One SL bus takes you from Stockholm’s suburbs to the edge of the largest old-growth forest south of the Dalälven river. This guide covers which bus, which trail, where the 1999 fire burned, and the rules that apply once you are inside.
When you need this
- You want old forest and lakes as a day trip from Stockholm without a car
- You are choosing which trail to walk from the bus stop
- You want to see the forest that burned in 1999
- You are bringing a dog, a stove or a tent and need the park’s rules
- You are planning a winter or off-season visit
Tyresta at a glance
Tyresta protects a rift-valley landscape of old-growth pine and spruce forest, bare rock polished by the inland ice, burned forest and small lakes, about twenty kilometres from Stockholm city centre. The county board describes trees around 400 years old and rare lichens, wood fungi, mosses and beetles. From Tyresta by you can walk east for a whole day and reach the sea without leaving the forest or crossing a major road.
| Fact | Value |
|---|---|
| National park since | 1993 |
| Area | 1,962 hectares, 1,879 of them land |
| Municipalities | Haninge and Tyresö |
| Owner / manager | The Swedish state / the Tyresta Forest Foundation (Stiftelsen Tyrestaskogen) |
| Trails | 55 km, with fire places and shelters |
| Surrounding buffer | Tyresta nature reserve, protected since 1986, 2,949 ha |
Getting there without a car
Only the main entrance, Tyresta by, has public transport. SL bus 834 runs all the way to the stop Tyresta by, and an ordinary SL ticket covers it: tap a contactless card for a single. Länsstyrelsen’s page says the bus starts at Haninge’s commuter-train station; check the SL journey planner for the current route and your last bus back.
Buses 807 and 809 are the trap. The park manager says they stop at Svartbäcken, about 3 km on foot from the entrance, even though one county page lists them as going to Tyresta by. Take 834.
The park’s other entrances — Stensjödal in the east, Brakmaren, Storängen/Långsjön and Höjden in the north — are reached by car or bike only. By car, take route 73 and exit at route 260 toward Brandbergen, then follow signs for nationalpark. Parking at the main entrance is paid, with spaces for disabled drivers and motorhomes; the park page does not publish the rate.
Tyresta by and the naturum
Tyresta by is the village at the main entrance, dating from the 1700s, with most of its red buildings still on their original sites. Sheep and cattle graze the meadows, and Iron Age graves mark the first settled people here. It is the contrast to the forest beyond: a landscape shaped by people and grazing animals for centuries.
The naturum (official nature visitor centre) here is called Nationalparkernas hus, “the house of the national parks”. The building is laid out as a map of Sweden and presents all the country’s national parks from south to north, and staff suggest trails for the day. Entry is free. Drinking water and toilets are in the village too.
Which trail to walk
Four marked trails start at or pass Tyresta by. Lengths are the park manager’s own figures.
| Trail | Length | Marking | What it is |
|---|---|---|---|
| Urskogsstigen | 2 km loop | Green | Hilly introduction to the old-growth forest, with information signs |
| Bylsjöpromenaden | 5 km loop | Red | Around Bylsjön, no roots or stones; wheelchair-usable after a steep start |
| Tyrestarundan | 13 km loop | Purple | A full day past several forest lakes and through the 1999 burned area |
| Sörmlandsleden stage 3 | 9.5–13 km one way | Orange rings | Tyresta by to Nyfors; shelter and dry toilet at Årsjön |
Sörmlandsleden’s figures disagree: the trail association counts 13 km from Alby friluftsgård and 9.5 km from the Nyfors end, while the park page says 11 km. Plan on the longer figure. For two days, Sjöleden runs 16 km from Alby to Sandemar across the Tyresta area, marked blue, with fire rest spots by the lakes where you may spend the night and public transport at both ends.
The 1999 fire area
In summer 1999 a forest fire burned in the eastern part of Tyresta for a week and took about 450 hectares before it was brought under control. A few years later a fly species new to science, the Tyresta fly (Tyrestaflugan), was found there. Today the area is silver pine skeletons among young pine, birch and aspen, with thick haircap moss in the damp hollows.
