Älvdalen

Älvdalen is a municipality in north-western Dalarna, at the border of Härjedalen and Norway.

Understand

Settlements

• Älvdalen
• Idre
• Särna

Talk

While virtually everyone speaks standard Swedish, and understands English, the municipality is home to the Elfdalian language (älvdalska), with around 2,000 speakers. Though it has never had legal standing as a language, it is unintelligible to Swedish-speakers, and was written with runes well into the 20th century.

The dialects in Idre and Särna are considered Norwegian. In the northern edge of the province, Sami is the traditional language.

Get in

By plane

The airports at Sveg or at Sälen can be used to go to Älvdalen or Idre. Connections to Idre are by car or taxi only, 132 km from Sveg and 120 km from Sälen.

By train

There are trains from Stockholm over Arlanda to Mora. Bus connections to Älvdalen, Särna and Idre exist. Tickets from SJ.

By bus

Dalatrafik organises buses from e.g. Mora to Älvdalen, Särna and Idre. In the winter there are direct buses between Stockholm and the Idre ski resort.

Get around

In winter, there is a bus from Särna to Mörket. Its first stop is at the Konsum store in Särna.

See

• tower (Just outside of the village of Särna, coming from Sälen). from where you can see the entire area 
• Gamla Kyrka (Old Church). In the center of town, there is a lovely wooden church from the mid 17th century 
• 1 Fulufjäll National Park (20 km outside of Särna). Sweden's largest waterfall (94 m high), the Njupeskär, is located in the park. A well-marked 4-km trail leads you to the waterfall and back to the parking lot. Wooden walkways are built over the more wet areas along the trail. This is a perfect outing for inexperienced mountaineers. Along the way you can enjoy the varied plant life: 'hjortron' (Cloudberry) in the open areas and in the woods lingon (Cowberry) and blueberry. The woods are a mix of pine and birch. There are bears, wolves and a particularly large type of moose living in the reserve.  
• 2 Porphyry & Hagström Museum (Porfyr- och Hagströmmuseet), Dalgatan 81, 796 30 Älvdalen, ☏ +46 251 314 02, porfyr-hagstrom.museum@alvdalen.se. A museum dedicated to the local findings of porphyry rocks and the Hagström factory in Älvdalen, which manufactured 700,000 accordions and 120,000 guitars in the period 1925–1983. The Hagström electric guitars were played by stars like Frank Zappa and Elvis Presley. Amongst the museum exhibits is a copy of an Elvis Presley guitar. (updated Dec 2018)

Do

Summer - Hiking, Fishing, Bird Watching, the largest waterfall in Sweden in the Fulufjället National Park, Moose Adventure, Beaver watching. Winter - Husky Adventure, Snow Shoe Hiking, Snow Scooter trails, Skiining in Idre or Särna.

Eat

There are a few places to eat, in Idre, 35km from Mörkret and Särna 25km from Mörkret

Stay safe

Close to the Fulufjället National Park, one would find [www.fulufjällsbyn.se], consisting of 22 fully equipped cottages.