Discover Östmark: Lake, Cultural Reserve and Nature

Östmark combines water-based activities, Finnish-influenced landscapes and culture, and varied scenery. At Lake Kläggen, you can plan a visit to a bathing area with a jetty, changing facilities, a barbecue area, toilet and parking. At the same time, the Juhola Cultural Reserve, a historic watermill, nature reserves and a local heritage museum offer different perspectives on the surrounding area. When choosing your holiday apartment, it is therefore worth deciding first what you want to focus on during your holiday: swimming and canoeing, culture and history, or nature experiences with regional cuisine.

Lake Kläggen and the Röjdån: water as a holiday theme

The Vallviken bathing area on Lake Kläggen offers specific facilities for a day by the water. The jetty, changing facilities, barbecue area, toilet and parking make it a clearly defined stop to include in your plans. If you are choosing Östmark primarily for its water activities, you can also plan a canoe trip on the small Röjdån River. The river is navigable by canoe from its source at Lake Kläggen in Östmark to the centre of Torsby. The canoe route begins at the bathing area at the northern end of Lake Kläggen. This allows the bathing area and the river to be considered as different focal points of a water-oriented stay, without combining them into a single activity.

Juhola: Finnish-influenced landscape and culture

Juhola finngård is Värmland’s first cultural reserve. The Juhola Cultural Reserve preserves a cultural landscape characteristic of Värmland’s Finnish-influenced settlement region. Covering 46 hectares, the landscape includes a farmstead, arable land, meadows and forest. Those travelling with children or looking to combine different interests will find an opportunity here to engage with regional history, landscape and farming traditions, without having to limit their stay to a single excursion destination.

Historical traces in Röjdåfors and Törntorp

Röjdåfors Mill has a mill building constructed from log timber, with two pairs of millstones. These were powered by two water wheels. The mill was built in 1859 and remained in operation until 1960. Today, it is an example of a once-common but now rare type of water-powered mill. In the immediate vicinity of the Törntorp local heritage museum, there are also copper mines that were worked by Englishmen in the 1830s and 1840s. Törntorp’s food offerings include Motti with pork, waffles, coffee and homemade bread. This makes it possible to combine a visit to historic sites with a regional culinary experience.

Nature between watercourse and protected area

Nearby, the Rönälvens kanjon Natura 2000 site follows the watercourse from the Törntorp local heritage museum towards Lake Kläggen for a distance of just over 600 metres. North of Östmark/Röjdåfors lies the Abborrtjärnsberg nature reserve; a marked hiking trail leads from the car park to the reserve. When looking for accommodation, you can therefore consider whether nature, the museum and history should be the focus of your days. Anyone wishing to combine nature, the museum and history will plan differently from someone who wants to spend their holiday mainly by the lake or on the Röjdån.

Other places for orientation

For further travel planning, you can also look at Bograngen, Sysslebäck, Ambjörby, Stöllet, Branäs, Likenäs, Torsby and Letafors.

Back to the higher-level travel overview: Torsby.