Apelviken Webcam – Check the Waves at Varberg’s Surf Beach

The Apelviken Webcam sits on the roof of Restaurant Solviken at the southern edge of Varberg, on Sweden’s west coast, and looks south-southeast across Apelviken, a sandy bay that has drawn windsurfers since the 1980s. The restaurant’s orange roof tiles run along the bottom of the frame, with its terrace railings on the right. A wide car park fills the middle of the picture, and beyond it the beach curves away around the bay toward houses on the far shore. On the right, a grassy, rocky shoreline gives way to the open Kattegat and a long, flat horizon. On a calm day the bay can lie glassy and pale, and an autumn gale streaks it with whitecaps.

About Apelviken

The camera belongs to Destination Apelviken, a camping resort beside the beach, and the operator gives its heading as about 145 degrees, roughly south-southeast. Varberg itself is behind the lens. A low grey building with a flagpole stands on the left of the frame. On the right, a footpath lined with lamp posts runs down the grassy shore, past boulders and a small dark hut, toward the water. In summer the car park is packed and people spread out on the grass, while on an October morning only a handful of cars remain. The swimming beach, Badplats Apelviken, lies about 900 meters (0.6 miles) southeast of the restaurant, almost straight along the line of sight.

Apelviken’s sandy beach is more than a kilometer (0.6 miles) long, and the bay has been a windsurfing spot since the 1980s. Surf forecasters list it as an exposed beach and reef break that takes swell from the southwest round to the northwest and works from about 0.3 to 1.2 meters (1 to 4 feet). Most of its waves are wind swell rather than long-traveled ocean groundswell, and summer is usually flat, so the best surf days fall from September through the winter, when low-pressure systems cross the Kattegat.

Apelviken lies within Varberg, a town of 35,782 people at the end of 2019 according to Statistics Sweden, about 71 kilometers (44 miles) south of central Gothenburg in a straight line. Lilla Apelviken lies to the north and Sodra Nas to the south. The bay was an early bathing place for visitors from Boras, and the painter Karl Nordstrom put it in the background of his 1894 painting Granngardarna.

The Poolviken tab looks over the resort’s outdoor pool, with sun loungers, wooden pergolas and a mushroom-shaped fountain in the water, and caravans and cabins on grass pitches to the left. The bay shows only as a thin strip of water in the distance. The Solviken tab points out to sea from the restaurant and faces the midday sun, so glare can wash out that view around noon.

Weather and Climate in Apelviken

Apelviken has a mild, damp coastal climate. SMHI averages for Varberg from 2002 to 2020 give July a high of 22 C (72 F) and a low of 13.8 C (57 F), with August almost as warm at 21.5 C (71 F). August is also the wettest month, with about 106 mm (4.2 inches) of rain. Around midsummer the sun is up for nearly 18 hours, though at this heading the sunset itself usually stays out of shot.

Autumn is surf season. October highs drop to about 11.9 C (53 F) and lows to 5.6 C (42 F), with 96 mm (3.8 inches) of rain in a typical October. January averages 2.2 C (36 F) by day and -2.1 C (28 F) at night, and daylight shrinks to under seven hours in late December, when the sun rises low in the southeast, close to where the lens points. Spring is the driest season: April gets about 37 mm (1.4 inches) of rain, with highs near 12 C (54 F).

Things to Do Near Apelviken

Varberg Fortress, about 2.4 kilometers (1.5 miles) north of the camera, was built between 1287 and 1300 by Count Jacob Nielsen as a stronghold against the Danish king Eric VI. It now holds the Halland Museum of Cultural History, home of the Bocksten Man: a medieval man found in a bog east of Varberg in 1936, wearing the only complete set of 14th century clothing known to have belonged to one person. The town’s cold bath house, Kallbadhuset, went up in 1903 in Moorish style on wooden stilts in the sea.

Getteron Nature Reserve, also in Varberg Municipality, is one of northern Europe’s leading birdwatching sites, where pied avocet, ruff, black-tailed godwit and little tern nest in the wetland. Back at Apelviken, two windsurfing centers work the bay, and the resort puts the town center about 1.5 kilometers (0.9 miles) away, an easy walk or bike ride to the square and the harbor.

Similar Webcams You Might Like

Varberg’s town center has a camera of its own, and two more sandy beaches follow.

• Varberg Webcam
• Falkenberg Webcam
• Polzeath Beach Webcam

Frequently Asked Questions

Where is Apelviken located?

Apelviken is a bay on the southern edge of Varberg, in Halland County on Sweden’s west coast. It lies about 71 kilometers (44 miles) south of central Gothenburg in a straight line and faces the Kattegat, the strait between Sweden and Denmark.

What can you see on the Apelviken Webcam?

From the roof of Restaurant Solviken, facing south-southeast, the camera looks over a car park to the curve of Apelviken beach, with houses on the far side of the bay and the open Kattegat on the right. The Poolviken tab shows the resort’s pool area and the Solviken tab a second view out to sea.

Can you check the surf on the Apelviken Webcam?

Yes. The operator aims it at surfers who want to check wind, waves and activity in the bay, and in daylight whitecaps and lines of breaking waves can show clearly. Summer is usually flat, so the camera is most useful from September onward, when autumn storms send wind swell into the bay from the southwest to the northwest.

Does the Apelviken Webcam show Varberg Fortress?

No. The fortress stands about 2.4 kilometers (1.5 miles) north of the camera, behind it, and so do the harbor and the town center. The site’s separate Varberg camera covers Brunnsparken and the main square instead.

What is the weather like in Apelviken?

Mild and damp. July averages a high of 22 C (72 F), January a high of 2.2 C (36 F) and a low of -2.1 C (28 F), and August is the wettest month with about 106 mm (4.2 inches) of rain, according to SMHI’s 2002 to 2020 averages for Varberg.

Is there camping at Apelviken?

Yes. Destination Apelviken, the resort that runs these cameras, has a campground and apartment-style hotel rooms of 46 square meters (495 square feet) with breakfast included.

Is there a restaurant at Apelviken beach?

Yes. Restaurant Solviken, the building under the camera, is open all year with stone-baked pizza and a large open-air terrace on the beach. Nisse’s Bodega serves breakfast and burgers by the pool, and the resort counts six more restaurants around the bay.

Source: Destination Apelviken