Ånimskog lies in the southernmost part of Åmål Municipality, about 20 km south of the main town along the E45. Church art and traces of the Stone Age feature alongside an archipelago landscape, hiking trails and swimming spots. This offers a simple starting point for planning your trip: would you like to focus on cultural heritage, nature or water?

Archipelago Landscape and Hiking Trails

Yttre Bodane is a forested archipelago landscape in Lake Vänern and is also a hiking trail and nature reserve. Notable features there include 11 nationally significant Bronze Age coastal cairns. Yttre Bodane is well suited to kayaking; a launch site is about 400 m south of the car park. The area offers different ways to experience it: hiking, coastal scenery and paddling.

Sörknatten Nature Reserve is a mountainous and forested area with a hiking trail. The Sörknatten Trail is 6.5 km long. Baståsen Nature Reserve features a different type of landscape: a steep slope covered in deciduous forest that stretches down to Lake Ärr. The Baståsen Trail is about 6 km long and runs alongside Lake Ärr for part of the way. The two trails are similar in length; the Baståsen Trail also offers the specific point of comparison that it runs alongside the lake for part of the way.

Baståsen is also one of the most species-rich sites in Dalsland for land snails and other terrestrial molluscs. A total of 32 snail species and five different slug species have been recorded there. Baståsen shares a car park at the northern entrance to Sörknatten Nature Reserve, and an information board connects Baståsen with Sörknatten. Film history is also linked to the area around Sörknatten: large parts of the film Ronja Rövardotter were shot in the vicinity of the mountain.

Church, School Museum and Stone Age History

Ånimskog Church combines a long building history with distinctive interior features. Its oldest parts were probably built towards the end of the 13th century. The baptismal font also dates from the 13th century and was made from sandstone quarried near Kinnekulle. The interior is characterised by a provincial Baroque style from the 18th century. The painted wooden ceiling dates from 1739 and was created by Hans George Schüffner. Sculptor Nils Falk created the altarpiece in 1729 and also made the pulpit. A panoramic view of the exterior and interior of Ånimskog Church is available.

Another historical collection can be found at Årbol School Museum, which contains 6,000 schoolbooks from different periods. There are also four documented passage graves on the historic lands of Ånimskog. The passage grave in Byn is on private property; visitors should park in the designated area.

Swimming Spots and Practical Information

The swimming spots also offer different experiences. From the campsite car park, a path of about 500 m leads through the forest to the swimming spot at Stora Strand. There is also a swimming spot at Lake Furusjön near Ånimskog. Lake Ånimmen is considered one of the most fish-rich lakes in Åmål Municipality.

Ånimskog has, among other things, bus connections to Åmål. If you plan to travel by bus, check the connections for your travel dates. When looking for a hotel, you can first decide what matters most to you, then check where a specific accommodation is located in relation to the places you want to visit.

Discover more destinations: Tösse, Åmål, Edsleskog, Fengersfors

Go to the main travel guide: Åmål.