Paddle the Saint Anna Archipelago, cooking up gourmet meals from local ingredients along the way. 4 days. 2 days off work.
A culinary adventure that will take you kayaking along the coastal landscape of the Saint Anna Archipelago as you discover its history through food. You’ll source ingredients such as fish from a local fisherman, lamb from one of the islands, local boar, and fruit and vegetables from the mainland, for your talented group chef to create a gourmet menu every night.
Your hassle-free adventure includes:
Perfect for: Foodies who are excited to learn about wild cooking techniques, local ingredients and foraging.
The following are not included in the trip price:
This trip will run with a minimum of 2 and a maximum of 8.
Sure can! A lot of people do, and it’s a great way to meet like-minded people.
Paddling distances will be short and your guide will be with you every step of the way, so you don’t need to be incredibly fit for this trip.
Kayaking beginners are just as welcome as the pros but you should have a genuine interest in food and culinary history.
September is regarded by many as the best month to go sea kayaking in Sweden. It’s starting to get a bit cooler but late summer weather is usually very stable. There is a good chance of mirror-calm water for several days. Late summer sunsets last for hours and are amazing!
You will be making your own food with local and foraged ingredients with assistance from your guide. An example menu would be;
Flatbread wrap with wild boar, juniper mayo, apple & chive salad and buckthorn preserves
We bake our own flatbread on the fire, and forage juniper berries for our mayonnaise and wild greens for the salad. We fill our wraps with roasted wild boar, mayo, salad, local buckthorn preserves and coarse mustard.
Cast-iron waffles with strawberry jam and whipped cream
We heat our waffle irons straight in the flames and whip up batter with eggs from a chicken coup a stone’s throw away. A really classic Swedish dish from our childhood.
Hot smoked salmon on butter-fried toast, horseradish & dill creme, pickled red onion & cucumber and smoked seaweed
The local fisherman brings us his renowned hot smoked salmon for this appetizer. We use pickles we made a couple of days prior and smoke seaweed on the rocks next to the fire.
Cast-iron apple pie with wild-made custard
This rustic apple pie is a culmination of our use of the Dutch Oven. By shuffling embers underneath the pot and plenty of small logs on top of the lid, we end up with a pie baked to golden perfection. We make custard from scratch of course.
Foraging
Some ingredients we can forage all season - greens like orpine, orache, sea sandwort, wild oregano and chives, and berries like barberries and juniper. Wild strawberries, raspberries and currants come around early, while blueberries, blackberries, lingonberries and rose hips ripen towards the end of summer. Mushrooms are very dependent on rain and pop up late. We find creative ways to use all our wild harvest in scrumptious dishes!
Local ingredients
The food we cook is not only decadent and absolutely delicious, we pride ourselves in using as many local ingredients as possible. And when we say local, we really mean it. Eko farm, a few kilometres from our launch, provides us with eggs, root vegetables and lamb sausage. We procure wild boar and venison from a hunter nearby. Our lamb and goat’s cheese come from a farm on one of the islands. The local fisherman hand-delivers his catch of the day to our camp. We get mustard, honey and buckthorn preserves from Stegeborg, the old castle on the mainland. Beers are from a micro brewery a little further inland. Our selection of cheeses are made at the award-winning Jurss Dairy just north of Norrköping.
If you have any special requests, let us know and we will do our best to accommodate you.
Other recommendations are: - Camera - Mobile phone - Personal medicine if required (please inform your guide in case of emergency)
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The Saint Anna Archipelagoes consists of more than six thousand islands and you are free to paddle and camp wherever you like. With all its islets and reefs, it is a delight to experience, and whether you’re an expert or novice paddler, it’s a great way to get closer to nature.
Although the epitome of seclusion now, this area has also been home to fishermen, miners and farmers for centuries; a time that has left its mark still to this day.
Wildlife encounters are plentiful with countless sanctuaries for seabirds; Saint Anna also boasts the largest population of sea eagles in Sweden. If you’re lucky, you might even catch a glimpse of the odd seal.
Norrköping Train Station - 10:00 or your accommodation in Norrköping - 10:00
Your adventure begins with a pick-up from Norrköping Train Station or from your accommodation in Norrköping at 10:00. Please schedule your flight to arrive the day before.
