Mats Jonsson has spent his life exploring Sweden’s endless off-road tracks. He runs Magic Motor Experience in Sweden and has given us his three top reasons on why you’d love riding a motorcycle in his home country…
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Here’s Why You’ll Love Adventure Riding in Sweden
By Mats Jonsson
Owner of Magic Motor Experience - a motorcycle rental and tour company in Sweden
Sweden is off-road heaven
If you’re an adventure bike rider or love off-roading, then brace yourself… Sweden has a whopping 300,0000kms of pure gravel roads and tracks! Sweden is an off-road rider’s dream because it offers endless exploration through incredibly remote and beautiful landscapes and you are going to love riding here.
We have a massive road network to choose from. It’s like a huge smorgasbord. Sweden is filled with unpopulated areas with huge forested areas. This is where you’ll find the best gravel roads.
You’ll find tarmac routes all over the country, but some of the best for pretty sightseeing routes are along the coast. But for off-roading, all the fun is on the forest roads. The standard of Sweden’s gravel roads is constantly changing and that makes riding them more fun because you have such a huge diversity and it’ll feel like you’re riding a roller coaster.
Our roads are old and were built with little budget. That means they weren’t laid straight because there were no excavators or bulldozers at the time, so most of the roads entwine through and around stunning nature – perfect!
Sweden feels unexplored
Sweden is a country with 10.5 million people in an area of nearly 450,000km2 – and most of that population lives long the coast or around the largest lakes and around Stockholm.
Around two thirds of the country is covered by forests – so there’s vast lands without any people. Depending on what kind of road you’re on, you can ride for hours without seeing anything other than forests and lakes. Sweden offers a feeling of freedom where you can push your bike – and yourself – to your own personal limits. Being so deep in nature, with just you and your motorcycle alone in the forest feels like you’re uncovering unexplored lands. Sweden is also home to wolves, deer, boar, bear and elk and if you’re lucky you’ll spot them as you pass through.
Note that you can also head closer towards Norway where you’ll find the mountain areas. This part of the country is beautiful and you’ll find more forests with big rivers coming from the mountains and floating across the country towards the sea.
Sweden is an easy country to ride
The motorways here are great. You can quickly get to the good roads and trails using the motorway network. If you’re heading north from Denmark, then you can take the bridge to Sweden. Two hours from Copenhagen and you’ll be in a good area and from there northbound the good just continues. If your target is to get north, the roads from there aren’t highways but you can still move pretty quickly. And if you prefer, there are highways going from the south to Stockholm and Oslo.
Or you could join one of our fly and ride tours to make life easier. You won’t have to ride long distances to get here and all the best routes will already be selected for you. Another option is we can transport your motorcycle here.
Most people in Sweden can speak English, debit and credit cards are accepted throughout the country and there are loads of flights from the UK on a daily basis. Sweden is a very easy country to ride in and that means you can have a great motorcycle trip here without having to worry about all the planning and preparation.
Tips and info for riding in Sweden
Camping
There are around 100,000 lakes in Sweden, so if you enjoying camping with your motorcycle you’ll find so many stunning spots to pitch up. You can wild camp in Sweden as we have a “Right to Roam” law, but you can’t just put your tent wherever you like as there is a lot of private land. You are allowed to camp for one night without asking for permission, but not in someone’s garden, and you must always leave your camping spot as it was. Please respect nature and landowners.
You’ll find a decent selection of official campsites on visitsweden.com and iOverlander is another excellent tool for camping and wild camping.
READ MORE: Motorcycle Camping Guides
Hotels
If you’d like to stay in particularly nice places and want a nice meal at the end of a long day on the road, then you’ll need to plan where you want to ride as some regions can be very remote. Note that the further north you go the less accommodation and amenities you’ll find. The easiest way to find accommodation is via booking.com
Weather
Sweden is a long country at 1,600km from south to north, so you’ll find the climate changes dependent on where you are – especially during spring and autumn.
In summer you have the midnight sun, which is also very cool.
From early May until October you’ll find comfortable weather in the south. The further up north you go the season gets shorter (May until September), but you may also find snowfall in June. There is no set period where we can say for sure it will be this or that weather. But in May it usually dry and also at the beginning of September. But as always, pack decent riding gear, waterproofs and heated jackets.
Safety
Sweden regularly ranks in the top 10 – 20 safest countries in the world. Of course, you may still find crime in cities and petty theft so always take your valuables with you. But when you’re out riding in remote areas – Sweden is as safe as can be. You won’t find much traffic other than the odd tractor or fellow biker.
Private land
The roads are for different purposes. Some are for villagers who use them everyday to get to their houses. They’re usually very well-maintained and you’ll need to be careful of people also using these routes.
A lot of the roads are private. Landowners don’t want people riding around like maniacs on their roads, so just use your common sense and always be respectful and slow down to ride past people, houses, farms and animals.
Motorcycle rentals and tours in Sweden
I am a Swede with a passion for off-roading. I have lived most of my life by a gravel road in a farm village where the forest roads were just a few hundred meters away as we raced with our mopeds and then enduro bikes.
Nowadays, I’m the owner of Magic Motor Experience and organise motorcycle rentals and tours in Scandinavia. We offer awesome rides through Sweden and Norway on the best routes these countries have to offer. We’re also recommended by Mad or Nomad.
Feel free to get in touch and come ride with us in beautiful Sweden!
Mats Jonsson
Email: info@magicmotorexperience.com
Note: The tours and rentals mentioned in this post are offered by the guest author, Mats and his company Magic Motor. Please contact him directly for details.
Read more on motorcycle travel in Europe
Thanks for checking out the 3 Reasons to Ride a Motorcycle in Sweden Guide. We hope you enjoyed it! Here’s a few more articles on motorcycle travel in Europe that we recommend you read next.
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Are you planning on riding in Sweden? Do you have any questions, tips or suggestions? Let us know in the comments below.