Österlen: cosy fishing villages, harbour restaurants and cafés worth the drive

Kåseberga lies at the foot of the steep slopes where Ales stenar stands on the cliff. The tiny harbour is lined with smokehouses: walk up to the stones first, then come down for lunch by the boats.

Skillinge is a fishing village that stays alive all year, with a harbour, a boatyard, a harbour pub and a small maritime museum. Its big captains' houses recall the 1800s, when Skillinge and Brantevik were among Sweden's most important home ports for sailing ships. Many artists live around here, which makes Easter especially lively.

Brantevik is, according to the County Administrative Board, one of the best-preserved 19th-century coastal villages in Skåne: a tight grid of lanes, sea captains' farms and two harbours, north and south. Commercial fishing ended in 2012, but the southern harbour still has its fishermen's huts, a summer pub and a fish van.

Baskemölla clings to a steep slope above the Baltic, with narrow lanes between well-kept gardens. At the north end, the half-timbered Tjörnedala farm houses an art gallery, and below it lies Tjörnedalalunden, a grove Linnaeus called one of the loveliest he had seen. The coast path from here to Vik is a classic walk.

Vik calls itself the oldest and smallest of the seven: winding lanes on a narrow strip below high sandy slopes. Stop at Mäster skräddares backe for the famous view over the village, Knäbäckshusen beach and Stenshuvud, and look for the rock formation called Prästens badkar ('the priest's bathtub') along the shore to the south.

Kivik is apple country by the sea, with orchards on the slopes, a working harbour and the Bronze Age King's Grave nearby. Vitemölla, the northernmost, is a quiet village by the beach hills that run on towards Haväng.

Simrishamn, Österlen's little capital, is the natural middle of any day: cobbled lanes, low colourful houses and a working harbour. Bagaren & Konditorn in the centre bakes sourdough in a stone oven.

Inland, the villages are small, but several have one place that is worth the detour on its own. Glemmingebro has Olof Viktors, a few minutes from the medieval stronghold Glimmingehus. Sankt Olof has the garden café Byvägen 35. In Borrby, Gamla Bageriet bakes in the old station house. Skåne-Tranås has two sweet stops: Café Madam Blå in a blue-trimmed Skåne farmhouse, and Österlenchoklad, a chocolate maker with a shop and café in the village school from 1893. Brösarp, at the northern gateway to Österlen, has its old inn and the rolling Brösarp hills, and in the forest nearby lies the listed industrial village of Alunbruket with Skåne's oldest coffee house.

Smoking fish over an open fire is Österlen's oldest food tradition, and the best lunches are often eaten on a bench by the water.

Kåseberga Fisk is a family smokehouse started in 1968 and still smoking over alder wood. The shop fills its counters with fresh and smoked fish and herring, and lunch runs from fried herring with mash to hot-smoked salmon and fish & chips; in summer a grill opens by the water.

Buhres på Kivik sits in Kivik harbour with a fish and deli shop, its own small smokehouse and several dining spaces: a bistro with a terrace, an outdoor hatch for simple food in summer, and a veranda for evenings.

Sjöfolket — Ekströms Fisk & Restaurang in Simrishamn is fish shop, smokehouse and restaurant in one, smoking over open fire without added flavourings. In high summer it also runs a fish van in Skillinge harbour by the boatyard.

Branteviks Fisk sells fresh and smoked fish and homemade pickled herring from the southern harbour in Brantevik.

Brösarps Gästgifveri traces its inn back to 1684, though today's red buildings went up between 1885 and 1895. The kitchen buys from growers and farmers nearby, and the classics stay on the menu: äggakaka (Skåne's thick oven pancake with pork), spare ribs and wild boar.

Kiviks Musteri has made must and cider in Kivik since 1888. In the bistro Kärnhuset you can taste most of their drinks with food, Stinas Café serves sweet and savoury, and the visitor gardens, with some 70 apple varieties and espaliered trees, are free to wander. Dogs on a lead are welcome.

Kivikstrand Badhotell is a family-run seaside hotel from 1879 with a restaurant on the Baltic, on the Skåneleden trail between Haväng and Stenshuvud. It is open in season only, so book ahead.

Österlen's own tourism guide also points to home cooking at Hammenhögs Gästis and pizza at Gustafs på Österlen — good to know if you are travelling with children.

Olof Viktors in Glemmingebro is a four-winged farm from 1890 that became a bakery, patisserie and café in 2002, founded by the pastry chef Jan Hedh. Everything is baked by hand in a wood-fired stone oven, and White Guide named it Sweden's best café in 2014. There is a shop for bread to take home.

Kaffestugan Alunbruket, by the Verkeån nature reserve near Brösarp, is Skåne's oldest coffee house: a half-timbered workers' cottage from the early 1700s where guests have been served since 1930. Everything is baked from scratch, the old cake plate from the founder Hilda's time is still served, and in good weather you sit in the garden.

Byvägen 35 in Sankt Olof is a much-loved bakery café with stone-oven sourdough, cardamom buns and simple lunches, in a big garden where a sandpit keeps children happy.

Gamla Bageriet in Borrby bakes with organic, local ingredients in the old station house, and mills some of its own flour. Café Sågmöllan in Kivik, on the site of the village's old sawmill, is one of Österlen's oldest cafés and keeps a good range of gluten- and lactose-free bakes. Café Madam Blå in Skåne-Tranås is known for galettes and waffles, and Bagaren & Konditorn in Simrishamn for sourdough and cakes.

Mandelmanns Trädgårdar at Djupadal is an organic, family-run show garden that has welcomed visitors since 1996. The garden café uses produce grown on the farm, but it sits inside the entrance area, so a garden ticket is needed; the farm shop outside is free to visit. The farm is cashless and dogs are not allowed. The gardens are seasonal — check their site for the current year.

Backagården near Kåseberga combines a café, a greenhouse and a gift shop on a Skåne farm among soft hills — an easy stop after Ales stenar. Hylkegården, on the coast road between Brantevik and Skillinge, has a lifestyle shop, a café and a country kitchen.

The south loop: start at Ales stenar while the light is soft, walk down to Kåseberga for smoked fish, then drive inland to Olof Viktors for coffee and on to Glimmingehus. Finish along the coast in Skillinge and Brantevik, ideally with a walk between Brantevik's two harbours.

The north loop: begin in Simrishamn, walk the coast path from Baskemölla towards Vik and stop for the view at Mäster skräddares backe. Lunch in Kivik harbour, taste must at Kiviks Musteri, then climb Stenshuvud — or head inland via Brösarp to Kaffestugan Alunbruket.

Trying to do both in one day means more driving than enjoying. Pick one, and save the other for next time.

Österlen is a full day from Lomma. A car gives the most freedom, as the villages are spread out; by public transport, regional trains run from Malmö towards Simrishamn, with buses onwards — plan the whole trip in Skånetrafiken's journey planner.

Many smokehouses, garden cafés and summer pubs are seasonal, and opening changes through the year, so check each place's own website on the day. Summer weekends are busy: book a table where you can. Bring a cool bag if you want to take smoked fish home. In spring, the Matrundan food trail opens many producers' doors at the same time, and around Easter the art round fills the villages with open studios.