Norrköping is just a 55-minutes shuttle bus transfer from the Stockholm Skavsta Nyköping Airport (NYO) (closest airport). Alternatively, you can fly in to Stockholm Arlanda Airport (ARN) and take a 2-hour train to Norrköping or spend a day in Stockholm beforehand.
Norrköping Train Station - 17:00 or your accommodation in Norrköping - 17:00
At the end of your adventure, you will be dropped back at Norrköping Train Station or your accommodation at 17:00.
We begin our journey in the inner archipelago, surrounded by large forested islands and a cultural landscape that invokes the feeling of travelling back in time. Traditional old wooden houses are dotted along the bay.
After a short paddle we take a lunch break by a pretty sea meadow, one of Saint Anna’s most unique habitats, where salt-resistant plants thrive along the edge of the sea. We forage edible greens as well as rose hips, hawthorn and barberries, wild remains from a time when the island was inhabited.
We continue our paddle through the inner archipelago. By now, we’re completely submerged in the area, with a maze of islands stretching out in all directions. In the late afternoon we arrive to our camp for the night, where our culinary guide is waiting, already busy preparing for an evening and morning full of wild cooking.
We all help cook a delicious meal for the evening as well as prepare items for upcoming days. We forage for sorrel, orpine, chives and juniper berries.
As we peek through the opening of our tents, we are hopefully met by a mirror-calm sea with the blue sky reflected in the water in the most gorgeous of ways. A morning dip is a refreshing way to start the day.
After breakfast, we set off for our paddle exploration of the day. We paddle through stunning bird sanctuaries, clusters of little islands with abundant bird life. Very likely we’ll see Sea Eagles gliding high up in the sky, and if lucky we may spot seals.
We’re in the middle part of the archipelago now, where the islands are smaller and more plentiful. We aim to reach our next camp in the early afternoon, a completely different habitat than the pine trees and moss of our last island. Here we are surrounded by deciduous forest with open glades marked by grazing animals. It’s a great landscape for foraging mushrooms and berries. Wild herbs grow on the meadows, and we pick oregano and ground-ivy to use for dinner.
If the weather allows, we’ll head to the outer archipelago. It’s a very different landscape than the one we left behind - hundreds of tiny barren islands with sparse wind-pined trees and a unique flora of salt-resistant plants. The blue horizon is our backdrop and the solitude out here is amazing.
After quite a strenuous paddle we make our way back to our camp by late afternoon. The local fisherman will arrive with his catch of the day and we’ll make a proper feast for our last night in the archipelago. We invite the rest of our crew to join!
Our last morning of waking up in our tranquil island wonderland. We pack up our camp and fill our bellies with a hardy breakfast.
We paddle towards a different site on the mainland than where we started, passing though new bird sanctuaries as we near the end of our fantastic exploration. A narrow canal takes us from the wilderness maze, then all of a sudden civilisation appears in a bay full of little cabins and old houses.
You will leave Saint Anna full of inspiration to take your wilderness cooking to another level, just about anything is possible!
Note: This itinerary and the duration of the activities are subject to change due to group abilities and preferences, and weather conditions and forecasts.
Wild camping is permitted anywhere in the area. You will use one of Hilleberg’s sturdiest and highest quality free-standing tents and Haglofs sleeping bags with appropriate temp rating depending on the season.
A comfort upgrade is available with inflatable mattresses, camping pillow and chair.
Accommodation · Equipment · Guide · Local Transport · Meals As Described · Happiness Guaranteed · 100% Financial Protection · No Single Supplements
Please note: Flights are NOT included and must be purchased separately.
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Make your life easy. Once you have reserved your space, your host can help you arrange the extras you’ll need. Here are some guide prices which can be confirmed with you during booking.
| Additional Night in Norrkoping | Payable Before Departure |
|---|---|
| Single Room | · · · Per Night |
| Double Room | · · · Per Night |
| 3-Bed Room | · · · Per Night |
| 4-Bed Room | · · · Per Night |
| Airport Transfer from Skavsta - Norrkoping | Payable Before Departure |
|---|---|
| One Way | · · · |
| Return | · · · |
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