Norra Kvill National Park Travel Guide

The tiny forest lake in the middle of the park is the most popular destination. You can walk from the car park to the lake and then either turn around OR walk around the entire lake depending on time and stamina (although it isn't a hard walk and it is signposted). The intro page shows the planks you walk on for parts of the route. If you are lucky enough to come here when no other people are there, you can almost imagine the elves and trolls on a misty morning and you certainly have the feeling elks will appear at any moment.

Walking is the only way to see the park. From the car park there is a path by the main entrance, which takes you to the lake and then around it if you care to go on. The paths are clearly marked but still very much forest paths, which means you will have to keep your eyes out for rocks, root systems and such here and there.

Norra Kvill IS a national park and therefore, it is kept as wild as possible and most trees are left to decay in their natural way. This means that even along the paths, you will sometimes have to walk around a huge tree even though then of course it will have been checked by the foresters and considered safe to tackle. Having said that, the 8 January 2005 saw the greatest storm in a hundred years hit south Sweden. Norra Kvill was not as badly hit as forests further south but there are still traces and if you LEAVE the paths, you will sometimes have to look out for trees trapped in each other which you should avoid. There are also plenty of ice age rock with lose stones off the paths. Fascinating to look at but nothing I would recommend climbing on.

Toiletries and Medical Supplies: There are few shops in the villages around and you will want to stock up on repellent if you plan to walk to the lake. In the rest of the park you won't be that bothered but since they thrive around water, Idgölen sees lots of annoying mosquitoes from June to August.

Favorite thing: The main walk is from the car park to Idgölen lake in the middle of the park. This is something I recommend as you get quite a feel for what the park is about whilst not spending all day in the park if you don't want to. Ideal if you want to see both the flora of the park and get nice photos as well as stretch your (and the childrens') legs after a while in the car. Walking to the lake also means you see the wonderful "lake meadows" with plants I cannot tell you the name of in English.