing cranes, and deep spruce forests. In the geopark you can find sites with high geological, historical and cultural value.
At Nordkroken you can view the oldest landscape that can be found in Sweden. Here you can explore a half billion year old completely flat ground surface. The sub-Cambrian peneplanet. Here you can enjoy a shallow bathing area with beautiful views of Lake Vänern and the table mountain Halleberg. The site is better known for its strangely flat bedrock surface, telling a interesting geological story.
Hornborgasjön and the table mountain Billingen
Hornborgasjön is a favourite place for bird lovers. On their way north, from a long winter in Spain, some 10,000 cranes rest at Lake Hornborga. In the springtime, the birds usually stay for a week or two to eat, dance and rest. During a four-week period you can watch the graceful cranes dance lively and listen to their trumpeting calls.
The inland ice created, together with other natural phenomena, creates the welcoming landscape at the Lake Hornborga. For example, east of the lake you can find the table mountain Billingen.
The mountain is today a popular recreational meeting place with hiking trails, outdoor barbecue areas, lakes, outdoor bathing places, mountain bike trails, and a bike park. As well as, nice gravel cycling trails and beautiful scenery and roads, if you prefer road cycling.
The table mountain Kinnekulle a truly unique landscape South Sweden
This 306-metre plateau is one of Sweden’s most beautiful locations and just by the lake Vänern. You will find a unique geological composition. In addition, you can find rare plants such as the wild garlic and orchids. The area is full of Swedish history which stretches back to the early Middle Ages. Therefore, there is a high dense concentration of medieval churches, grand manor houses and country estates. It is part of one of Sweden’s biosphere reserve areas.
In this picturesque scenery you can enjoy the many trails for hiking mountain-bikes. Here you will also find the grand quarry (Stora Stenbrottet), known locally as the ‘mini–Grand Canyon’. It is a 40-metre-deep former limestone quarry. The lower layers of limestone date back 400 million years, the pool is stocked with rainbow trout. Fishing needs permits, which can be purchased on site.
