Timber Rafting on Klaralven

Photos: Hipfel/Starck

Download a free desktop image for this tour

How to build a log raft

As well as logs and rope (your only building materials), you will need to bring a sense of teamwork and a sense of humour to the water's edge as you assemble your log raft.

Generally the raft consists of three levels. The largest logs go on the bottom layer, the thinnest ones at the top, and a mixture of clove hitches, half hitches and reef knots will be used to secure the logs together.

Once the base is complete, all that is left is to string up a tarpaulin to shield you from the sun (or rain!), choose a pole (vital for steering), pack the raft and push off!

Water > Timber Rafting on Klarälven

A timber raft holiday adventure Huckleberry Finn style!

Timber rafting holidays in Sweden: Klarälven.

This experience is ideal for active families, groups of friends, school parties and Scout groups. Building and piloting a timber raft is a marvellous exercise in teamwork and a unique adventure, and special rates are available for groups of 10 or more.

The River Klarälven has the longest history of use as a professional logging route in Sweden and was used for this purpose right up until 1991. Today you have an opportunity to keep this old tradition alive by building and floating your own timber raft.

Floating peacefully down river on a timber raft must surely have been the stuff of childhood dreams. You will build and pilot your own raft down Klarälven ("Clear River"), an ideal way to experience rural Värmland and the tiny villages of the Klarälven valley, and with an excellent chance of encountering beavers.

But floating downstream in a leisurely manner is only part of the story - this is a voyage of adventure, a journey of discovery and an excellent team-building activity. You will need to keep a keen eye out for obstacles such as sandbanks and overhanging branches, learning to handle your raft with pole and paddles as you steer her towards your final destination.

The timber rafts used on the Klarälven river are straightforward to build and to dismantle after the trip. Logs about 3 metres (nine feet) long and rope are the only materials allowed.

The Klarälven timber rafting tour takes you through a beautiful rural area of forests, small villages and farmland, giving you the opportunity to stop for provisions and explore the surrounding countryside along the route.

Photo: Hipfel/Starck

The Klarälven river was actively used as a logging route from the early eighteen thirties until 1991. During the last years of the operation, around 6 million logs made their way down the river each year.

At various points along the way, logs would be collected and stripped to make paper pulp, with around 95% of the pulp timber originating from the Norwegian section of the river.

Today, although the river is no longer used to transport logs commercially, forestry and paper production continue to be a vital industry in Sweden. The very logs that you will use to build your raft will one day follow their "ancestors" to become paper. But what a life of adventure they lead in the meantime!

Comments on Timber Rafting on Klarälven:

"Firstly can I thank you personally on behalf of the whole group for being so organised and helpful in the pre-trip planning stage...it gave me great confidence that we'd be treated well and all would go smoothly from the very beginning. The trip was great, truly great...from the first day we were all talking about how clean and beautiful Sweden is. The wildlife and scenery all along the river were amazing and none of us wanted the trip to end - the last day on the river was a solemn affair with talk quickly runing to doing a longer trip next time!...Thank again and I'll hopefully be in touch next year with plans for the return trip." Jon

"We were very happy with the departure information especially as we booked the holiday at such short notice...We thoroughly enjoyed our holiday despite it raining for the three days we were on the raft. It was more exciting than we expected...It was a great experience, thank you." Gwen

"We were hoping to bump into a raft of Swedish beauties. Sadly, this did not materialise...Everyone on the trip thoroughly enjoyed themselves. It wasn't perhaps as relaxing as we expected (getting caught in a log trap in the rain didn't help!) but was very good fun. Making and dismantling the rafts was really good." Jamie