Nature

This section of the Öresundsleden Trail is a part of the Kullaleden Trail, a hiking route of exceptionally high, international standard. For most of this trail, you walk on or beside the extensive sea abrasion cliff known as Landborgen. From Sofiero and southwards you wander along the top with views out over Öresund Sound. Landborgen consists of solid rock and the almost vertical cliff was chiselled out 4000 - 7000 years ago by the waves and currents of the ancient Littorina Sea, which was 6-7 metres higher than what you see today. The ravines you see today had already been carved out. From the campsite at Domsten, you can often watch seals sunbathing on the rocks. 

The area around the Kulla Gunnarstorp manor is a nature reserve. Here you find tree-lined avenues, and stately woodlands with beech, fir and birch trees, and when the park was created in the 1800s, several exotic, non-Swedish varieties of grass were chosen, and these still flourish. Because of the presence of the castle and its splendid gardens, the shoreline below has been called Scandinavia’s “most prestigious post-glacial shoreline.” Sandstone and slate are exposed in the cliffs, and large numbers of birds of prey inhabit the area in the spring and the fall, including the common buzzard, the European honey buzzard, and the rough-legged buzzard. 

At Hälsovägen you pass Sofiakällan, the only spring in Sweden with salty water. The salt comes from a salty crust deposited during the Triassic period, when the desert climate caused the sea water to evaporate. 

Take a few extra steps and enjoy the Pålsjö forest on the northern outskirts of Helsingborg. In spring, when the leaves are very young, the beech is an incredible shade of bright green and the white blossoms of wood anemones cover the forest floor. Old decaying trees and high stumps are prime real estate for insects and birds.

Cultural History

There are several castles to see along this stretch of trail. Sofiero Castle, built in the 1860s as a summer residence for King Oscar II and his wife Sofia, is open to visitors and has an impressive park with some 10,000 rhododendrons, and was described in 2010 by an expert jury from six countries as Europe’s most beautiful park. South of Kulla Gunnarstorp Castle, there is an associated Dutch-style water mill, one of the largest and oldest in Skåne. 

There are deposits of coal and clay all around Helsingborg and at Pålsjö, coal was mined as early as the 1500s. The discovery of clay there led to the development of the first porcelain factory in south Sweden around 1770 – Pålsjö Fajansfabrik. 

The town of Helsingborg is situated at the neck of Öresund Sound and has been a site of permanent settlement officially since 1085 during the Viking era. Its strategic position meant that the town became one of the most important medieval strongholds in Scandinavia. 

Several springs gush from Landborgen along the trail, and once upon a time people travelled long distances for a just a few drops. Today, however, you can buy this Swedish spring water in any small shop or grocery store – for instance Ramlösa with its unusual mineral content.