Smögen is a locality

Urban areas in Sweden

Urban area is a common English translation of the Swedish term tätort. The official term in English, used by Statistics Sweden, is, however, locality. There are 1,940 localities in Sweden . They could be compared with census-designated places in the United States.A tätort in Sweden has a minimum of...

 situated in Sotenäs Municipality

Sotenäs Municipality

Sotenäs Municipality is a municipality in Västra Götaland County in western Sweden. Its seat is located in the town of Kungshamn, with around 3,500 inhabitants....

, Västra Götaland County

Västra Götaland County

Västra Götaland County is a county or län on the western coast of Sweden.The county is the second largest of Sweden's counties and it is subdivided into 49 municipalities . Its population of 1,550,000 amounts to 17% of Sweden's population...

, Sweden

Sweden

Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

 with 1,437 inhabitants in 2005. It is one of the liveliest "summer towns" of the Swedish West Coast.

The community actually straddled several islands that lay so close together that the space in between has since been filled, and is now considered as a single island. The southern part consists mostly of Smögen Island, which lies in the centre. Around this lies to the south Kleven, in the northwest Sandön, and in the northeast, Hasselön. The town is connected to the neighbouring town Kungshamn

Kungshamn

Kungshamn is a locality and the seat of Sotenäs Municipality in Västra Götaland County, Sweden with 2,871 inhabitants in 2005.The town consists of the former towns of "Gravarne", "Bäckevik" and "Fisketången". Kungshamn is situated on a peninsula just north of the town Lysekil and on the same...

by Smögenbron (Smögen Bridge).

History

Smögen is mentioned for the first time towards the end of the 16th Century. The name of the community has varied over the years; amongst other names, from "Smögit", "Smöenn", "Smöget" and "Smygesund". The name has probably come from the Swedish word "smyghål", which translates as "sneak-hole" or "nook", referring to the narrow inlet between the Smögen island and where the harbour lies. Around the 17th Century, the island Hasselön was populated, and through the years this community has grown together with Smögen, and is today considered a part of the Smögen community.

Tourism

Smögen is well known today for its long, wooden pier (around 600 meters), filled with shops in old fishing huts, which are frequented by a multitude of tourists during the summer. Smögen is one of the most popular tourist destinations on the Swedish West Coast, well known for its fish, prawns and other seafood, and one of Sweden's few fish markets is located here.