Höga Kusten (The High Coast)

Some 286 metres: that is how far this shore has risen since the last glaciation, freed of the ice sheet's weight, and it still gains about eight millimetres a year. The High Coast (Höga Kusten), in Ångermanland on Sweden's Gulf of Bothnia shore, was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2000 (jointly with Finland's Kvarken Archipelago) for that single extraordinary fact: this is the place on Earth where post-glacial land uplift is best displayed, a coast measurably leaving the sea. The result is a dramatic landscape of high forested hills dropping to the Baltic, deep crevices, and former seabed turned to meadow and shore.

The scenic core is Skuleskogen National Park, with its deep old forest, the great rift of Slåttdalsskrevan and bare granite ridges above the water, and the Skuleberget mountain by the High Coast Bridge. Threading the whole region is the High Coast Trail (Höga Kusten leden), a long-distance path running roughly from the bridge near Härnösand north to Örnsköldsvik, one of Sweden's finest coastal hikes. Offshore lie working fishing islands such as Ulvön, historic heart of the surströmming trade.

For the visitor, the High Coast is hiking, island-hopping, swimming off warm granite and a strong regional food identity. For the platform it anchors The Forgotten Coasts through its quiet working shore, Slow Food Trails through the fermented-herring tradition, and Train-Only Europe through good rail access at its northern end.

June to early September is the season: long northern days, warm enough water for swimming off the rocks, open trails and running boats to the islands. Midsummer is a major Swedish moment and the coast is at its liveliest then. The surströmming season traditionally opens in late August with the famous "premiere" of the fermented Baltic herring, the strongest food-calendar reason to come, though it is an acquired experience (see What to eat). September brings autumn colour to Skuleskogen and quieter trails with the water still swimmable early in the month. Outside summer, boat services to the islands wind down and many operators close (check ahead). For the quietest experience with everything still open, aim for early June or the first half of September.

The High Coast is reachable by train at its northern end: Örnsköldsvik sits on the Botniabanan line (Stockholm–Sundsvall–Umeå), making a train-first approach realistic, and there is a station at High Coast Airport too (check current services and stops with SJ). From Örnsköldsvik or Härnösand, regional buses serve the coastal villages and trailheads along the route, though frequency is modest (check ahead). The High Coast Bridge near Härnösand anchors the southern end. A car gives the most freedom for the dispersed trailheads, island ferry harbours and viewpoints spread along the coast, but a train-and-bus trip built around Örnsköldsvik, Skuleskogen and a single island is very doable. Boats to Ulvön and the other islands run from coastal harbours in summer — check the seasonal timetables before planning an island night.

Accommodation runs from the village of Docksta and the Skuleberget area (well placed for Skuleskogen and the trail) to guesthouses, hostels and cabins along the coast and on the islands. Ulvön has island lodging for those who want a night offshore in the old fishing community. The High Coast Trail has huts and simple shelters for through-hikers, alongside everyman's-right wild camping done responsibly. Rural operators change hands, so work from the official Höga Kusten tourism site and regional listings instead of fixing on a single name. Island beds and the popular trail huts fill well ahead of July and midsummer. A base near Skuleskogen and the bridge keeps the park and the trail close, with the main viewpoints minutes away. The High Coast naturum (visitor centre) can advise on currently operating stays and boats.

The High Coast is the home shore of surströmming, the fermented Baltic herring whose late-August "premiere" is a true regional ritual: pungent, traditional, eaten with thin bread (tunnbröd), almond potato and onion. The islands, Ulvön above all, were the historic centre of its trade. Beyond the famous herring, the coast offers fresh and smoked Baltic fish, the local almond potato (mandelpotatis), tunnbröd flatbread, cloudberries and other forest berries, and Swedish fika baking. Eat at the harbour and village restaurants, buy smoked fish and bread directly from producers, and, if you are brave, try surströmming with locals who can show you how it is done. A guided tasting is the gentlest introduction. The food here is inseparable from the working coast that still lands the catch.

Skuleskogen National Park is the reason most people come, and it deserves a full day. Three signposted entrances lead off the E4; from the north entrance it is about 3.5 km to Tärnättholmarna, former islands now joined to the shore by the rising land, with cabins and smooth rock to swim from, while Näskebodarna, an old summer grazing farm with overnight cabins, sits some 3.8 km in from the south entrance. Between them is Slåttdalsskrevan, a rift roughly 200 metres long cut in ancient granite, and the bare ridge of Slåttdalsberget above the water. Then climb Skuleberget, 286 metres and the marker for the world's highest coastline: the Södra and Östra Bergsstigen paths run about 2.5 km each, the Grottstigen a steeper kilometre past the cave, and a cable car does it in minutes, with a cabin at the top serving fika.

At the mountain's foot, the naturum visitor centre lays out the land-uplift story that earned the UNESCO listing, and Skule Naturscen stages summer concerts on the same site. From here you can join the High Coast Trail, roughly 130 km of waymarked walking from Hornöberget in the south to Örnsköldsvik in the north, done in about a week or sampled a stage at a time; every stage has at least one roof to sleep under. Offshore, summer boats reach Ulvön and Trysunda — Höga Kusten Båtarna from Ullånger, Docksta and Mjällomslandet, M/F Ulvön from Köpmanholmen — and none of them take cars, which is part of the pleasure. In Ulvöhamn, the old chapel of 1622, built by Gävle fishermen and painted inside in 1719 by a local farmer, Roland Johansson Öberg, is the single best thing on the islands.

Along the shore the slower options multiply. Rotsidan, near Nordingrå, is four kilometres of flat diabase rock polished by the sea and fringed with wind-bent pines, reached on a short boardwalked path. At Häggvik in the same parish, Mannaminne is the sprawling museum the artist Anders Åberg and his wife Barbro began in 1980, part art, part farm history, part accordion house, and easy to lose two hours in. Bönhamn is the best known of the old fishing villages and a launch point for kayaking; strong paddlers make the roughly 12 km run out to the Högbonden lighthouse island, which has a hostel and café. Stand on or under the great High Coast Bridge, swim off the warm granite, and if the food tradition draws you, time a late-August trip to the surströmming premiere. Past the main viewpoints, this coast stays quiet.

• Language: Swedish; English is widely spoken
• Currency: Swedish krona (SEK), not the euro
• Plug: European type F/C
• Getting there: The northern end is rail-reachable via Örnsköldsvik on the Botniabanan (and High Coast Airport station); Buses serve the coast from there and Härnösand; a car helps for dispersed trailheads and ferry harbours; Island boats are summer-only (check ahead)
• Seasons & hours: Surströmming season opens late August
• Good to know: Allemansrätten applies — camp and forage responsibly
• Nearest full services and hospitals: Örnsköldsvik and Härnösand