Culinary Kayaking Adventure in Sweden
Paddle the beautiful Saint Anna Archipelago, learn to forage and cook up gourmet meals made from local ingredients along the way
Duration
3 nights
Annual Leave
2 days off work
Group Size
Up to 8 people
Season
Jun, Sep
Location
Sweden
Meeting Point
Norrköping, Sweden
Classic Accommodation
Wild camping
Customer Reviews
This trip is brand new
Difficulty
Easy
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Take a culinary adventure along the coastal landscape of the Saint Anna Archipelago – 6,000 islands, most of them uninhabited
Discover the region's rich history through food, sourcing local ingredients like wild boar and freshly caught fish which your chef will use each night to create a gourmet menu
Wild camp at a different, remote location each night and fall asleep to the sound of the sea
Day 1
Discover the roots of a culinary tradition
Kayaking
Travel to the Saint Anna archipelago, one of Sweden’s natural treasures. Begin your journey on the inner islands and feel the sensation of slipping back in time. Take a break for lunch by a pretty sea meadow, one of Saint Anna's most unique habitats, where salt-resistant plants thrive along the shoreline and forage for edible greens, rose hip, hawthorn and barberries. Continue exploring this maze of islands and channels before arriving at camp where your culinary guide will be waiting for you, busy preparing a night of wild cooking. Tonight’s dinner will be slow-cooked venison stew with potatoes, lingonberries and pickled cucumber, followed by regional cheeses with rosehip marmalade and sourdough bread.
Day 2
Modern culinary treats
Kayaking
Begin the day with a refreshing dip in the water and then after a breakfast of cast-iron waffles and strawberry jam, continue paddling, this time through stunning bird sanctuaries and clusters of little islands filled with life. You’ll likely see Sea Eagles gliding high up in the sky and possibly even seals. As you reach the middle of the archipelago the islands become smaller and more plentiful, creating an array of natural habitats, so celebrate with a lunch of wild boar flatbreads with juniper mayo, leek and apple & buckthorn preserves. Step ashore near the pine trees and find yourself surrounded by deciduous forest and open glades – perfect for foraging mushrooms. Wild herbs also grow in the meadows, so be sure to pick some oregano and ground-ivy for dinner - this time Dutch-oven roasted lamb with mashed sun chokes and wild mushrooms, followed by cloudberries served with whipped fresh cheese and cardamom.
Day 3
Catch of the day
Kayaking
Start the day with a breakfast of grilled bread and muesli served with fresh blueberries & hazelnuts, then, if the weather allows, head to the outer archipelago - hundreds of tiny and barren islands with sparse wind-pined trees and a unique flora of salt-resistant plants. The horizon here is huge and the solitude amazing. After a lunch of root vegetable hash with lamb sausage, pork belly and pickled beets, paddle back to camp, where a local fisherman will drop by with a fresh catch to be used in a proper feast to mark your final night on the islands.
Tonight’s menu will be…
- Smoked salmon on butter-fried toast with horseradish and dill cream, pickled red onion, pickled cucumber and smoked seaweed
- Smoked whitefish in a flatbread roll with chive and mustard creme topped with roe
- Pan-fried perch fillets with mashed potatoes and wilted wild greens
- Dutch-oven apple pie and wild-made custard
Day 4
Return to the mainland and home
Kayaking
Wake up one last time on a tranquil island wonderland and begin your day with a wild mushroom frittata served with fresh greens and goat’s cheese. Break camp and paddle back to the mainland, emerging from the wilderness maze onto a narrow canal and then into a bay of little cabins and old houses. Say goodbye to your team and head back to the airport in time for your flight home full of new recipes and cooking inspiration.
Included
Guides
Local, certified kayaking and culinary guide
Accommodation
3 nights wild camping
Meals
Munch on tasty, locally sourced food throughout
Transfers
To and from the start point
Equipment
All your kayaking and camping equipment
Permits
All your permits and licenses
Not Included
Travel to and from the start point
Travel insurance
Personal expenses
Flights to and from the meeting point
Visas where required
Day 1
Breakfast
Lunch
Dinner
Day 2 – Day 3
Breakfast
Lunch
Dinner
Day 4
Breakfast
Lunch
Dinner
What is the food like?
The food on this trip is not only delicious, but uses local and freshly foraged ingredients whenever possible. This includes eggs, root vegetables and lamb sausage from a nearby farm, and wild boar and venison from a local hunter. A local fisherman also hand-delivers his catch to the camp for the freshest taste of the sea. You will also forage many of the ingredients yourself, including orpine, orache, wild oregano, chives, barberries, juniper, strawberries, raspberries and mushrooms, all of which will find a creative place in a scumptious dish.
If you have any special requests, let us know and we will do our best to accommodate them. However due to the culinary nature of the trip it can be challenging to accomodate all dietary requirements.
What is the accommodation like?
The islands
You'll wild camp in a different, remote location each night, using high quality, solo tents and Haglofs sleeping bags with an appropriate temperature rating for the season.
The Area
Logistics
Starts
Norrköping on Day 1
10am
Ends
Norrköping
16.30-17.00 on Day 4
Transfers
Your host will pick you up in Norrköping, the major hub of the area, either at the train station or any hotel/hostel of your choice.
