Discover Bäck: Cultural Landscape, Fäbod Trail and Panoramic Views

Bäck is situated prominently in an open cultural landscape and offers wide-ranging views over Lake Siljan. The village combines this open landscape with traces of regional history and trails leading to the historic fäbod environments around Prästbodarna. If you are looking for a holiday destination where nature experiences, cultural history and flexible daily planning can be combined, Bäck offers several concrete starting points for doing so.

Cultural Landscape with Unique Traces

Bäck is one of the villages in the Söderås cultural landscape. This cultural-historical area is of national interest. The cultivated fields of the cultural landscape around Bäck contain clearance cairns—visible indications of the long-standing connection between agriculture and landscape design. The open character of the village makes the surroundings particularly vivid: the view extends far across Lake Siljan, while the fields and villages also tell the story of how they have been used over time.

An unusual discovery adds another dimension to this picture. In 1965, a mammoth tooth was discovered in Bäck, in Söderås at the exit from Rättvik towards Falun, during earthworks for a garage driveway. The find gives the village a surprising prehistoric dimension. Viewed from Falun, Bäck lies among the villages of Mårtanberg, Söderås, Bäck, Altsarbyn and Gärdebyn.

The Fäbod Trail to Prästbodarna

The Elljusspåret trail in Bäck or the slalom slope in Lerdal is listed as the starting and finishing point for the Fäbod Trail to Prästbodarna. The Fäbod Trail from Bäck or Lerdal to Prästbodarna is approximately 42 kilometres long. You should take this distance into account when planning your day and stages. This will help you decide whether to view the trail as a major hiking undertaking or to use your stay primarily for individual observations of the landscape and cultural heritage.

Prästbodarna is located near Bäck, above the village of Dådran. It can be reached via a 1,500-metre-long fäbod path or along a four-kilometre road. Prästbodarna has around 80 houses; most are used for fäbod farming as well as hunting, fishing and berry picking. The origins of Prästbodarna date back at least to the 16th century. This means that you will encounter not only trails through the landscape there, but also a form of land use that has developed over a long period of time.

Hiking Between Forest and Open Landscape

When hiking along a fäbod trail in Rättvik Municipality, the route passes through various fäbod environments. Along the way, you may see remnants of wooden fences, trail markers, house foundations, springs, old deciduous trees and meadow flowers. These details invite you to slow down and pay attention to the transitions between former settlement sites, forest and open areas.

The Siljansleden trail also offers a different landscape experience near Bäck. On the Böle–Rättvik (Enåbadet) section, the trail turns uphill into the forest at Bäck. When planning your trip, this places different hiking experiences side by side: the wide views from the open cultural landscape, the historic fäbod environments and the ascent into the forest.

Which Stay Is Right for You

If you are looking for a holiday apartment or holiday home in Bäck, you can base your choice of accommodation on these interests. For cultural and historical discoveries, Söderås, the clearance cairns and the mammoth tooth find offer points of conversation and concrete points of reference. If hiking is your main priority, you should plan for the approximately 42-kilometre Fäbod Trail as well as the 1,500-metre path or the four-kilometre road to Prästbodarna. If you are travelling with several generations or people with different preferences, it may be useful to consider the open landscape, longer hiking routes and shorter access routes separately.

Other places to consider when searching the region include Vikarbyn, Furudal, Böda, Rättvik and Enviken.

Back to the higher-level travel overview: Rättvik.