Hallingsafallet

Ostersund, Jamtland County, Sweden

About Hallingsafallet


Hiking Distance: 800m round trip (all lookouts)
Suggested Time: 30-45 minutes

Date first visited: 2019-07-11
Date last visited: 2019-07-11

Waterfall Latitude: 64.3492
Waterfall Longitude: 14.38426

Waterfall Safety and Common Sense

Hallingsafallet (or more accurately Hällingsåfallet) was a spectacularly gushing waterfall where the Lilla Hällingsån dropped 43m right into the head of a deep canyon.

After having seen some modest waterfalls in Sweden up to this point on our 2019 trip to Scandinavia, this waterfall was the first one to really wow us.

Hallingsafallet_028_07112019 - Hällingsåfallet
Hällingsåfallet

Sure it had the volume and the dimensions to make it legitimate, but we thought it was its location at the head of the canyon that really made Hällingsåfallet stand out.

The canyon itself was said to be 15-60m wide and 800m long, which was also said to be the longest “living” one in Sweden (i.e. it still has water running through it).

Apparently, canyons like this weren’t common in Sweden, especially since it wasn’t necessarily formed by its watercourse but by a pre-existing crack eroded further by ice in the last Ice Age.

In fact, the Hallingsafallet Nature Reserve (Hällingsåfallet Naturreservat) was gazetted primarily for this waterfall and canyon.

Hallingsafallet_074_07112019 - The brink of Hällingsåfallet with mist producing a nice bold morning rainbow
The brink of Hällingsåfallet with mist producing a nice bold morning rainbow

Trivia aside, we experienced the falls from a variety of lookouts offering us the ability to have a look from various angles.

This included its brink where we witnessed a nice bold arcing morning rainbow in its wafting mist.

It was also quite a family-friendly excursion since the walk was pretty much all flat.

Also, all the overlooks had railings so we weren’t stressed out about our daughter getting too close to the edge.

Hallingsafallet_051_07112019 - Edge on view of Hällingsåfallet giving you a good idea of just how narrow this canyon was
Edge on view of Hällingsåfallet giving you a good idea of just how narrow this canyon was

We easily could have extended our visit by not only lingering at each of the overlooks, but we also could have chosen to walk a longer trail along the canyon instead of the short 800m walk we ended up doing (covering all overlooks).

However, the mosquitos were quite bad here during our mid-July 2019 visit (as they had been for every waterfall we had visited in Sweden so far).

So we pretty much had our fill of Hällingsåfallet and made it back to the car park (see directions below) in about 45 minutes.

Authorities

Hällingsåfallet was near the town and municipality of Strömsund, which belonged to the county of Jämtland, Sweden. For information or inquiries about the area as well as current conditions, you may want to try the local municipality website.

Hallingsafallet_017_07112019 - Signs at the trailhead leading to Hällingsåfallet
Hallingsafallet_019_07112019 - Julie and Tahia on the boardwalk, which comprised the parts that of the Hällingsåfallet Trail that would have been overgrown or muddy
Hallingsafallet_020_07112019 - Following on the dirt track leading closer to the Hällingsåfallet overlooks
Hallingsafallet_024_07112019 - Descending to the first of the overlooks that we encountered for Hällingsåfallet
Hallingsafallet_032_07112019 - Looking into the ravine with Hällingsåfallet falling right into the head of it
Hallingsafallet_039_07112019 - More focused on the depths of the gorge and the entirety of Hällingsåfallet
Hallingsafallet_045_07112019 - Context of the first overlook with Hällingsåfallet
Hallingsafallet_047_07112019 - Picnic tables at the head of the gorge containing Hällingsåfallet
Hallingsafallet_052_07112019 - Looking edge on into the ravine and Hällingsåfallet
Hallingsafallet_054_07112019 - Context of the footpath with railings leading towards the brink of Hällingsåfallet
Hallingsafallet_057_07112019 - The bridge just above the brink of Hällingsåfallet
Hallingsafallet_063_07112019 - Looking downstream over the brink of Hällingsåfallet as well as the context of the railings across the ravine
Hallingsafallet_083_07112019 - Context of the overlook right at the brink of Hällingsåfallet
Hallingsafallet_090_07112019 - context of the boardwalk leading to the direct view across the ravine from Hällingsåfallet
Hallingsafallet_111_07112019 - Direct look across the canyon towards Hällingsåfallet
Hallingsafallet_113_07112019 - Tahia wearing her sweater in this manner to try to avoid more mosquito bites on her face and head at Hällingsåfallet
Hallingsafallet_117_07112019 - Back at the picnic area and car park for Hällingsåfallet


We visited Hällingsåfallet after driving from Grong, Norway and arriving in Strömsund. I’ll describe the driving route from both spots.

Driving from Grong to Hällingsåfallet

From Grong, we basically went south on the E6 for about 9km before turning left onto the Fv74. We then drove east on the Fv74 for about 98km before turning right onto a signed access road.

The turnoff was about 2km east of the Norwegian-Swedish border where the Fv74 became the Route 342.

Then, we drove south on the access road which pretty much became unsealed almost immediately.

At about 17km from the Route 342 turnoff, we reached a junction, where the signs told us to keep right to continue towards Hällingsåfallet.

Hallingsafallet_005_07112019 - The car park for Hällingsåfallet
The car park for Hällingsåfallet

We ultimately took this road to the main car park in almost another 4km.

Overall, this drive took us a little over 90 minutes (not counting road construction delays).

Driving from Strömsund to Hällingsåfallet

Going in the other direction from Strömsund, we would drive north on the Route 342, which would eventually veer west and follow the north shore of Torsfjärden.

After about 90km, our GPS told us to turn left, cross the dam over Bågedeforsen, then continue on the narrow unpaved road for just under 25km before reaching a signed turnoff to go left.

Hallingsafallet_002_07112019 - Looking back towards the start of the car park for Hällingsåfallet, where there was a toilet facility
Looking back towards the start of the car park for Hällingsåfallet, where there was a toilet facility

That would put us on the familiar last 4km to the main car park for Hällingsåfallet.

While the GPS advocated the shorter (but not necessarily faster) road, we also could have driven another 45km on the Route 342 before turning left onto the same turnoff mentioned above in the directions from Grong.

My guess would be that both routes would consume the same amount of time. It’s just whether the potholes and scooting by (or being stuck behind) RVs sharing the unpaved road would be worth the “shortcut”.

This drive also took us around 90 minutes, but half of that time was spent on the unsealed road.

For geographic context, Strömsund was about 101km (about 90 minutes drive) north of Östersund, 245km (3 hours drive) east of Grong, Norway, and 344km (about 4.5 hours drive) east of Trondheim, Norway.

Find A Place To Stay

Misty video checking out the falls from the main overlook


Extended video checking out the brink of the falls with rainbow before going across the bridge and finally arriving at a canyon view with profile of the falls


Checking out the falls from across the canyon

Trip Planning Resources


Nearby Accommodations



Tagged with: stromsund, ostersund, sweden, waterfall, jamtland, lappland, lapland



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Johnny Cheng is the founder of the World of Waterfalls and author of the award-winning A Guide to New Zealand Waterfalls. Over the last 2 decades, he has visited thousands of waterfalls in over 40 countries around the world and nearly 40 states in the USA.
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