- From the bus: Tyrestarundan reaches the burned area in about 45 minutes from Tyresta by.
- From Stensjödal (car or bike): Fornborgsrundan, 6 km around the Lanan and Stensjön lakes, crosses the burned area on both sides of the water. The manager rates it demanding, with several steep slopes. (The burned-area page calls it Fornborgsslingan.)
- The view: the fire place at Stensjön looks out over the 1999 area.
Stay on the trails. Off them the manager describes a tangle of fallen trunks that is very hard to walk through.
Park rules: dogs, fires, tents, boats
The park’s regulations (föreskrifter, NFS 2016:12) are binding law. You still have allemansrätten, the right of public access, to walk anywhere on foot, but with these limits:
| Activity | Rule in the national park |
|---|---|
| Dogs | Leashed, all year — the same for other pets |
| Fire and grills | Only at designated fire places; camping stoves (friluftskök) allowed anywhere |
| Tents | Stensjödal camp, max three nights; or another designated place, one night, 18:00–10:00 |
| Shelters (vindskydd) | One night in a row |
| Bikes | Only on designated roads and trails |
| Boats, canoes | Not allowed on lakes or streams |
| Drones | No take-off or landing, no flying below 300 m |
| Berries, edible mushrooms | May be picked |
| Plants, mosses, lichens, wood fungi, insects | Not without a county permit |
Designated fire places include Bylslätt and Bylsjön, the shelter at Årsjön, Stensjön and Styvnäset. A fire ban (eldningsförbud) can close them: in Stockholm County the county board decides bans with the rescue services, municipalities can add their own, and bans are shown on the national fire-ban map. Under an ordinary ban, fires and grilling in nature stop but permanent, purpose-built fire places stay allowed; under a stringent ban they close too. Gas and liquid stoves stay allowed under both, and a breach can be fined.
The leash rule is stricter than the national one, which only requires dogs to be kept from running loose where there is wildlife from 1 March to 20 August. In Tyresta the lead stays on in October too.
Park or reserve: why the line matters
The national park sits inside the larger Tyresta nature reserve, which acts as its buffer zone and has its own regulations. Tyresta by is in the reserve; the forest trails from it enter the park. Both ban loose dogs and fires outside designated places, but the tent rules differ:
| Where | Tent rule |
|---|---|
| Tent meadow at Tyresta by (reserve) | Three nights; WC and an outdoor sink |
| Elsewhere in the reserve | Max two days in one place |
| Stensjödal camp (park) | Max three nights; groups of 10 or more book it free through the foundation |
| Other fire rest spots and shelters (park) | One night |
For a first overnight trip on public transport, the Tyresta by meadow is the easy option: it is at the bus stop. The shelters at Årsjön, Långsjön and Lanan are popular all year, so expect to share.
Tyresta in winter
The trails stay open and camping is popular year-round, but plan around three things:
- Naturum hours shrink: January–March, Wednesday–Friday 10:00–15:00, except during the Easter, autumn and Christmas school holidays. The 2026–2027 Christmas dates are not yet published.
- Roads are not ploughed or sanded, and cars are not allowed on the park roads anyway. The tent meadow’s WC is open only in the summer half-year.
- Ice is unchecked: the county lists skating at Stensjön, but natural ice is never checked for you. Core ice should be at least 10 cm thick; never go alone or without ice claws. Our ice safety guide has the detail.
Accessibility
The main entrance and Tyresta by are adapted: a cast-concrete path crosses the meadow to the forest edge, then a boardwalk leads to a gathering point by Bylsjöbäcken. Naturum, the farm and the nearby fire places are wheelchair-accessible, with adapted toilets and parking at all the buildings. Bylsjöpromenaden works for a wheelchair after its steep start, and forest roads in the northern reserve reach Långsjön, Stensjön and Lanan on easy surfaces. Electric wheelchairs are exempt from the park’s vehicle ban.
