Hej! Ich bin Australier und lebe derzeit in Dänemark und plane, nächsten März mit meiner Familie einen Roadtrip durch Südschweden zu machen (ungefähr wie abgebildet, entlang der Küste bis nach Stockholm und dann landeinwärts zurück nach Malmö). Wir machen uns jedoch ein wenig Sorgen, dass dies eine unsichere Idee sein könnte, da wir als Australier nicht mit dem Fahren durch Schnee und Eis vertraut sind und befürchten, dass wir im März auf schwedischen Straßen damit konfrontiert werden.
Unser Mietwagen wird mit Winterreifen ausgestattet sein (wie gesetzlich vorgeschrieben) und wahrscheinlich ein Allrad- oder Allradantrieb sein. Die Fahrer haben beim Fahren von Berggipfeln in Australien ein wenig Schnee/Eis, aber nicht viel.
Könnten wir aus schwedischer Sicht erfahren, was uns erwartet und ob das eine schlechte Idee ist oder nicht?
https://i.redd.it/1ma3lfag961g1.png
Von Elite_Longbowman
26 Kommentare
As long as you have winter tires you will be fine. AWD definitely isn’t required, just nice to have. And since you will only be driving in the southern parts of the country, there might not be any snow at all for any part of the trip.
Statistics say that it will be grey slushy and not spring yet it will mostly barring any snow storms bare ground and rather grey weather.
Should be fine in March, dont expect santas winter Wonderland in the south at that time. At most some slush / rain wind and frost.
As long as you have winter tires on the car it should be fine. Remember to adapt the speed to the road conditions. Drive safely and welcome to Sweden!
I would recomend jönköping up, göteborg down. After Kalmar the road to Sthlm is very boring imo. But I have a bias to cities. Very nice trip either way
Looks like you plan to follow roads, risk of snow is low and 4wd or similar won’t be needed. You could even go all the way up north and likely have little to no snow on the roads.
There might be some ice, but even that is unlikely on the bigger roads.
You probably won’t even see snow for most of the trip.
If it’s not actively snowing, all the roads you’ll drive on will be cleared and salted. With winter tyres you’d be fine in any car.
I have use for 4wd maybe once a year, which is usually in the beginning of the season when the „surprise“ (come on, you got 10 days warning) snow happens and the snow isn’t handled.
With your current plan, you pass very near to Uppsala, but choose to skip it. It is one of Sweden’s largest cities with a lot of history and a lively city center as it is Sweden’s foremost student city. Consider paying it a visit.
If you’re into Viking history at all, Uppsala (and specifically Gamla Uppsala) was a very important place to which Vikings made pilgrimages every seven years. Some say that the holy tree Yggdrasil grew in Gamla Uppsala.
Include Uppsala as well, otherwise looks good. Roads will be fine with winter tires, mostly wet / slushy. No need for 4wd, personally I prefer a suv for driving experience on long trips.
Hi mate! It’s not a big deal really. Just go slow in the corners and keep a healthy safety distance for braking. Modern cars have ABS and stability control etc so you have a lot of safety nets.
We don’t have mountain ranges like in the alps so driving here in the winter with good tires isn’t really a problem. Our road crews are typically pretty on the ball in terms of plowing the roads if it starts snowing.
Your loop is a little weird. If I have time I’d personally rather swing by Gothenburg instead of going through Jönköping.
So I’d do E to Gothenburg and Gothenburg to G.
You can also do the ferry Helsinborg-Helsingör instead of going over the Öresundsbridge twice.
Apart from the obvious Stockholm and Gothenburg make sure to strech your legs in Kalmar and Karlskrona, some nice towns on the lower east coast.
No thoughts on the whole winter driving thing, but I’ll just say that the F-leg of the trip is boring AF. It’s the E4 highway, and not very scenic, except some parts just north of Jönköping along the Vättern coast.
If you have the time, I’d recommend you going between the lakes instead, passing through
* Örebro
* Mariestad
* Skövde
* Gislaved
* Halmstad
And then reconnect on the E6 as shown, down to CPH.
I took that route going down from Dalarna this summer, and I much prefer it to the highway.
What do you value and want to see?
In terms of landscapes I would skip the east coast which is very forgettable and desolate before Stockholm and instead follow the west coast which has more to offer and way better roads. ~~You dont want to miss Bohuslän. If you do insist on the east coast you have to follow Skånes coast through Österlen which is one of the most unique landscapes we have~~. Going E4 north of Jönköping will give you a very pleasant view.
Edit: I missed the part about March. Maybe the wrong time to see Bohuslän and Österlen. Still would opt for the west coast. Why do you do this in March? Could be a tedious time to be on the roads. Do you have the option to at least wait for April?
