Stavehøl – Bornholm's Most Beautiful Waterfall

The Kobbeå valley – the path to the waterfall

Stavehøl is hidden deep in the Kobbeå valley – one of Bornholm's most beautiful rift valleys. Steep, in places almost vertical rock walls create a dramatic backdrop, while the valley floor is covered in rich, near-primeval vegetation – oaks, hornbeams, ash trees, wild cherries, hazel and wych elms. In spring, before the leaves unfold, the forest floor is first blanketed in blue anemones, soon followed by millions of white anemones and yellow wood anemones. The pungent wild garlic (ramsløg) grows abundantly here, in places displacing the anemones.

Stavehøl waterfall

Stavehøl is a rock crevice 7.2 metres high and just 2 metres wide, through which water thunders down from a height of 5.6 metres straight into the depths. The waterfall almost always has plenty of water and is at its most spectacular in spring during the snowmelt. At the base of the waterfall there is a deep pool filled with water all year round – it is this pool that gave the place its name.

The name Stavehøl dates from the mid-18th century. "Stabbe" is the Bornholm dialect word for broken tree trunks still rooted in the ground, typical of red alder thickets. "Høl" means a depression in a riverbed where water stands all year round.

Wildlife and nature of the valley

The Kobbeå valley is a paradise for nature lovers. In the stream you can find trout, while on the rocks and branches you may spot the rare lesser spotted woodpecker (lille flagspætte). The valley is one of the places on Bornholm with the largest number of breeding pairs of this species.

A particularly fascinating inhabitant of the waterfall is the white-throated dipper (vandstær) – a bird that in some years builds its nest on a rocky ledge right behind the curtain of falling water. It is captivating to watch it fly straight through the waterfall's stream, darting in and out of the nest.

The stream is also home to the remarkable freshwater limpet (Ancylus fluviatilis) – a barely two-millimetre species whose density on the streambed exceeds 500 individuals per square metre. It is a relict species, once widespread in the Baltic when it was still a freshwater lake around 8,000 years ago.

Hiking trail

The waterfall is reached via a trail of about 2 km that starts at the road south of Melsted and follows the Kobbeå stream up the valley. The route leads through a lush, green rift valley and is relatively easy to walk. After seeing the waterfall you can return the same way along the stream or take the path to Kobbevej, from where you walk back to the beach car park.

Just before the waterfall the path passes under an old railway bridge from 1916, built for the line connecting Gudhjem with Østerlars. The railway was closed as early as 1952, but the massive bridge structure over Spagerå has survived to this day as an interesting piece of industrial heritage.

You will find navigation buttons and the waterfall location below. You can leave your car at the car park by Melsted beach, right at the entrance to the village when coming from Svaneke.

Around the waterfall

Just beyond the waterfall the water splits into two branches – Klævstrømma – which rejoin at the confluence with the Præstebæk stream to form the Kobbeå. Between the branches there is a small island, and next to it a rise known as Thors Ryg (Thor's Ridge). Just before the confluence, Præstebæk flows through a small canyon in the bedrock, creating a smaller waterfall – Hullegårdsfaldet.

Above Stavehøl, south of the waterfall, stands a protected multi-stemmed oak, and nearby there is a boulder with a mysterious rock carving that local historians believe may have been a medieval guild mark of water and windmill owners.

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