Practical information
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Entry | Free; no entry fee on the manager’s or county’s pages (checked 2026-09-25) |
| Naturum | Free; April–June and 16 Aug–Oct Tue–Sun 10–16; July–16 Aug daily 10–16; Jan–Mar Wed–Fri 10–15 (checked 2026-09-25) |
| Bus | SL bus 834 to Tyresta by; SL ticket |
| Parking | Paid at Tyresta by; rate not published (checked 2026-09-25) |
| Group tent meadow, Stensjödal | Free to book, 10+ people (checked 2026-09-25) |
| Drinking water | Tyresta by; pumps at Stensjödal, Fridhem, Spirudden, Styvnäset, Åvaviken — not lake water |
| Toilets | WC at naturum and the farm; dry toilets at Årsjön and Stensjödal |
| Health | Haninge and Tyresö are TBE risk area 1 — see the TBE vaccine guide |
| Lost | Call 112 without delay; stay somewhere open and visible, and stay on any road or larger path you reach |
FAQ
How do I get to Tyresta National Park from Stockholm?
Take SL bus 834, which runs all the way to the main entrance at the stop Tyresta by; an ordinary SL ticket covers it. Buses 807 and 809 stop at Svartbäcken, about 3 km on foot from the entrance. The park’s other entrances, including Stensjödal, have no public transport, so start at Tyresta by and check the last bus back.
Can I walk through the area that burned in 1999?
Yes, on the marked trails. The 1999 fire burned for a week across about 450 hectares in the east of the park. From Tyresta by, Tyrestarundan reaches the burned area in about 45 minutes; from Stensjödal, the 6 km Fornborgsrundan crosses it. Off the trails, fallen trunks make the ground very hard to walk.
Does it cost anything to visit Tyresta?
No entry fee is listed on the park manager’s or the county board’s pages, and the naturum exhibition is free. You pay for getting there: an SL ticket on bus 834, or paid parking at the main entrance, where the park page does not publish the rate. Booking the Stensjödal group tent meadow is free too.
Can I bring my dog to Tyresta National Park?
Yes, on a leash. The park regulations ban loose dogs and other pets all year, and the surrounding nature reserve has the same rule, so the lead stays on from the car park or bus stop onward. This is stricter than the national rule, which only requires dogs to be kept from running loose where there is wildlife from 1 March to 20 August.
Can I camp or make a fire in Tyresta?
Fires only at designated fire places; camping stoves are allowed anywhere. Tents are allowed at the Stensjödal camp for up to three nights, or at another designated place for one night between 18:00 and 10:00; shelters for one night. The tent meadow at Tyresta by allows three nights. A stringent fire ban closes the fire places, leaving only stoves.
Is Tyresta worth visiting in winter?
Yes, if you plan for it. The trails stay open, camping is popular year-round, and the county lists skating at Stensjön, but check natural ice yourself. Park roads are not ploughed or sanded, and from January to March the naturum opens only Wednesday to Friday, 10:00–15:00, except in school holidays.
Related guides
- Day hikes near Stockholm — Tyresta alongside five other hikes you can reach on an SL ticket
- Swedish national parks — how all 31 parks and their regulations work
- Stockholm public transport — tapping in and ticket validity for bus 834
- Campfire rules in Sweden — what each fire-ban tier closes
- Leash law in Sweden — the national dog rules behind the park’s stricter one
For more of the city, see the Stockholm travel guide; for camping outside protected areas, wild camping in Sweden; for the opposite end of the national-park scale, Sarek.
Facts verified 2026-09-25. Sources: Länsstyrelsen Stockholm, Sveriges nationalparker (Naturvårdsverket) for the Tyresta Forest Foundation, the Sörmlandsleden trail association, SL, Storstockholms brandförsvar, Krisinformation.se, Folkhälsomyndigheten, Issäkerhetsrådet, Sveriges riksdag and the Swedish Police Authority — full register in this topic’s source file. Found something outdated? Tell us and we’ll fix it.