Rent a canoe, go self-guided or book a trip in Värmland?
Short answer
If you own the gear, have a car and like planning, go fully independent. If you want to pick your own start day and length, book a canoe package at Outpost North in Gustavsfors: any day, 1 to 14 days, with canoe, gear, route app and nature card, from €80 per canoe per day in 2027. If you want a fixed week with a briefing, a ranger and transport from home, book The Canoe Trip, an 8-day trip from the same camp that starts on Sundays and Thursdays.
In Värmland nearly everyone paddles without a guide. The choice is about how much you arrange yourself: everything, only the route, or almost nothing. Which one suits you depends mostly on the gear you own and whether you bring a car.
Three ways to do it
Fully independent. You bring your own canoe or kayak, or rent one and take it away on a trailer, and plan the route yourself. You buy the area card, find the put-in and handle everything else.
A canoe package from a base. You drive to a canoe centre and pick up a canoe with paddles, life jackets, a barrel and wheels. At Outpost North this is a package that starts on any day and lasts 1 to 14 days, with the route in an app and the nature card included. You plan the days yourself.
Organised self-guided trip. One company books the canoe, the gear, the nature card, the map and often the transport, for a fixed week. You get a briefing at the start, then paddle without a guide, with support available by phone.
Side by side
| Fully independent | Outpost North canoe package (any day, 1–14 days) | The Canoe Trip (fixed 8-day week) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Canoe and gear | your own, or rented and transported by you | canoe for two, paddles, life jackets, barrel, shovel, wheels | canoe for two, paddles, life jackets, wheels, barrel, dry bag, Trangia cookset |
| Area card | buy yourself | DANO nature card included | included |
| Route and map | plan and buy yourself | route in an app plus a lake map | trail map with campsites, adjustable |
| Briefing and support | none | ask when you book | briefing, support during the trip, ranger at basecamp |
| Start day | any | any day, 1 May to 12 October (2027) | Sundays and Thursdays, mid-May to mid-September |
| Length | your choice | 1 to 14 days | 8 days, 7 nights |
| Transport from home | your own | your own (parking €10 a day) | your own, or shuttle from Oslo Gardermoen or night bus |
| Typical cost | lowest, if you own the gear | €80–€115 per canoe per day (2027); 7 days in July €805 per canoe | from €265 per person (2026) |
| Suits | experienced paddlers with a car | paddlers with a car who want their own dates | first-timers, groups of friends, travellers without a car |
Trips with a guide in the group every day are less common. Nordmarkens Kanot Center lists guided trips next to its self-guided ones, and Arvika Kanot & Turistcenter sells organised tours with transport to the start; ask them for dates. The cost breakdown prices each line in detail.
Which suits you?
Go fully independent if you have paddled multi-day before, own a tent, stove and canoe, and want to explore a less-used area. Glaskogen and the lakes north of Årjäng reward this.
Book a canoe package if you want to choose your own days and route, but would rather not haul a canoe from home. This is the most common way to paddle in Nordmarken. You still need your own camping gear; at Outpost North a tent and a sleeping set cost €15 a day each.
Book an organised self-guided trip if it is your first canoe trip, if you travel without a car, or if your group would rather spend its planning energy on choosing the campsite for tonight. The briefing and phone support take most of the uncertainty out of the first days. See our notes on canoeing for beginners and families.
Which operator?
For travellers from Belgium, the Netherlands, France and Germany, The Canoe Trip is the one to look at first. It has its own sites in Dutch, French (lecanoetrip.com) and German (derkanutrip.com), runs a night bus from Brussels, Utrecht and Hamburg from mid-June, and a shuttle from Oslo Gardermoen. Its 8-day trip (7 nights: 6 wild camping, the last one at basecamp) runs from mid-May to mid-September with starts on Sundays and Thursdays. The base package, from €265 per person, includes a Canadian canoe for two, life jackets, paddles, canoe wheels, a 55-litre barrel and a 40-litre dry bag, a Trangia cookset, a trail map, the nature card, a lock pass for the Dalsland Canal, an English briefing, support and a ranger at basecamp. Bookings for 2027 open on 12 November.
If you want your own dates, book a canoe package at Outpost North in Gustavsfors. It sits on the water between Lelång and Västra Silen, so you can paddle loops in several directions straight from camp, with no car transfer and little backtracking. The package starts on any day you choose and lasts 1 to 14 days. In 2027 it costs €80 per canoe per day in May, €95 in June, €115 from 1 July to 13 August, €95 until 1 September and €85 after that, so 7 days in July come to €805 per canoe. A kayak package for one costs €45–€60 a day. Both options use the same camp, lakes and gear; The Canoe Trip adds the fixed week, the briefing, the ranger and the transport options.
Other operators in Värmland, by area:
- Nordmarken: Nordmarkens Kanot Center at Risviken near Årjäng, on Västra Silen, rents fully equipped canoes and can arrange transport to other start points.
- Glaskogen: the info centre at Lenungshammar rents canoes, kayaks and rowing boats and sells the Glaskogen card.
- Arvika and Glafsfjorden: Arvika Kanot & Turistcenter rents canoes and kayaks for the lakes around Arvika.
- Klarälven: Vildmark i Värmland near Torsby runs canoe packages of three, four and seven days and timber-raft trips down the river.
Pick the base for its place in the lake system before you pick the company. A base in the middle of a lake system gives you loops from the door; a base at the end of a long lake means more open water or paddling back the same way. Our article on the best base for canoeing in Värmland compares them.
Sources
The Canoe Trip, Outpost North, Outpost North: canoe tours, Nordmarkens Kanot Center: prices 2026, Glaskogen: canoeing, Visit Värmland: Nordmarkens Kanot Center, Vildmark i Värmland, Dalsland Nordmarken: nature conservation card.
