The West Sweden Tourist Board’s initiative, Stepping up Sustainability, continues to grow and there are now around 400 businesses on board, working alongside us to develop a more sustainable tourism. One of the most recent to join is Nordic Refuge, a new B&B in Dalsland that you can read more about further down the newsletter.
One of the winners of the Stepping up Sustainability awards 2021, Lassalyckan, is just over an hour from Gothenburg and provides training facilities twelve months of the year, with cross-country skiing, mountain biking, running and walking trails, gym, padel, pump track, wake-board and golf. Their long term and visionary work has created the conditions for them to operate sustainably all year round.
On Lassalyckan and the countryside around Ulricehamn you can also go mountain biking with Patrik. Patrik is one of our Locals who enjoy sharing their part of West Sweden with visitors. Meet the Locals is a great way to get an authentic feel of everyday life in West Sweden. Some of the activities offered include having a fika with Sara in her garden near Läckö Castle, going for a walk along the Göta Canal with Alf, or exploring Peter’s Gothenburg.
New site and news for visitors from the Netherlands
The West Sweden Tourist Board has a whole new site in Dutch. The site contains information about nature experiences, accommodation and activities in West Sweden. New content has been created about exciting family friendly holidays in West Sweden during the spring break. You can also read about the road trip taken by the well-known Dutch actors and presenters Kim-Lian van der Meij and Patrick Martens, when they visited West Sweden recently.
As well as the Dutch version, vastsverige.com is available in Swedish, English, German, Danish and Norwegian and we’re very proud that we had 7.2 million visitors to our site in 2021.
The Biosphere Trail is a new long distance path stretching 138 km from Mariestad via Kinnekulle to Läckö Castle in Västergötland. The trail explores one of the Biosphere Reserves chosen by Unesco to create a long term sustainable relationship between people and their local environment.
The Kroppefjäll Trail is 32 km long and traverses West Sweden’s largest wilderness area in Dalsland. This brand new trail will be opened in June 2022 with more stages, shelters, boardwalks and waymarks.
West Sweden is becoming a more popular destination for walkers all the time. Ragnerud is one of the many businesses in Dalsland investing in hiking tourism and their new name – Ragnerud Hiking Destination – reflects this. The accommodation is close to Kroppefjäll, one of West Sweden’s largest wilderness areas, with quality assured hiking trails.
Ragnerud offer a range of attractive hiking packages with accommodation, food and activities included. Maps are provided and guests can rent clothing and equipment. They also offer a wide range of other activities such as paddling (SUP, kayak, canoe), fishing and sauna with cold plunge. Ragnerud’s restaurant is now open all year round and serves gourmet food made with organic and locally produced ingredients.
Enjoy classic Scandi design with cycling and hiking on the doorstep
Nordic Refuge has also opened in Dalsland, a Bed & Breakfast in a renovated former school house. A new take on sustainability is rooms furnished with vintage Scandinavian design classics. 90% of the furniture is second hand and any new furniture (mostly beds) has been made in Sweden. Nordic Refuge serve vegetarian and organic breakfasts and most ingredients are sourced locally.
When you want to get active the new Unionsleden Cycle Route is just around the corner and the Pilgrim Path Dalsland a short distance away.
The newly renovated Rörstrand Museum in Lidköping is re-opening
On 13 April 2022 the Rörstrand Museum in Lidköping, on the shores of Lake Vänern, will be re-opening after a major renovation. A new exhibition will show films as well as drawings and marketing material from the archives dating back to 1730 – material that has never been shown before.
It’s easy to get to the historic town of Lidköping by train from Gothenburg. The journey takes less than two hours and the museum is in the centre of town within walking distance of the railway station.
We’re sure you’re as delighted as we are that at last we can all go to events again. Many exciting events will be taking place in West Sweden in 2022, including the European Oyster Opening Championships, Island of Light Smögen and the Dalsland Canoe Marathon. Read more about a selection of the larger events happening in West Sweden in 2022 in the link below.
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