Karlstad: the sun city on Lake Vänern

The Old Bridge of Karlstad, constructed of nineteenth-century stone, remains the sole monument to survive the great fire that razed the city in 1865.

Just steps away, Lake Vänern, Sweden's largest lake and among Europe's greatest, offers beaches and boat trips during the summer months.

Heading toward the center, you visit the Värmland Museum, which chronicles the province's history and the celebrated fire that destroyed Karlstad in the nineteenth century.

As evening falls, lakeside parks animate evening strolls during the long Scandinavian summer days.

Karlstad was almost completely destroyed by a fire in 1865 that consumed nine hundred buildings out of one thousand, leading to the rebuilding of the city according to a modern urban plan with wider streets.

Lake Vänern, Sweden's largest and among the major freshwater lakes of Europe, is home to a unique freshwater seal, a survivor isolated since the last ice age and today a protected species.