Discover Bodafors – Culture, Cycling and Nature

Bodafors combines a strong furniture-making and craft tradition with cycling tours, walking trails and nature experiences. If you would like to combine culture and active days on your trip, you will find a variety of options for planning your days here – from exhibitions and historic buildings to routes through the landscape and a bathing spot on Lake Storesjön.

Culture shaped by furniture making, collections and exhibitions

Kulturgatan has been a visitor destination and meeting place with exhibitions and workshops since 2017. Its history is closely connected to local furniture making: Julius Lehmann built his marquetry workshop in Bodafors in 1926. B-fabriken is the only surviving older industrial building of Svenska Möbelfabrikerna. At Villa Svea on Kulturgatan, you can also visit a playful interpretation of the Lehmann family’s artists’ home.

Another insight into the craft tradition can be gained at Pinnstolssamlingen. The extensive chair collection comprises around 200 chairs and was donated to Nässjö Municipality in 1982 by manager Björn Stålsmeden of Nässjö Stolfabrik. Emåns Ekomuseum also offers interesting stops for a visit focused on history and collecting. It consists of four buildings with an interesting history; the former mill and former stable are used as exhibition and collection spaces.

Dock & Leksaksmuseet has been located in Bodafors, Nässjö Municipality, since 1 July 2014, in the former manager’s apartment of a building dating from the 1880s to the 1890s. The exhibits include dolls, teddy bears, toy vehicles, trains, games, children’s books and children’s clothing from a period spanning approximately the 1860s to the 1980s. Bodafors Church adds to the cultural picture: its interior was designed by Bertil Fridhagen, the architect of Svenska Möbelfabrikerna, and produced locally using local expertise in furniture making and woodworking. The old Bodafors Church was incorporated into the new building inaugurated in 1972, which was designed by architect Ralph Erskine. A digitally guided tour is available for the church.

Cycling tours, walking trails and nature

Several options of varying lengths are available for active days. The Grusvägsrull cycling tour starts in Bodafors and leads to Kulturgatan. It is available as a short 24.4 km version and a long 51 km version; both run mainly on gravel, with sections on trails. Kulturrundan is a 44.3 km cycling tour that also continues to Kulturgatan in Bodafors. This allows you to decide before setting off whether a shorter or longer cycling route better suits your plans for the day.

Bodafors Hälsostig is an approximately 8 km walking and exercise trail around the locality. In the southwestern part of Bodafors, the illuminated Bodafors Aktivitetsspår also winds through the landscape. The trail is suitable for wheelchairs, prams and walking frames, and has a guide ramp for white canes along its entire length. Another playful way to explore the area is X-rundan Bodaforspromenaden, a digital quiz walk that can be completed using a mobile phone.

Nature enthusiasts can plan the four-kilometre walk at Emåns Ekomuseum. It passes through twelve different types of natural environment with diverse flora and fauna. At Vikskvarns naturreservat just outside Bodafors, three stages of Höglandsleden meet. For a break by the water, there is Vareviksbadet, a bathing spot on Lake Storesjön in Bodafors. Hans Hantverksbageri och konditori offers coffee and lunch at Röda Längan.

Bodafors as a base for your trip

A holiday apartment or holiday house in Bodafors could suit a trip in which you would like to combine cultural sightseeing, cycling tours, walks and nature experiences. The options vary considerably in format and length: you can choose a digital tour via mobile phone, use an approximately 8 km exercise trail, plan a cycling route of 24.4 or 51 km, or take a four-kilometre walk with opportunities to observe nature. For arrival, Bodafors railway station has step-free access and a ramp.

For further orientation, you can also explore Bäckafall, Stensjön, Solberga, Anneberg, Ormaryd, Norrasonarp, Sandsjöfors and Forserum.

To the higher-level travel overview: Nässjö.