Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
INFORMATION
LJUNGDALEN
Tourist o
ce
(late June to early Aug Mon-Fri 11am-6pm,
Sat 11am-4pm, Sun noon-4pm;
T
0687 200 79,
W
ljungdalen.com). Ljungdalen's tourist office occupies a red-
painted wooden house in the centre of the village and has
good advice about hiking to Helags and about onward travel
possibilities; there's no bus over the plateau to Funäsdalen,
though it is possible to hike there.
ACCOMMODATION AND EATING
Dunsjögården hostel
On the main street
T
0687 202
85
. This hostel with its thirteen rooms also has a swimming
pool and sauna nearby for relaxing th
ose ach
ing musc
les afte
r
hiking, and you can cook here. Dorms
175kr
, doubles
450kr
Restaurang Fjällsippan
In the centre of the village
T
0687 200 24.
The best eating alternative in the
village, serving good pizzas (75kr) and Swedish dishes
(around 150kr) as well as home-made cakes; it's also
fully licensed.
Tues & Thurs-Sat noon-10pm, Mon,
Wed & Sun noon-8pm.
Route 535: the road to Åsarna
From Ljungdalen, one of the most beautiful journeys anywhere in northern Sweden
unfolds. Although the 110km trip to Åsarna certainly requires stamina, it offers a real
taste of wild Sweden. The switchback road cuts through some of the most spectacular
mountain and lakeside landscapes you'll witness in the north, threading its way
around serpentine bends and across narrow isthmuses between the extensive areas of
swampland and spruce forest that characterize this forgotten corner of the country.
Curiously for such a remote route, it is served by
bus
: the #613 runs from Ljungdalen
to Åsarna (bus times at
W
lanstraiken-z.se) providing a rare insight for anyone without
their own transport into life in backwoods Sweden - as the bus trundles through the
tiny villages, you'll notice how the lumberjack culture is alive and well in these parts.
Indeed, the stretch of road between the Härjedalen/Jämtland border and the village of
Börtnan
(1hr 10min from Ljungdalen) runs through one of the region's most
important forestry areas; mountains of timber line the roadside awaiting transport to
the nearest railhead.
8
Jämtland
Stretching from just north of Sveg to the border with Lapland, a distance of around
250km, the province of
JÄMTLAND
is centred round one of Sweden's greatest lakes,
Storsjön
, and its associated watercourses. Altogether more pastoral than its wilder and
more mountainous neighbour to the south, Härjedalen, it was the plentiful supply of
fish from the lake coupled with successful cultivation of the rich lands around its shores
that enabled the region's first settlers to eke out an existence so far north - Stockholm,
for example, is 550km to the south. Although the province can trace its history back to
the early Iron Age, Jämtland has only been Swedish since 1645, before which it was
part of Norway. The people here have a strong sense of regional identity and, in recent
years, have even called (albeit rather half-heartedly) for independence from Sweden.
Spend any length of time here and you'll soon encounter the tremendous pride the
locals have in their villages, forests and lakes.
Approaching from the south, it's the cross-country skiing centre of
Åsarna
that you'll
reach first. Just beyond here,
Hackås
is the location for the wildly entertaining
Årets
Näck
competition, which sees a group of naked male fiddle-players compete for the
prestigious title. The most enjoyable town in the province is the provincial capital of
Östersund
, situated on Storsjön lake, whose murky waters reputedly hide Sweden's own
version of the Loch Ness monster. West of Östersund,
Åre
is Sweden's most popular ski
destination for foreign tourists, whilst nearby
Storlien
has some great summer hiking
right on its doorstep.
