Tärnö is an island where a day trip quickly gains several layers: the ferry ride out, the paths between rocks and woodland, the views from the heights and small traces of old island life along the way. The island is small enough that you can walk around it in a few hours, but the terrain shifts between coastal deciduous woodland, grazed areas, rocky ground, shingle fields and sandy beach.
From Drakaberget, Tärnö’s highest point, you can, according to the County Administrative Board, see more than half of Blekinge’s coast. Another prominent point is the wooden lighthouse on Ifberget, which is still in use. On the southern side lies Sandvik, with a sandy beach and bathing opportunities, but the seabed is described as very stony and can be difficult to get past.
It is not only nature that lies open here. Stone walls show old property and field boundaries, and on and around the islands there are cultural traces such as shipwrecks, stone settings, Iron Age graves and cairns. In the 19th century, fishing was the main livelihood on Tärnö, while livestock keeping, small-scale farming and stone quarrying were important alongside it. The old oaks carry their own slow history, often tangled with wild honeysuckle.
Tärnö Lighthouse stands on Iberget on the southern part of the island. The tower itself is only 5.9 meters high, but its location gives a light height of around 31 meters above sea level.
The octagonal wooden tower was built in 1910 and is considered Sweden’s oldest wooden lighthouse still in operation. However, the lighthouse history began earlier: with a small oil beacon in 1878 and later a watchhouse with a beacon, before the wooden tower took over.
Drakaberget is Tärnö’s highest point, around 30-35 meters above sea level, and from here the view opens out over Blekinge’s archipelago and coast. According to local interpretation, more than half of Blekinge’s coast can be seen from here.
The site also has a more legendary side: hollows in the rock were once thought to be marks left by a dragon that was said to have lived in the mountain. The rocks are part of the nature reserve, where stones and rock must not be damaged.
Tärnö’s flora changes rapidly between coastal broadleaf woodland, rock outcrops, cobblestones, grasslands and sandy beach. The old, broad-crowned oaks are a particular hallmark, often entwined with wild honeysuckle, while thickets of bramble also stand out clearly in the vegetation.
The bedrock helps explain the variation: coastal gneiss and a dolerite dike create shifts between bare rocks, crevices and more luxuriant patches. The flora is protected; plants may not be dug up, and mosses, lichens and wood-inhabiting fungi may not be picked.