Expect rain and possibly slush, not snow
I would really recommend crossing over the Öland Bridge to Öland as well (from the city of Kalmar, just off to the right of the B-icon). It really is a marvellous place and with a landscape unlike anything in Sweden.
Thanks everyone for the feedback, glad to hear that it’s not going to be a problem!
Regarding the itinerary, I was just putting places in to get the rough shape of the travel as the actual plan is a bit more intricate, but I’ll pass the feedback into the trip planners so they can make sure we do what makes the most sense!
Just want to give you some advice to go through Mariannelund/Lönneberga when traveling the east coast just to see the Astrid Lindgren environments.
Sounds like lots of fun! Drive safe, there is no harm in driving below the speed limit if roads are slippery
You’re going on wide well-maintained roads at the end of winter or possibly even in spring. Pretty much every road on your map is a 4 lane or more highway, except one bit. E20, E22, E4, E18, riksväg 50, E4, E6. The one riksväg 50 bit is 2+2 or 2+1 lanes all the way except one 15 minute bit.
Why do you think you need a 4WD? You’re going to be driving on what hundreds of thousands of people use for daily commuting through densly populated areas, where even if it snows those roads are all priority one for plowing. It’s not some perilous outback expedition. If I saw the map my first thought would be „some technician has a boring list of jobs this week“, not „this person needs a 4WD“.
> We’re a little concerned that this might be an unsafe idea though
Your biggest risk is being stuck in daily commute traffic jams.
I would drive along the west coast up to Gothenburg and then drive north east, if you drive through the south Swedish highlands there’s a higher risk for snow and ice because of the higher elevation. If you hug the west coast then drive between the big lakes between Gothenburg and Stockholm you should be fine. Of course anything can happen but most likely there won’t be snow or ice.
You should make time to drive to Uppsala aswell so you can see the tomb of Gustav Vasa, who united Sweden against the danish oppression and formed the foundations for our government and country.
Then I agree with mentions of Bohuslän and Österlen, which are beautiful places. Also I hope that you return to see the majesty that is northern sweden and its beautiful mountains. Stockholm is beautiful, but its merely a tiny sliver of our beautiful country.
The stretch F to E is really touristy. It is really nice but I would recommend go by coast from G to Gothenburg, stop by varberg nad/or Falkenberg, then head north with a stop at Tjolö slott, then Gothenburg and from Gothenburg to like Lyskekil. Then drive from there, north of Vänern to Karlstad (and its surrounding) and then go inland towards Uppsala or Stockholm.
If you check like STF ([Startpage – Swedish Tourist Association](https://www.swedishtouristassociation.com/)) you can find different accommodations that are cheap and more „Swedish“
Take advantage of like; [Events in Dalsland](https://www.vastsverige.com/en/dalsland/events/?_gl=1*s6hz9e*_up*MQ..*_ga*NDY4OTY2MTM1LjE3NjMxMDY2MjM.*_ga_BNNDT5ZD9K*czE3NjMxMDY2MjAkbzEkZzAkdDE3NjMxMDY2MjAkajYwJGwwJGgw*_ga_K841PH0HXR*czE3NjMxMDY2MjAkbzEkZzAkdDE3NjMxMDY2MjAkajYwJGwwJGgw), [Experience West Sweden & Gothenburg](https://www.vastsverige.com/en/?_gl=1*1wqu9e0*_up*MQ..*_ga*NDY4OTY2MTM1LjE3NjMxMDY2MjM.*_ga_BNNDT5ZD9K*czE3NjMxMDY2MjAkbzEkZzEkdDE3NjMxMDY2NDEkajM5JGwwJGgw*_ga_K841PH0HXR*czE3NjMxMDY2MjAkbzEkZzEkdDE3NjMxMDY2NDEkajM5JGwwJGgw) (just google „vad händer i NAME-OF-PLACE“ and you´ll find information)
If you keep to the bigger/normal roads you´ll be fine. They will be salted and plowed. If you have anight where there is ton of snow (unlikely) just wait until they plowed it. But honestly, you need to go further up in to north of Vänern to really get some snow, below it won’t be that much of a problem.
As long as you have winter tires you dont need A/4WD. Every winter i drive a few times up to north Jämtland (from Stockholm) to drive snowmobile. Never been an issue with my FWD kia. Just keep distance and avoid hard braking and acceleration if its slippery.
However in march the weather is more spring than winter.
Its a great idea, you will be alright. Just don’t drive to fast and do unnecessary overtakes on snowy roads.
Skip G
you should be fine by march the snow and ice typically melts away (at least these last couple of years) and it’s not really required to have AWD or 4WD but i wouldn’t recommend BWD but FWD would probably work just fine
E22 is the most boring road ever. Some of the small towns are ok along that way though like Västervik and Kalmar is somewhat OK i guess but that road is a mental challenge holy shit i dislike that road….