Arvika

Arvika is a town in Värmland in Sweden with 14,000 inhabitants, and the centre of Arvika municipality (Arvika kommun), which has about 26,000 inhabitants.

Understand

Arvika is known for various cultural activities, such as (until 2010) holding the Arvikafestivalen music festival each summer.

The area is also renowned for its arts and crafts: e.g. the Klassbols linen mill, a glass-blowing studio. In town there are many arts and crafts shops. Around 1900, there was an artists community working in Rackstad Colony, which is now a museum. These artists designed the church of Arvika in Nordic Romantic style.

The area around Arvika is mainly forest area. There are several nature reserves where you can walk along marked hiking trails.

Get in

By plane

Oslo Gardermoen Airport is the nearest international airport. Karlstad airport has daily flights from Stockholm.

By train

Take the train from Karlstad or Oslo.

• 1 Arvika railway station (Arvika järnvägsstation), Järnvägsgatan 27. (updated Jul 2020)

By bus

Take a bus from Karlstad or Oslo.

Public transportation within Värmland is available, although can be infrequent. The website for Värmlandstrafik is really only in Swedish but is largely usable to English speakers and provides a phone number which you can call to find out more.

See

• Arvika Fordonsmuseum. Thermiavägen 2. A museum full of old cars, motorcycles and other vehicles. 
• Rackstadmuseet. In the early 20th century, this was an artist community. 
• 1 Såguddens Museum, Sågudden, 671 32, ☏ +46 570 137 95, info@sagudden.se. By the lake lies Såguddens open-air museum where you can get a guided tour in summer. The museum has a number of farm buildings that were moved there from around the area.  
• In town there are a number of modern sculptures to admire.

Do

• Walk around in Arvika stadspark. It is a lovely park with a small lake and a fountain.
• Visit Glava Glasbruk (35 km away, on the other side of lake Glafsfjorden), an old glassworks that has gone from producing 40% of Sweden's window glass to being closed down to being a studio glassworks and museum.
• Glaskogen. A nature reserve. 

Buy

There are various shopping opportunities on Storgatan and Kyrkogatan.

Eat

• O'Learys, Kyrkogatan 37, ☏ +46 570 850 00. American-inspired food and bar. 

Sleep

• Jennys Hotell & Restaurang, ☏ +46 570 15177, info@jennys.se. Palmviksgatan 11. A nice and centrally located hotel. 

Go next

• Klässbols Linen Mill, .