Store Mosse National Park is the largest marsh area in southern Sweden, located in the municipalities of Vaggeryd, Gnosjö and Värnamo.
Store Mosse is located halfway between Gnosjö and Värnamo on the west side of the Småland Highlands. The nature in Store Mosse is reminiscent of that in Norrland and is characterised by great diversity of plants and animals, with everything from lakes and marshes to cranes, moose and eagles.
In total Store Mosse covers some 100 km2; of these, some 77 km2 were designated national park in 1983. It has the largest boggy grounds south of Lapland and is an amazing place to visit if you’re in southern Sweden. Read all my posts from Sweden here.
You can enjoy more than 40 kilometres of footpaths and unique flora and fauna in Store Mosse National Park with a multitude of footpaths and places to visit. The footpaths in go across footbridges and vary in length from 300 metres to 14 kilometres. Those who want a longer walk can go round Lake Kävsjön with its rich birdlife.
Walk across the pine forested sand dunes, known locally as “rocknar”, or through a deciduous cultural landscape. In the centre of the raised bog it’s like being on a deserted marsh in Lapland. I would certainly recommend to bring along sturdy hiking boots, it can also be very wet in some areas, depending on the weather.
A good starting point is the Naturum, a centre for information in the national park. Here you can find information about the nature and the park and there is also a BBQ area, warm shelter, bird tower, exhibitions and other activities. We headed in here for an hour to learn more about the park from our guide for the morning Carina. She told us lots about the reason for the name, the wildlife, and the history of the park.
We also enjoyed some tea and coffee, as well as Swedish fika (basically custard tarts, and they were delicious) and some bread with butter and jam. The perfect start to the morning!
When we visited we headed straight to the Naturum, before heading out on a two-hour walk of close-by footpaths. We also stopped off at the eagle feeding site and we headed up to the top of the stunning bird tower a few 100m from the Naturum.
The views from the top of the bird tower are incredible, and you can see flora and nature as far as the eye can see. Located next to the main entrance, the 12-metre-high tower offers a wonderful view of Lake Kävsjön and the quagmire.
If you would like to stay the night in the national park, you can choose from cosy houses on Svänö, Lövö or Kittlakull. It is prohibited to camp in the national park so bare this in mind in your are going freestyle.
This, surprisingly, was one of our best mornings whilst in Sweden, and the nature of the place completely blew us away. We are so glad we decided to stop off here for a few hours. Thank you to our guide Carina, who made the visit extremely special.
GPS location: Store Mosse Nationalpark, 330 33 Hillerstorp, Sweden
