Themed days from the door

Ten worked-out days for guests staying at Fjädergränd 10, three minutes on foot from Ystad Marina, between the old town and Sandskogen. Each is built around a single reason to leave the house, with real places, real opening hours, and a sensible amount of driving. Pick one a day, half of one, or string two together if the weather is kind.

A short note on use. Each itinerary is a real day, not a marathon. Cooks among you will want a market morning; readers will want the porch by four. Treat the timings as a frame, not a schedule. The townhouse is the point you keep returning to, and the days are written to send you back to it before you are tired.

The classic loop for first-time visitors with a car. Stone-age coast, apple country, the chalk hills, dinner back at home. About 110 kilometres of driving, mostly on small roads.

• Morning
  Leave at half past eight. Twenty minutes east on the 9 to Kåseberga. Park at the lower car park and walk the eight minutes uphill. Ales stenar, a 67-metre stone ship from around 600 AD, stands on the cliff above the Baltic. Free, always open.
• Late morning
  Back down to Kåseberga Fisk in the harbour. Smokehouse since 1968, fresh and smoked fish from the boat the same morning. Open Monday to Saturday 10 to 15 in shoulder season, longer in July. Take a fried herring or a smoked mackerel to eat at the pier.
• Lunch
  If it is June through September, book Hörte Brygga at Dybäck 465, Skivarp, a single seasonal kitchen on a small pier. Set menu 650 SEK. Otherwise lunch back at Kåseberga.
• Afternoon
  Drive north-east 45 minutes to Kiviks Musteri at Karakåsvägen 45 in Kivik. Sweden's largest cider maker, the orchards open and free. The factory shop is a working tasting room.
• Late afternoon
  Ten minutes further to Brösarp and the southern slopes of Brösarps backar, the ice-age sand hills grazed by horses. A thirty-minute walk on Backaleden lifts you above Verkeån.
• Evening
  Either dinner at Talldungen Gårdshotell, Bengtemöllevägen 7 in Brösarp, a five-course farm menu at 545 SEK; or drive home and eat at JH Matbar, Stora Östergatan 34, Michelin Guide listed, seasonal small plates.

Unexpected detail. At Kiviks Musteri ask for a tasting of the still ciders, not the sparkling ones. They make a dry Bramley that almost nobody drinks but the staff.

Budget €€€, around 2,400 SEK for two with dinner and tastings. Best season late May to mid-October. If weather turns swap Brösarps backar for the orchard cafe at Kiviks Musteri and stretch the inside time.

You come back over the inland road through Tomelilla, the fields flat and gold, and the marina lights show up over the last ridge.

Short drives, sand, swords and an early bedtime. The trick with small children in Skåne is to do one big thing in the morning and then a quiet one in the afternoon.

• Morning
  Leave at nine. Twenty-five minutes east to Sandhammaren beach, parking at Sandhammarens parkeringsplats. Three kilometres of white sand and shallow water. The dunes are nine metres high and entirely fair game.
• Lunch
  Picnic on the sand. Pack at Söderberg & Sara on Österportstorg before leaving: sourdough rolls, hard cheese, fruit, ginger biscuits.
• Afternoon
  Drive twenty minutes to Glimmingehus, Sweden's best-preserved medieval castle, finished in 1499. Open from late March. Check the calendar for jousting and medieval weekends, usually held in July and at Easter. Children get to handle blunted swords and try on chain mail.
• Late afternoon
  Back to Ystad. Walk to the harbour and watch the Bornholm ferry leave at 17:30 from the quay. Ice cream at Sankt Knuts torg.
• Evening
  Pizza at Pizzeria San Marco on Långgatan or takeaway and eat in the garden. On a still night, lift the children onto your shoulders on Stortorget at 21:15 for the watchman's horn.

Unexpected detail. The Glimmingehus moat is full of frogs in spring. Bring a small net.

Budget €€, around 1,200 SEK for a family of four with castle entry. Best season June to August for swimming, late March to October for the castle. If weather turns Glimmingehus first thing in the morning, then Cineteket for the apartment set in the afternoon.

They fall asleep in the back seat between the castle and Ystad, sand in their hair, and you carry them upstairs without waking them.

A whole day given over to the sea. Sandhammaren for the south, or Stenshuvud for the north and the forest, depending on which side of the wind you want to be on.

• Morning
  Drive east. Sandhammaren in twenty-five minutes if the wind is from the north; Stenshuvud national park in fifty minutes if the wind is from the south. The shelter switches with the direction.
• Midday
  Picnic in the dunes. Hard-boiled eggs, smoked fish from Kåseberga Fisk picked up on the way, knäckebröd, cold beer. Long swim, slow walk.
• Afternoon
  At Sandhammaren, walk the dune trail west into Hagestad nature reserve. At Stenshuvud, the classic trail up the 97-metre headland through hornbeam forest and past Iron Age ramparts. Either takes about ninety minutes return.
• Late afternoon
  Ice cream in Kivik at the harbour kiosk, or in Simrishamn at Glassmakaren on Storgatan. Walk the cobbled lanes for an hour.
• Evening
  Drive home for sunset over Ystad bay. Late supper of smörgås and the rest of the fish on the porch. If you booked it, a session at the sea sauna by Ystad Saltsjöbad rounds the day off properly.

