SkogstrolletThe free map for exploring Sweden’s outdoors.

Kalmar County

National parks and nature reserves in Kalmar County

Kalmar County has 213 nature reserves and 2 national parks. Eastern Småland’s forests and lakes meet a long archipelago coast, while Öland’s thin calcareous soils create a different landscape across the strait.

Two geological foundations

Much of the mainland rests on granite, porphyry and other ancient rocks. Moraine, eskers and fracture valleys carry forest and lakes, while the shore divides into bays, islands and skerries. A narrow strip of younger sandstone follows Kalmar Strait. Öland, by contrast, consists mainly of limestone beneath thin lime-rich soils. The geological boundary across the water becomes visible in both vegetation and land use.

Old conifer forest, oak habitats and streams can meet on the mainland. On Öland, limestone supports alvar, dry grassland, shore meadow and rich deciduous ground, while wind and salt mould the coastal woods. The county’s variety reflects not just its length but the meeting of crystalline rock, sedimentary beds and sea.

National parks of granite and ancient forest

Blå Jungfrun rises as an isolated granite dome 86 metres above Kalmar Strait. The ice sheet polished its northern face and tore blocks from southern fractures, leaving deep ravines and boulder fields alongside beech and oak woodland and the stone labyrinth Trolleborg. The island was protected after early twentieth-century quarrying threatened to destroy its distinctive form.

Norra Kvill is small, yet its forest has remained largely undisturbed for more than 150 years. Fallen trunks, moss-covered boulders and the pools Stora and Lilla Idgölen give it an ancient structure. Pines over 350 years old and spruces around 35 metres tall demonstrate the time required for southern conifer forest to develop veteran trees and abundant dead wood.

The two ends of Öland

At the northern tip, Trollskogen’s pines are twisted by storms and salt. Ivy-covered oaks, shingle shore, graves and maritime remains share the forest. Trolleken is between 800 and 900 years old. The beach also holds Swiks, the world’s only known flush-decked schooner wreck lying on land after grounding in 1926.

Ottenby in the south depends on centuries of grazing and mowing. Shore meadows, scrub, wet grassland and old deciduous woodland make the cape one of Sweden’s foremost bird sites. Thousands are ringed each year, while veteran oaks carry rare lichens. Blå Jungfrun, Norra Kvill, Trollskogen and Ottenby trace the county from mainland granite and old forest to Öland’s limestone, wind and migration routes.

National park in the county

Blå Jungfrun is an isolated granite island whose rounded summit rises 86 metres above Kalmar Strait. Ice polished the northern side and opened ravines to the south; broadleaved woodland, boulder fields and the ancient Trolleborg labyrinth lie beneath its legendary silhouette.

Oskarshamn
View the national park on the map

Selected areas in Kalmar County

Blå Jungfrun, Norra Kvill, Trollskogen and Ottenby represent the county’s granite island, old forest and two contrasting Öland coasts.

Map of selected areas in Kalmar County