High Coast Trail emergency & health guide: hospitals, 112, 1177 and park rules

Emergency numbers

If you are deaf, hard of hearing or speech-impaired, you can text 112 through the SMS112 service, but only after registering with a Swedish mobile number. Mobile signal is weak in a few deep valleys, so carry a map or the Höga Kusten app and tell someone your plan.

Rules to know

• Right of public access (allemansrätten): you may walk, pick berries and mushrooms and pitch a tent for a night or two almost anywhere, as long as people living nearby cannot see or hear you. 'Don't disturb, don't destroy', and take all your litter with you.
• Skuleskogen National Park: tents only at the marked tent sites, for at most three nights in the same place, and fires only at the marked fireplaces with the wood provided or brought in (1 May – 30 September). No fishing in lakes or streams, no cycling except on the coastal path between Entré Syd and Entré Nord, and no drones.
• Huts and wind shelters are free, open all year and cannot be booked. You may not turn other hikers away; in Skuleskogen newcomers get priority and those who have already stayed a night give up their bed. Leave the hut clean.
• Fires: use a stove or the fixed fireplaces at huts and shelters. Never light a fire during a fire ban (eldningsförbud), which Länsstyrelsen Västernorrland issues in dry periods, or in very dry or windy weather.
• Dogs must be on a lead from 1 March to 20 August, and in Skuleskogen at all times. Dogs may sleep in the Skuleskogen cabins, but not on the beds.
• Slåttdalsskrevan: do not walk through the 40 m deep crevice in Skuleskogen; the trail office advises against it for safety reasons, and the trail passes west of it with viewpoints.
• Water: springs and streams are not tested; boil or filter all water. Some springs dry up in hot summers, so fill up in villages, at Naturum Höga Kusten and at hotels.
• Fishing in lakes and streams needs a fishing licence; fishing in the sea with a rod is free (in Skuleskogen only in the sea).

Before you go, check notices for Skuleskogen on the Länsstyrelsen Västernorrland website and any fire ban, and look up bus times on dintur.se: bus 50 runs along the E4 between Härnösand and Örnsköldsvik, and bus 421 links Köpmanholmen with Örnsköldsvik. At Hornöberget the first 24 hours of parking are free, then SEK 100 a night, paid at Hotell Höga Kusten.

Nearest hospital for each stage

Hospitals

Health centres

Health centres (hälsocentral) treat minor injuries, infected blisters, sprains and illness, but only on weekdays in office hours, and you should call first; the 1177 line can tell you where to go and book a time. The nearest to the trail are in Kramfors, Bjästa, Domsjö (Svedjeholmen) and Örnsköldsvik. They are not emergency departments: at night and at weekends go to the emergency department in Örnsköldsvik or Sundsvall, or call 112.

Pharmacies, cash and supplies

• Pharmacies: Ullånger, Örnsköldsvik
• ATMs: Ullånger, Örnsköldsvik
• Shops: Ullånger, Örnsköldsvik
• Bus stops: Hornöberget, Ullånger, Skuleberget, Köpmanholmen, Sandlågan, Örnsköldsvik

Sweden has no duty-pharmacy rota: pharmacies (apotek) keep shop hours, usually weekdays and Saturday mornings. There are pharmacies in central Örnsköldsvik and in Domsjö near Svedjeholmen, and one is mapped beside the health centre in Ullånger; there are none in Lövvik, Fjärdbotten, Gavik, Lappudden, Skoved, Skuleskogen, Köpmanholmen or Sandlågan. Call 1177 for advice at night, and carry a first-aid and blister kit.

Pharmacies, ATMs, shops and stops: © OpenStreetMap contributors. Hospitals and health centres checked online.