Unexpected detail. Sweden's oldest lifeboat station, from 1892, still stands at the eastern end of Sandhammaren. Red timber, white window frames. It is not a museum, but you can walk round it.

Budget €, around 500 SEK. Best season mid-June to early September. If weather turns stop at Olof Viktors in Glemmingebro for a long indoor fika and a drive home through Tomelilla.

You come back salty, tired in the right way, and the porch holds the last warm hour of light.

Skåne has been a painters' province for a hundred and fifty years. The light is famously soft and the rents were, for a long time, low. The result is a density of studios that you will not find anywhere else in Sweden outside Stockholm.

• Morning
  Ystads Konstmuseum on Sankt Knuts torg, open from eleven on Tuesday, twelve on Wednesday through Friday. Strong holdings in the Skåne school of the 1910s and 20s and a rotating contemporary programme.
• Mid-morning
  Drive north-east into Österlen. Galleri Krukmakaren in Vitaby for ceramics; Galleri Ängelholm at Drakamöllan for painting; the long-running Galleri Engleson in Gärsnäs. These are Konstrundan permanent venues, open year-round, not only on the Easter weekend.
• Lunch
  Olof Viktors at Österlenvägen 86 in Glemmingebro. Wood-fired stone-oven baking, voted Sweden's best cafe in the White Guide. The carrot cake is famous; the open shrimp sandwich less so but better. Around 250 SEK.
• Afternoon
  One more studio, slowly. Then a walk through Kivik harbour, the small fishing church, and the original Kivik art tomb at Kungagraven, a Bronze Age cairn with carved slabs.
• Evening
  Home, a glass of wine, and dinner at Helsa På Kafé on Besökaregränd 3 or a simple kitchen night. The conversation is the point.

Unexpected detail. Drakamöllan, near Gärsnäs, was once an inn on the cattle route from Skåne to Stockholm. The current galleries occupy the old stables. The walls still have hay-rack scars.

Budget €€, around 1,100 SEK. Best season spring and early autumn; the Konstrunda over Easter is the high point. If weather turns the Konstmuseum is open all day and absorbs hours easily.

You drive home thinking about one canvas you almost bought, and the porch is just light enough to read by.

Two nights, no rush. Friday is a soft landing; Saturday is the day out; Sunday is the porch and the market.

• Friday evening
  Arrive, unpack slowly. Cycle ten minutes to Ystad Saltsjöbad and dinner at Port. À la carte, French-Nordic, last booking 21:30. The cliff terrace if the wind allows; the dining room if not.
• Saturday morning
  Coffee on the porch. Drive into Österlen at ten. Stop wherever you want: Kåseberga, Sandhammaren, a roadside farm stand.
• Saturday lunch
  A slow lunch at Talldungen Gårdshotell in Brösarp, or at Hörte Brygga if it is summer and you booked early.
• Saturday afternoon
  The dunes at Sandhammaren in the afternoon light. Walk for an hour, swim if it is warm, sit with a flask on a log.
• Saturday evening
  Back home, a long bath, dinner reservation at Talldungen if you skipped lunch; otherwise JH Matbar or a kitchen night with wine you bought at the vineyard.
• Sunday morning
  Stortorget for the Saturday market is best at nine; the Sunday quiet on the square is its own thing. Breakfast at Söderberg & Sara on Österportstorg: sourdough, butter, soft-boiled eggs, strong coffee.
• Sunday afternoon
  The courtyard at home. A book each, a pot of tea, the harbour bells in the distance. Leave when you must.

Unexpected detail. The Saltsjöbad terrace has a small handrail at the end nobody uses. From it you can see the curve of the bay all the way to Kåseberga, twenty kilometres east. Take a glass out there before dinner.

Budget €€€, around 4,500 SEK for two across the weekend without lodging. Best season May, June, September. If weather turns a long Saturday inside between Cineteket, Klostret, and the Konstmuseum, with dinner at Le Petit Bistrot.

You lock the door on Sunday at four, look back once at the courtyard, and start planning the next visit before you reach the bridge.

• Visit Ystad, Kåseberga & Ales stenar
• Ystad Studios Visitor Center, Cineteket, Elis Nilssons väg 14
• Glimmingehus, opening hours and tours
• Kiviks Musteri, visit information
• Talldungen Gårdshotell, Brösarp, restaurant
• Hörte Brygga, Skivarp, bookings
• Hällåkra Vingård, Anderslöv
• Köpingsbergs Vingård, Köpingebro
• Ystads Konstmuseum, Sankt Knuts torg
• Klostret i Ystad, Sankt Petri kyrkoplan
• Sankta Maria kyrka, Ystad, watchman tradition
• Port at Ystad Saltsjöbad
• JH matbar, Stora Östergatan 34
• Le Petit Bistrot, Stora Östergatan 32
• Söderberg & Sara, Österportstorg
• Olof Viktors, Glemmingebro
• Kåseberga Fisk, opening hours
• Restaurang Piraten at Hotel Svea, Simrishamn
• Stenshuvud national park, Visit Skåne
• Sandhammaren nature reserve, Länsstyrelsen Skåne
• Brösarps backar, Skåneleden