Sweden gives away five islands – may not meet all expectations

Ejust get out. Away from everything and everyone. The longing for a deserted island always comes up when life gets too loud, too crowded, too much. Then you dream of time out, of reflecting on the essentials, of being unattainable. Plus sun, beach and sea. Minus unpleasant animals and other roommates. From this point of view, the Swedish tourism organization Visit Sweden (which has already used the media to remind people that Sweden is not Switzerland and sent holidaymakers to the village after which Ikea named its toilet brush) has once again had its finger on the pulse with its latest marketing campaign. She’s giving away islands.

There are said to be more than 267,000 of them in Sweden, more than in any other country in the world. The Swedish word for island is even shorter, namely “ö”. The vast majority of Ös are uninhabited – and five of them have now been officially released for adoption. This could give rise to the fear that these are rather unloved children. Garbage islands, cemetery islands, plague islands – people have always liked to deport things and people to remote islands. But you obviously don’t want to get rid of anything here in the long term: it’s about a temporary adoption, in the form of a one-year right of use including an island guardian diploma and a travel voucher.

But before you start dreaming (after all, people in Germany are particularly good at imagining a Swedish idyll, largely unimpressed by Swedish realities): on Tjuvholmen, Medbådan, Skötbådan, Storberget and Marsten you won’t be able to sit in front of a Falun-red wooden house or buy fresh cinnamon rolls, or even frozen köttbullar. The islands are tiny, undeveloped and uninhabited. There is also no guarantee of moose, although Sweden not only has the most islands, but also the most moose in the world, with an estimated 400,000 specimens. Wouldn’t five of them have been adopted?

No, the island experience is only available with the basic equipment: a few rocks, a few trees, a few bushes. You can get there by kayak or boat taxi. And you can pitch a tent for the night. Alternatively, the Swedish Tourism Organization recommends hotels on the mainland or on a neighboring island. With a bit of luck, you can at least spot “your” island from there with binoculars.

You can apply with a video and good reasons for staying on the island. So you will now grab your smartphone and make a wistful film about how much you would like to be on a deserted island, far away from the constant media noise. According to the terms and conditions of participation, posting the clip on your social media channels can “increase your chances of winning”. Of course, the matching hashtag #yourswedishisland already exists. And here we finally get to the core of the cinnamon roll: island solitude is only really beautiful when you can share it with an envious audience.