Dalarna County, Sweden — Towns & Travel Guide

Dalarna is known as the folk heart of Sweden. Its painted wooden horses, midsummer poles, and lakeside villages stand in the national imagination, and the old copper mine at Falun gives the country both its red paint and a place on the world heritage list. Lake Siljan fills the centre.

Mountains rise in the north-west. People know it for tradition, ski trails, and summer light.

Dalarna lies in central Sweden, a large inland county reaching from the forested lowlands in the south-east up to the mountains along the Norwegian border in the north-west. Deep coniferous forest covers most of the land, broken by lakes, bogs, and river valleys, with the great Lake Siljan set in the centre and the high fells rising beyond the last trees toward Norway. Two rivers shape it.

The Dalälven gathers their waters. The Österdalälven and Västerdalälven run down from the mountains and join to form the Dalälven, the river that gives the province its name and carries its waters east toward the Baltic. Around Siljan lie the old farming villages and the softer country of the lake district.

Mining ground and forest fill the east around Falun. The wild fells and ski slopes of Sälen and Idre rise far to the north-west.

Dalarna holds the strongest folk culture in Sweden. The painted Dalecarlian horse, the midsummer pole, the fiddle tunes, and the timber farmsteads around Siljan have come to stand for the whole country's traditions, kept alive in village festivals and craft through the year. Folk costume still appears at feasts.

Old customs run deep here. The province carries a long mining and farming past, with the copper of Falun shaping its towns and the red paint from the mine spreading across the nation's barns and cottages. Music is central, from the Siljan fiddle gatherings to the great summer festivals.

The midsummer celebrations around the lake draw crowds from across the land. Folk painting, woodcraft, and curd-cheese cooking carry the old country ways, while the Vasaloppet ski race binds the modern province to its history each winter.

Dalarna is old mining country. The copper mine at Falun worked for centuries and grew into one of the most important in Europe, funding the Swedish crown and shaping the towns and farms of the province. The county was formed in the 1630s.

Its farmers held a proud, independent streak and rose more than once in the rebellions that mark Swedish history. The mine, the forests, and the folk villages carry that long story still.

Dalarna has a cold inland climate that hardens toward the mountains. Winters are long, cold, and snowy, with deep and lasting snow across the forests and fells that feeds the province's famous ski trails through the dark months of the year. Summers are short and warm.

Long northern days bring bright evenings to the lakes and villages around midsummer, drawing people out to the water and the woods through the brief, green height of summer. The high fells in the north-west hold snow longest.

Dalarna is reached by rail, road, and air. Trains run up from Stockholm and the south to Borlänge, Falun, and Mora, linking the lake towns to the wider network, while the main roads thread north through the forests toward the mountain valleys. An airport at Borlänge serves regional flights.

In winter, special trains and buses carry skiers to Sälen and Idre. Roads climb on to the Norwegian border in the north-west.