Stalpet

Aneby / Bredestad Parish, Jonkoping, Sweden

About Stalpet


Hiking Distance: 500m loop
Suggested Time: 30 minutes

Date first visited: 2019-06-15
Date last visited: 2019-06-15

Waterfall Latitude: 57.85001
Waterfall Longitude: 14.82386

Waterfall Safety and Common Sense

The Stalpet Waterfall (which can also be called just “Stalpet”) was our introduction to waterfalling in Sweden.

It was the first waterfall that we visited on our epic trip throughout Scandinavia, where we were on a long drive between Stockholm and Gothenburg (or Göteborg in Swedish).

Stalpet_040_06142019 - Stalpet in early Summer flow
Stalpet in early Summer flow

Thus, we had targeted it as a short detour (actually one of two waterfalls we visited on this driving day) when we traveled across the opposite coasts of Sweden.

Stalpet had a moderately attractive 20m drop over a dual segmented plunge on the Svartån River, which made for a very pleasant stop.

Svartån and Stalpet’s Flow

The Svartån River of Eastern Gotland (Östergötland) was a largest of the tributaries flowing into the lake Sommen at the border of the counties of Jönköping and Östergötland.

Since Stalpet sat near the town of Aneby, which was closer to the river’s source at Ormaryd, we saw the waterfall with fairly light but still satisfying flow.

Stalpet_074_06142019 - Looking across Stalpet from its brink
Looking across Stalpet from its brink

I’d imagine that earlier in the year, the river would have higher volume, which would put on a greater waterfall display than what we had experienced in the early Summer.

Experiencing Stalpet

We had a pretty easy time visiting the Stalpet Waterfall.

From the car park near the Stalpets Cafe and Hantverk (crafts), we walked through the complex, then descended steps into the gorge carved out by the Svartån.

Once at the bottom, the briefly followed the boardwalk and a bridge before reaching a lookout with a picnic table.

Stalpet_016_06142019 - The boardwalk at the bottom of the gorge beneath the Stalpets Cafe and Hantverk
The boardwalk at the bottom of the gorge beneath the Stalpets Cafe and Hantverk

This was where we got views of Stalpet from the bottom.

We then went up steps on the other side of the gorge, where we wound up at an overlook providing the contextual view you see at the top of this page.

Next, we had a choice of completing this short loop by either walking in the downstream direction back to the main road, or in the upstream direction towards the brink of the falls.

The downstream route to the main road went across a road bridge where we could get another contextual view of Stalpet.

Stalpet_078_06142019 - Looking upstream from Stalpet towards a bog resulting from some small dam that held up Svartån
Looking upstream from Stalpet towards a bog resulting from some small dam that held up Svartån

The upstream route to the brink of the falls led us to an informal and overgrown view over the waterfall’s drop.

Then, it traversed what appeared to be a dam regulating the flow of the river over the falls while yielding some kind of marshland further upstream.

Either way, the roughly 500m loop walk took us on the order of about 30 minutes, including all the time spent taking pictures while letting Tahia play on one of the childrens swings at the cafe.

Authorities

Stalpet was closest to the town and municipality of Aneby in the county of Jönköping, Sweden. For information or inquiries about the area as well as current conditions, you may want to try the local municipality website or the Stalpet Facebook page.

Stalpet_001_06142019 - A shack sitting by the car park for Stalpet
Stalpet_006_06142019 - Sign fronting the cafe and crafts shop at Stalpet
Stalpet_007_06142019 - Walking through the Stalpets Cafe and Hantverk, which wasn't open when we showed up too early in the morning
Stalpet_013_06142019 - Contextual view of Stalpet and the buildings belonging to the cafe as we were descending into the gorge
Stalpet_014_06142019 - Julie descending the steps into the gorge with Stalpet in the background
Stalpet_017_06142019 - Angled view of Stalpet with a floodlight pole fronting the waterfall as seen from within the gorge
Stalpet_020_06142019 - Looking up at the road bridge from within the gorge downstream of Stalpet
Stalpet_022_06142019 - Julie and Tahia at the bottom of the other set of steps going up to the opposite end of the gorge as well as a short step leading to the picnic table and lookout at the bottom
Stalpet_028_06142019 - The view of Stalpet from the lookout at the bottom
Stalpet_032_06142019 - Looking down across the gorge towards the Stalpets Cafe from the opposite side of the gorge
Stalpet_044_06142019 - View of Stalpet from the overlook on the top of the gorge opposite the Stalpets Cafe and Hantverk
Stalpet_060_06142019 - The unpaved road on the opposite side of the Stalpets gorge looking towards the road passing above it
Stalpet_061_06142019 - Looking back across the gorge where Julie and Tahia were climbing back up the steps leading to the Stalpets Cafe
Stalpet_062_06142019 - Looking down at the overlook on the opposite side of the gorge from the Stalpets Cafe and Hantverk
Stalpet_065_06142019 - Angled view towards Stalpet from near the overlook
Stalpet_068_06142019 - More angled view of Stalpet as I walked closer to its brink
Stalpet_070_06142019 - Looking towards railings at the brink of Stalpet
Stalpet_073_06142019 - Looking across the brink of Stalpet from the railing nearby
Stalpet_075_06142019 - Looking downstream from Stalpet and its plunge pool from its brink
Stalpet_082_06142019 - The dam infrastructure upstream from Stalpet that made me realize that this waterfall could very well be regulated
Stalpet_081_06142019 - Looking down over the brink of Stalpet from the dam controlling the flow of Svartån over the waterfall
Stalpet_083_06142019 - Back at the Stalpets Cafe and Hantverk to close the loop walk


In our routing towards Stalpet, we used the town of Aneby since it sat the closest to the waterfall.

From Stockholm, we drove out of the city area on the E20 towards the E4.

Then, we drove for a little over two hours to go the 200km along the E4 before exiting for the Route 32 near the town of Mjölby (just west of Linköping).

At that point, we drove south on the Route 32 for about 58km towards the signed turnoff for Stalpet.

Stalpet_057_06142019 - The road passing over the bridge downstream of Stalpet
The road passing over the bridge downstream of Stalpet

After taking the turnoff, we then went the remaining 3km to the car park just past the bridge and the cafe.

This drive took us a little over three hours.

Had we been coming from the city of Jönköping, we’d leave the E4 and drive east on Route 132 for about 36km to Jönköpingsvägen into the town of Aneby.

Then, we’d turn left onto Storgatan and followed it for about 1km to the car park by the Stalpet Cafe and Hantverk on the left.

Stalpet_004_06142019 - The car park by the Stalpets Cafe and Hantverk
The car park by the Stalpets Cafe and Hantverk

For geographic context, Aneby was about 45km (under an hour’s drive) east of Jönköping, 100km (about 75 minutes drive) southwest of Linköping, 190km (over 2 hours drive) east of Gothenburg, and 295km (over 3 hours drive) southwest of Stockholm.

Find A Place To Stay

Sweeping direct view of Stalpet while showing the context of the cafe and viewing area at the bottom


Brief sweep covering the double-barreled drop of Stalpet from its brink

Trip Planning Resources


Nearby Accommodations



Tagged with: aneby, sweden, waterfall, jonkoping



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