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Historical Walking Tour of Åre, Sweden

Thursday was our first non-skiing day in Åre, so Beth planned a walking tour for the family. The kids tend to be pretty good about these types of things, knowing that both Beth and I enjoying learning about the places we visit. Teenage angst did the journey in after a while, ruining the tour for Beth.

The morning started with Beth and I enjoying a nice, quiet cup of coffee and breakfast at Åre Bageri, a cute little bakery about a 5-10 min walk from our place. I had this amazing donut and Beth had a massive donut topped with almond creme.


We then headed back home to get the kids suited up for the tour. First, we walked out on the lake behind the house for some quick family pictures. I mean, how often do you get to walk on a frozen lake? I have a fear of falling through ice, but when we saw cars driving on the ice, we figured we were ok.


The walking tour itself was about 3 miles long and took around 2 hours. The pictures below are in the order of the tour. I’ll write about the skiing that we did Sunday-Wednesday in another post. Enjoy!

Old Åre Station (1882)

Grottan - Stone staircase with waterfall, built in 1913

Villa Tottebo - Built in 1897 as a hunting lodge and summer cottage, now a restaurant

Grand Hotel, built in 1897

Thomassons Gård, built at the end of the 1890s, is now a guesthouse and conference center

Sporthotellet, built in 1912, is the only complete Art Nouveau building in the Swedish mountains

This was not part of the tour, but I really like the looks of this pub and pizza shop.

Åre Bergbana - A funicular railway built in 1910, this is the first lift in Åre. We used this several times Thursday night when we went sledding.

Gunnargården - Dating to the 19th century, this is a relic of the former farming village of Mörviken.

Mårten's Villa was built in 1911 by and for Mårten Ohlson, though he never lived here because he never married.

Strandberg's Villa, built in the 1930s, remains in the Strandberg family

Villa Solbränna was one of three guesthouses that were ready in time for the opening of the funicular railway in 1910.

Hotell Granen was constructed in 1910 as a guesthouse; the original guesthouse is the middle of this building.

Villa Årebo was run as a cafe and guesthouse

Villa Jamtbol was completed in 1916 as part of the master development plan of Åre

The view of the lake from TOTT, an upscale hotel built through several phases starting in 1889

And the view of the mountains from TOTT

This yellow home stands at one end of Totten Village, a series of farmsteads crowded together on village streets.

Some of the original farms in Totten Village

Åre Old Church was built at the end of the 12th century and has alleged ties to pagans.

Construction on Torvtaket started in 1930 and was completed in 1940. It has a peat roof.

Sometime after 1882, this school was constructed when the state introduced 7-year schooling.

Åregården (1895) was the first hotel operation in Åre, with no real competition until the Grand Hotel opened in 1897.

Hemslöjdshuset - This house was built in 1886 as a trading house.

Peak-huset was built in the 1920s as a shop and photographic studio for Nils Thomasson.
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