Travel options
There are a number of ways to get to Norrköping, many of which let you take advantage of cheaper evening flights. These include from Stockholm Skavsta (55 minute by bus) Stockholm Arlanda (2 hour direct train,) Linköping City Airport (30 min train) and Norrköping Airport (10 min taxi ride). If you arrive the night before, your host recommends The Lamp Hotel close to the train station or the Pronova Hotel in the city centre.
Enjoy 12.5% Off Outdoor Gear
In need of a few more items? All bookings receive a 12.5% discount to use at Cotswold Outdoor, Snow + Rock and Runner's Need.
What's included?
- All your kayaking, camping and cooking equipment
What do I need to bring?
- A couple of sets of clothes
- Warm layers (jumper, hat, gloves)
- Shoes for water and land
- Towel
- Swimwear
- Sunglasses and hat
- Suncream
- Toiletries
- Camera
- Mobile phone
No optional extras are available for this trip.
We’re still waiting to collect any reviews from other travellers on this trip. However, all our hosts go through an extensive vetting process to ensure that your adventure is awesome.
We partner with the World Land Trust to ensure this trip achieves Net-Zero emissions. We also support their Buy an Acre programme, helping local communities to buy and protect natural habitats in perpetuity.
What's the number?
It works out on average at 54kg of CO2 emissions per person, including all local transport, accommodation, food, activities, guides, staff and office operations.
The only thing it doesn’t include right now is flights and travel to the destination. We do make an overall estimate across all our customers separately, but as we don’t book flights, have customers from all corners of the world, and no way of reliably knowing their travel plans, we simply can’t include an individual number in the figure on display here. We’ve got a goal to fix that, so that when you book, there is a way to measure and mitigate the carbon emitted by your flight too.
But what does the number mean?
Yep, hard to picture eh? To give you an idea:
- Driving 1000miles/1609km would be approx. 281kg of CO2 in an average car (or 140.5kg per person if there was 2 of you in it).
- A return economy class flight London - New York would be approx. 1,619kg (1.66 tonnes) per person.
- 10 trees in a temperate forest are estimated to remove approx. 250kg of CO2 from the air in a period of 5-10 years.
What are we doing about it?
Our trips are relatively low-carbon by design, and we're working with all our hosts to develop long term carbon reduction plans. We partner with the World Land Trust to ensure this trip achieves Net-Zero emissions. We also support their Buy an Acre programme, helping local communities to buy and protect natural habitats in perpetuity, ensuring the protection of the reserve and its wildlife.
Want to know more?
Amazingly, no international travel company has ever publicly published their carbon measurements before, as far as we know. We believe that must change, quickly. So we’re openly sharing the method we used in the hope that other companies will be able to more easily follow suit and build on what we've done so far. You'll find it all here.
You don’t need to be incredibly fit or have any previous kayaking experience as paddling distances between stop-offs will be short and your guide will be with you every step of the way. All you really need is a genuine interest in food and culinary history.
Sure can! Over 70% of our travellers travel solo, it’s a great way to meet like-minded people.
September is regarded by many as the best month to go sea kayaking in Sweden, as it's starting to get cooler but the late summer weather is usually very stable. There is a good chance of mirror-calm water for several days and late summer sunsets last for hours and are amazing!
Any excess luggage can be safely left with you local host and returned to you at the end of the trip.
Our recommended travel insurance provider is Campbell Irvine.
Travel insurance is compulsory for all of our adventures and you are required to provide your policy information before departing.
Your insurance should include adequate protection for overseas medical treatment, evacuation/repatriation, your baggage and equipment and the specific activities involved on your adventure. We also strongly recommend it includes cancellation and curtailment insurance, should you be unable to join your trip for specific reasons such as illness.
We fully endorse Campbell Irvine as their insurance offers all of the above, so get in touch with them or call on 020 7938 1734 to get your insurance sorted. We suggest that you book travel insurance as soon as you book your adventure, just to cover you for any last-minute life changes. We know you’re an active lot and injuries do happen!
We automatically convert prices from the local currency that a host receives to your chosen currency. We update our exchange rates on a daily basis so this does mean that prices displayed on the site are subject to currency fluctuations, which is why you may see them change over time.
If you wish to change the currency you pay in, head to the bottom of the page.
All of our group adventures are specially designed for adults to enjoy (18+) as we want these adventures to bring together outdoorsy people who are truly like-minded. Children can be accommodated on some private departures.
You're always in good company on one of our adventures.
Our trips are typically made up of a mixture of solo travellers and small groups of 2 or 3 friends, with most in their 30s-50s.
Our sociable adventures are solo-friendly by design and naturally attract outdoorsy people with a shared mindset; a love for adventure, a desire to push themselves and meet awesome, like-minded people along the way.
It’s this camaraderie that has so often turned a great adventure into a life-changing one.
Don't just take our word for it:
- 95% of people rate the group dynamics on our trips 5/5
- 90% of people recommend joining a trip to make new friends
- 75% of people have met people on our trips that they would now consider friends
See here for more info about the Much Better Adventures tribe.
Interested in a more exclusive experience? Opt for a 'Private Group' through the dates and prices tab to book this adventure for just you and your chosen companions.
Our team of Adventure Hunters create exclusive adventures with highly vetted, specialist hosts. We only work with independent, local in-destination experts who know the very best places to explore and how to stay safe. See here for more info about the local teams we partner with.
TRIP DEPARTURE DATES
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