Falkenberg is a pleasant small coastal town in Halland, midway along Sweden's south-west coast between Gothenburg and Malmö. The Ätran river runs through the centre and empties into the Kattegat just below the old town, where low wooden houses cluster around the 14th-century Sankt Laurentii Church — one of the best-preserved medieval stone churches in the region. The river is crossed by the 1761 stone Tullbron, the oldest stone bridge still in everyday use on a Swedish public road. The beach at Skrea strand, a ten-minute drive south of the centre, is one of the longest sandy beaches in Sweden and a popular Swedish summer destination.
Falkenberg is famous in Sweden for three things: the Ätran's salmon (a prestige fishing river for centuries — so much so that every year a ceremonial "first salmon" is auctioned off), the local Falcon Brewery, and a long tradition of folk music festivals in the parks along the river. The Törngren family pottery on Krukmakaregatan — see Törngrens Krukmakeri — has been throwing pots in the same backyard since 1791 and is Sweden's oldest working pottery. Not a place most foreign travellers would make a special trip for, but if you are driving the E6 between Gothenburg and Copenhagen, it is a much more interesting overnight stop than it looks from the motorway.