What is the best family canoe trip in Värmland?

With children in the canoe, you plan differently. The days get shorter, every camp needs a place to swim, and the way home should not depend on one windy crossing. Värmland offers four kinds of family trip, and each one fits a different age.

Four family trips compared

	Nordmarken lakes	Glaskogen	Klarälven timber raft	Klarälven canoe
Water	Long lakes with islands and bays, joined by locks	Small lakes plus two large ones, inside one reserve	Wide, slow river, no rapids	The same river
Length	Two days to two weeks	A few hours up to 5 days	1 day up to 8 days	3, 4 or 7 days
Daily distance	Your choice	Short tours, with carries between small lakes	Set by the current, about 2 km/h	About 12–15 km
Nights	DANO campsites with shelter, fireplace and toilet	Wind shelters with firewood	Tent on the bank	Tent on the bank or a sandbank
Route shape	Loop back to your start	Loop tours	One way downstream	One way downstream
Area card for children (2026)	Nature card free under 12	Glaskogen card free under 16	None	None

Fryken and Glafsfjorden are big single lakes. They make a good afternoon on the water with children, but a breeze across that much open water is a lot for a canoe with a small child in it.

Which trip for which age

Under 6. A toddler sits on the floor of the canoe between two adults and needs a break every hour or so. Short hops from a base camp work better than a full tour: paddle to an island, swim, eat, paddle back. On the Nordmarken lakes you can do exactly that from the shore of a canoe camp, and add one or two nights out once the child is used to the boat.

6 to 10. Old enough to hold a paddle, too young to keep it up for long. A good campsite with a swimming rock matters more than the kilometres. Glaskogen’s short Buvatten tour (2–3 hours) is a test run; on the border lakes, a week with nights back at base keeps the energy up. Canoe Tribe lets children paddle from 8, with at least one adult in every canoe.

11 to 16. Teenagers can paddle a full day and help with camp, fire and cooking. This is the age for a longer loop through several lakes, or for the Klarälven raft, where the first day goes to building the raft with logs and rope.

How far to paddle in a day

With children, the youngest paddler sets the pace. Canoe Tribe plans 10–20 km a day for its family week; with children under 10, stay at the low end. Three hours of paddling, split by a long lunch on an island, leaves the afternoon for swimming and camp.

Two habits help:

• Cross open water in the morning, when the wind is usually lightest.
• Pick a campsite with a backup a few kilometres further, in case the first one is full. DANO campsites cannot be reserved.

On the Klarälven the river sets the pace. A raft drifts at about 2 km/h, slower than walking, and a headwind can stop it. That suits patient children and frustrates restless ones.

Safety with children on the water

• Life jackets stay on in the canoe, for children and adults. Give each child’s age and weight when you book so the sizes fit.
• Wind is the main risk on the lakes. Glaskogen warns that Övre Gla can turn windy at short notice. From a central base you choose the sheltered lake each morning.
• River level. The Klarälven runs fast after snowmelt and heavy rain. In summer it is calm, but ask the operator about the water level the week before.
• Swimming. On the timber raft, adults must be able to swim. Children should swim close to camp, never from a loaded canoe.
• Fire. From 1 June to 31 August, fires on the Dalsland–Nordmarken lakes are allowed only in the fixed campsite fireplaces, and not at all during a total ban.
• Emergencies. Call 112. Every DANO campsite has a sign with its name and number to give the rescue service.

More on calm water and first trips in Is canoeing in Värmland suitable for beginners and families?. The river options are compared in Should you raft or canoe the Klarälven?.

The organised family week: Canoe Tribe

Canoe Tribe is a self-guided family canoe week in the Nordmarken lakes, run in Dutch and French. It starts and ends at Outpost North in Gustavsfors and lasts eight days.

• Nights 1, 4 and 7 at basecamp, the others wild camping or at a DANO shelter. The mid-week night back at base gives children a hot tub and a break from the tent.
• 10–20 km of paddling a day.
• Children paddle from 8, with at least one adult per canoe. Under 8 travels free; 8 to 16 gets €100 off.
• From €405 per person with the early-bird price (book before 7 December 2026). Departures on Tuesdays and Thursdays in July and August.
• Included: canoe, paddles, barrel, dry bag, life jackets, Trangia stove, nature card, an app with the route, an activity booklet, and activities such as archery, fire-making and bread on a stick.
• Options: airport shuttle from Oslo Gardermoen (Thursdays), parking, food packs, tent and sleeping set rental, a glamping or hut upgrade.

Dogs can come if you travel by your own car, on a leash and with your own tent.

Planning it yourself: Outpost North

For families who want to choose their own dates and route, Outpost North is where we would start. It sits on the water between Lelång and Västra Silen, so a toddler’s first hour in a canoe and a teenager’s week-long loop both start at the same jetty, with no car transfer. You book a canoe package for two that starts on any day and lasts 1 to 14 days, and a child on the middle seat adds €4 a day. In 2027 a canoe costs €80 a day in May and €115 from 1 July to 13 August, the weeks most families travel. For the nights before and after, there are huts, glamping tents, a café, a sauna and a wood-fired hot tub. Dogs are welcome on a leash.

Sources

Canoe Tribe, Outpost North, Outpost North: canoe tours, Dalsland Nordmarken: nature conservation card, Dalsland Nordmarken: campsites and rules, Glaskogen: canoeing, Glaskogen: Glaskogskortet, Vildmark i Värmland, SMHI.