Allemansrätten - 'Everyman’s right'

There are certain things that are so Swedish, they could be symbols for the country. Not just traditional ornaments like a midsommarstång or a Lucia krona... 

  • The Skåne (Scania region) eastern shoreline/ Photographed for Nordic Reach by Andreas Hylthén.

  • Allemansrätten, the Right of Public Access, freedom to roam, or "everyman’s right," is a term describing the general public’s right to access certain public or privately owned land for recreation and exercise.

  • The fruit farms around Kivik. Photographed for Nordic Reach by Andreas Hylthén.

  • Not only Sweden but unique nevertheless
    The term is sometimes called “right of public access to the wilderness” or “the right to roam." It’s unique to Finland, Iceland, Scotland, Norway and Sweden. This term was established at the end of the 1940’s as a way to make it easier for people living in the cities to enjoy nature. Since 1994 it has been added to Sweden’s constitution that all people should have access to “allemansrätten.”

  • Stens Huvud, easternmost tip of Skåne and a climate zone all its own with a unique flora. Photographed for Nordic Reach by Andreas Hylthén.

  • The right to access any land, responsibly!
    The Allemansrätt gives a person the right to access, walk, cycle, ride, ski and camp on any land — with the exception of private gardens, the immediate vicinity of a dwelling house and land under cultivation, and with restrictions for nature reserves and other protected areas. It also gives the right to pick wildflowers, mushrooms and berries provided one knows they are not legally protected, as well as the right to visit beaches, to swim in any lake and put an un-powered boat on any water. The exception being a beach that belongs to a private garden.
    Permission to build a private house is usually not given so close to a beach that this right would be obstructed. Private piers are not free to use for boats or bathing.
    You are, e.g., prohibited to cause damage to, and/or pollute the land, make fires that could damage or endanger the environment or to breach branches and twigs from growing trees and bushes. The allemansrätten is a right and an obligation; it needs to be handled responsibly.