Ecotourism
Sweden also set up ‘Nature’s Best’, Europe’s first eco-label that assures the quality of hundreds of tours run by nearly hundred eco-certified tour operators around the country. This means if you book a trip with one of Nature’s Best tour operators you know that they have to adhere to a strict code of conduct, and you make a positive contribution to the environment where your tour or activity is taking place.
Eco-tourism in Sweden
Nature’s Best tours, trips and active holidays are the best way to enjoy Sweden’s great outdoors responsibly and to benefit the environment you find yourself in, local business, local people and their culture. It’s pretty simple really; you should book your trip through one of their approved tour operators. The range of activities on offer is amazing; dogsledding in the Arctic Circle, timber-rafting in Värmland, oyster and lobster ‘safaris’ in West Sweden, sea kayaking and a host of others.
Check the label
Before booking a hotel in Sweden do yourself and the environment a favour by checking for Nordic Eco-labeled hotels first. More than 250 hotels meet this leading Nordic eco-label’s stringent requirements and are marked with the Swan label. If you are in a Swedish supermarket or store doing the shopping keep an eye out for KRAV organically produced foods that are very popular in Sweden. Foodstuffs bearing the KRAV label have been produced in an environmentally friendly and ethical way. You can read more about them here. Go for no-label water while you’re here. There’s no ‘hey don’t drink the water’ in Sweden, the tap water is clean and perfectly drinkable wherever you are. Bring your own bottle, fill it up at the hotel, or wherever you are staying and enjoy. The good things in life are free.
A love affair with Sweden’s countryside
For your average Swede few things are more sacred than spending time at their summer cottage and going for a dip in a lake or the sea. Or foraging for wild berries and mushrooms in the forests. And many other countryside activities.
But they, like you, can enjoy these and many other nature activities in Sweden’s countryside because of the Swedish word Allemansrätt - the one word in the Swedish language that should be in big bright neon lights at every entry point to the country. Allemansrätt, the Right of Public Access, or the freedom to roam.
This precious right gives you the right to roam the countryside in Sweden in perfect peace and quiet as long as you leave it the way you found it.