We leave Landskrona's harbor behind us one early summer morning, heading out to the island of Ven to make a real Scanian summer classic. No, I'm not talking about either a competitive race or a well-brewed beer, but a popular summer activity for all ages. We will ride on Ven.
The warm Öresund winds ruffle my sun-bleached hair on the ferry on the way out to the island. The ferry is filled with expectant day-trippers. Some with their own bikes, others with prams or dogs. You leave the car at home. Although it is possible to drive a car on Ven, it is completely wrong to bring the car with you. The very allure of the island is to slowly glide around on a bicycle among flowering rapeseed fields, swaying cornfields and light purple lilacs and eat a packed lunch on one of the many beaches.
We have our four-legged family member Lilibet with us today and have therefore rented a bicycle with a dog carrier. Although there is an almost endless amount of regular rental bikes on Ven, you need to pre-book the relatively few bikes that have dog carts or dog baskets. There is also a smaller amount of electric bikes and tandem bikes for those who just want to enjoy the bike ride around the island without breaking a sweat.
Rent a bike at Ven
Ven (or Hven as the island used to be called) is not a flat little sand bank, but a solid plateau in the middle of Öresund. Around the island, the Vens backafall nature reserve curls with steep slopes (so-called backafall) down towards the sea. In some places the cliffs are up to 40 meters high. On this verdant island there is a resident population all year round, although the summers offer significantly more visitors than residents.
Once off the ferry, it's just a matter of following the hordes of people who are all going to the island's big bike rental. It's somewhere on the hill on the way from the harbor up to the rental that you start to think about whether you shouldn't have rented an electric bike instead. For slopes – there are plenty on Ven.
Picking up the rented bike is quick and easy, what takes a little longer is finding a suitable (and stylish enough) bike helmet. If you have your own helmet, it may be an option to bring it instead. The dog basket turns out to be a good fit for a small dog like Lilibet, even if Lilibet herself considers it a disgrace that she should sit in the basket all by herself and likes to tell passers-by about it.
The cycle path around Ven
To easily plan your day at Ven, there is a really good one bicycle map from Ven's bicycle rental.
There are two recommended bike tours around the island – the long tour around the entire island (which should take 90 minutes to cycle) and the short tour which should take 50 minutes. But who cycles around a scenic island without stopping anywhere? Rather, we expect three hours.
We cycle clockwise, which seems to be what most people do. In some places after the road, the cycle path is relatively narrow, so it facilitates logistics if most people cycle in the same direction.
The bike ride takes us through ripe cornfields that rustle in the wind, sun-warmed beaches, farms with well-polished thatched roofs, grazing horses, waving Swedish flags and turquoise bathing coves. The angry roses smell royally in the sunshine and it's important to keep your mouth shut on the descents for all aviation fans. Quite simply, a really lovely Swedish dream summer day.
The long cycle ride starts at the Bäck ferry stopviken and then takes us out to the coast and then back up towards the island's main road Landsvägen. In addition to beautiful landscapes, we pass here by one of the island's few forested areas, in a fabulously beautiful avenue just for us cyclists.
Along Landsvägen you will find most attractions and services. Here you will find cozy the Pumpkin cafe, the farm dairy Hvens getost, the majority of artists and studios and some of the island's B&Bs.
On Landsvägen is also one of the island's major attractions, The Tycho Brahe Museum. Tycho Brahe was an eccentric Danish scientist and astronomer who, during the 16th century, built a large research station here with, among other things, an observatory. Today the castle Uraniborg or the observatory Stjärneborg has been demolished, but you can visit the ruins at the museum. A parenthesis to the story of the Danish scientist is that Brahe was born and raised in Skåne, which at that time was a Danish province.
The cycle path then turns towards Kyrkbacken, the small village that got its name from – you guessed it – the church and the hill. Here you get to feel Ven's backslide both downhill and uphill. It becomes especially noticeable if you cycle up to St Ibb's Church, the medieval church dating from the 13th century.
The beach in Kyrkbacken feels protected behind Ven's slope and there is not much wind today. We jump off the bike and sit down on a bench just above the beach to eat our picnic. Here in Kyrkbacken you'll find the restaurants The fish shed and The harbor pub, but as it is not possible to book a table during the lunches, we did not dare to take a chance. For those who just want an ice cream or something small and tasty, there is a kiosk here.
We continue our bike ride past Mossen and the west lighthouse. The next stop for us will be at Spirit of Hven, the island's own distillery. The small distillery has been around since 2008 and today exports everything from whiskey to vodka and gin. You can book a guided tour or a tasting both with or without an overnight stay at the distillery's own hotel.
Today we content ourselves with an ice cream in the afternoon heat, but note that both the hotel and the restaurant look very promising.
For the last stretch towards the harbour, we choose the cycle path past Husvik along the water down towards Hakens lighthouse. This is a really pleasant stretch, with a lot of contact with the sea, salty winds and with nice views over the strait.
Once back in the harbor in Bäckviken is just to sit down in the sun on the jetty and enjoy while waiting for the ferry. The locally made ice cream from Hven's ice cream factory are sold in the Harbor Kiosk and I ban myself because we didn't wait to eat ice cream until we got back to the harbor. The next time I go to Ven, I will both start and end the bike ride with an ice cream from Hven's ice cream factory. Now that I know it takes almost four hours to cycle around the island on the long trip with all the stops, two ice creams is a very reasonable plan.
Good to know
Ven belongs to Sweden and there is no ATM on the island, but all the places we shopped at took cards.
During the summer months and long weekends, it is recommended that you book the tickets for the ferry in advance. The ferry from Landskrona is often fully booked during popular times and you may have to wait a long time for the next departure. Read more about the boat traffic and book your tickets from Landskrona at The waiting traffic. A single ticket for an adult costs SEK 96 (2024).
You can book rental bikes at Ven's bike rental. A three-speed adult bicycle costs SEK 150 per day (2024).
Read more about the nature reserve Vens backafall at The County Administrative Board Skåne. In principle, the whole of Ven is classified as a nature reserve, so there are special rules, for example, about where you can camp and barbecue.
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