Värmland County, Sweden — Towns & Travel Guide

Värmland is known for forest and water. The county runs from the great Lake Vänern up the long valley of the Klarälven into a wilderness of woods, lakes, and rivers along the Norwegian border, country that gave the writer Selma Lagerlöf her tales. Karlstad sits where the river meets the lake.

Forests cover most of the land. People know it for canoeing, sunlit lakes, and a strong literary and folk tradition.

Värmland lies in western Sweden, a large inland county reaching from the northern shore of Lake Vänern up through deep forest to the mountains and forests of the Norwegian border. Coniferous woodland covers most of the land, broken by a fan of long, narrow lakes and the broad valleys of rivers that run south toward the great lake, with the hills rising and the country growing wilder as it nears the frontier in the north and west. The Klarälven shapes the county.

It is the longest river in the land. This great river runs down from Norway through the heart of Värmland and empties into Lake Vänern at Karlstad, where it spreads into a wide delta of channels and islands. The long Fryken lakes thread the western country, and Lake Vänern, the largest lake in Europe, forms the southern edge.

Forest and bog fill the north. Farm valleys, old ironworks, and lakeside villages dot the gentler country toward the lake.

Värmland holds a strong place in Swedish letters and song. The province gave the country its first woman Nobel laureate in Selma Lagerlöf, whose home at Mårbacka and whose tales of the Fryken lakes still draw readers, and a long line of poets and musicians has carried its forests and waters into Swedish culture. The dialect is soft and musical.

Storytelling runs deep here. The county also carries a long history of iron and forest work, with old foundries, charcoal kilns, and timber-floating traditions marking the valleys and woods. Folk music, fiddle gatherings, and summer festivals fill the warm months, and the lakeside towns keep a lively cultural life.

Mårbacka stands open as a museum. Canoeing, fishing, and forest walking shape the outdoor year, while the border country keeps the old ties and traffic between Värmland and neighbouring Norway alive across the seasons.

Värmland is old forest and iron country. Settlers farmed the lake valleys and floated timber down the rivers, while the forests fed a web of ironworks and foundries that made the province a centre of early Swedish industry. The county was formed in the eighteenth century.

Karlstad grew at the river mouth into the regional capital, and in the early twentieth century it gave its name to the treaty that peacefully dissolved the union between Sweden and Norway. Forests, foundries, and lakeside towns carry that long story still.

Värmland has a cool inland climate. Winters are cold and snowy, with lasting snow across the forests and the northern hills that feeds the ski trails and the frozen lakes through the dark months of the year. Summers are warm and bright.

The long, light days warm the lakes and rivers, drawing swimmers, paddlers, and anglers out across the water through the green height of summer in the south of the county. The northern forests stay cooler and hold snow longer than the lake country.

Värmland is reached by rail, road, and air. Trains run west from Stockholm and east from Oslo to Karlstad, which sits on the main line between the two capitals, while the motorway threads the same route along the northern shore of Lake Vänern. Karlstad has its own airport.

Roads climb north up the river valleys into the forests. Onward roads cross the border into Norway in the west.