SkogstrolletThe free map for exploring Sweden’s outdoors.

Near Jönköping

Nature reserves near Jönköping

Jönköping Municipality includes parts of 53 nature reserves. Wetland in the city, an actively eroding Vättern shore and a wooded ridge of veteran oaks create three distinct settings.

Water within the city

Rocksjön is a clear-water lake ringed by reeds, wetlands and swamp forest in central Jönköping. Water rail calls from the reedbeds, marsh harrier hunts above them, and both otter and beaver use the water. The fen raft spider, Sweden’s largest spider species, also lives here.

A short distance north, Rosenlunds bankar shows that Vättern’s shore remains mobile. The two-kilometre bluff rises 35 metres and exposes deposits left by the melting ice sheet. Waves move the crest 20 to 30 metres per century, while differential land uplift slowly tilts the lake surface southward.

Woodland high between two cities

Bondberget rises between Jönköping and Huskvarna, 120 to 180 metres above Vättern. Heights, ravines and groundwater hollows create conifer forest, swamp woodland, broadleaved stands and former pasture. Surveyors have recorded 805 valuable trees, chiefly large oaks whose broad crowns show that they matured in a more open landscape.

Rocksjön, the bluffs and Bondberget present three views of one city: living wetland on low ground, a shoreline still retreating and old woodland high above the lake. Their differences emerge from elevation, water and soil within only a few kilometres.

Three reserves near Jönköping

Map of nature reserves near Jönköping