Nusnäs Dala horse workshops
Where the Dala horse is carved and painted
Watch carvers and painters at work at Nils Olsson and Grannas A. Olsson, the two family firms that have made Dala horses here for generations.
NusnäsCraftFree
Lake Siljan, Sweden
Ideal: 3–4 daysBest: Jun–Aug, Feb–MarPrice: Moderate
In 60 seconds
Lake Siljan in 60 seconds
Lake Siljan fills part of a meteorite crater 377 million years old, and the villages around it — Leksand, Tällberg, Rättvik, Nusnäs and Mora — are the Sweden of postcards: red timber farms, birch woods sloping to the water and maypoles on the village greens. This is where Swedes come to celebrate midsummer as it ought to be done, with folk costume, fiddles and, at Leksand and Rättvik, long church boats rowed across the lake. In Nusnäs two family workshops still carve and paint the Dala horse by hand, and you can watch them. Mora has the Zorn Museum, the painter Anders Zorn's home and studio, and the finish line of the Vasaloppet ski race; near Rättvik, concerts are held in Dalhalla, a flooded limestone quarry. Rent a cabin, swim off the jetties, and slow down.
LakeFolk cultureCountrysideMidsummer
Best for
- Nature
- Hidden gems
Known for
- Midsummer
- Dala horses
- Zorn Museum
- Dalhalla
Skip if
You want a city break — Siljan is lakes, villages and long, quiet days, and you need a car to move between them.
Your match
Choose a few travel interests and we will show how well Lake Siljan fits them. Choose interests
See
Must experience
The things that would make the trip incomplete without them.
Zorn Museum & Zorngården
ModerateAnders Zorn's paintings and his home in Mora
The world's largest collection of Zorn's work, then a guided tour of the timber house he designed with his wife Emma.
MoraArtHistoric house
Dalhalla
ExpensiveOpen-air stage in a limestone quarry
Opera and concerts in a vast quarry formed by the Siljan crater, with the stage on an island in a green pool.
RättvikConcertsSummer
Långbryggan, Rättvik
A long wooden jetty out into Siljan
Walk more than half a kilometre out over the water for the view back to the lakeside church; at dusk it is all reflections.
RättvikFreeLake
Eat
Where to eat
A short list, kept short on purpose. Each entry answers one question: when is this the right choice?
Local
Where to eat the food this city is actually known for.
Åkerblads
ExpensiveOld inn in a Tällberg farmstead
A family-run inn grown out of a farm, serving Dalarna's food in timbered rooms.
TällbergDalarnaInn
Klockargården
ExpensiveHotel restaurant in a village of old houses
Dinner in a group of old timber buildings above the lake, with local produce on the menu.
TällbergHotelView
Beyond the obvious
Hidden gems
Less obvious, rarely queued for, and usually the part people remember.
Tällberg
Hillside village of timber houses above the lake
A cluster of old farmsteads turned inns and craft shops, with the finest views over Siljan.
TällbergViewVillage
Church-boat rowing
Long wooden boats with a crew of a dozen or more
Villagers once rowed to church across the lake; at midsummer and in summer races the big boats still come out.
Leksand & RättvikSummerTradition
Orientation
Neighbourhoods
How the city is actually divided, and what each part is for.
Rättvik
Lakeside village with the long jetty
Shops, the church on its point and the station, with the jetty and a beach in town.
Mora
The largest town on the lake
The Zorn Museum, the Vasaloppet finish and the most shops and restaurants round the lake.
Leksand
Midsummer's capital
On Midsummer Eve thousands gather to watch the maypole raised by the lake.
Stay
Where to stay
Areas rather than hotels — pick the right one and the rest follows.
Tällberg
ExpensiveInns with a lake view
The prettiest base, halfway between Leksand and Rättvik.
QuietView
Cabins round the lake
ModerateRed cottages to rent
A cottage with its own jetty is the way Swedes holiday here; book early for July.
FamiliesSelf-catering
Practical
Know before you go
- Getting in
- Trains from Stockholm run to Leksand, Rättvik and Mora in about three to four hours.
- Getting around
- A car or a bike: the villages are 10 to 40 kilometres apart, and buses are infrequent.
- Midsummer
- The Friday nearest 24 June; the maypole raisings at Leksand and Rättvik draw big crowds, so book a bed months ahead.
- Vasaloppet
- The 90-kilometre ski race from Sälen to Mora is held on the first Sunday in March.
- Taste locally
- Kolbulle, smoked fish from the lake, and a fika in an old farmstead.
- Combine with
- Falun's copper mine, and Stockholm or Uppsala on the way.
Plan this trip — useful links
Context
History in 5 minutes
Enough to make what you are looking at legible.
- 377 million years ago
A meteorite strikes, leaving the ring of lakes that Siljan now fills.
- 1520s
Gustav Vasa rallies the men of Dalarna against the Danish king, the escape remembered by the Vasaloppet.
- 1840s
Dala horses are being carved in the villages round the lake as toys in long winter evenings.
- 1922
The first Vasaloppet is skied from Sälen to Mora.
Further out
Nearby escapes
Worth a day if you have one to spare.
Falun Mine
The copper mine that built Sweden's power · UNESCO
Go down into the mine whose copper painted every red Swedish cottage, and see the great collapsed pit.
1 hr by car from RättvikUndergroundUNESCO