What is special about Vänern?
It's not so easy to explain what it is that's so special about Lake Vänern. Maybe it has to do with the unspoiled natural surroundings, or simply the fact that the lake is so big. Maybe it has to do with the comparatively pure water and the fact that the lake is the home of many rare species of fish, bird and animal living on its floor. Maybe it has to do with the fact that, since time immemorial, the lake has functioned as a link between people, and a means of transport for them. Probably it's a combination of all these factors that helps to make Lake Vänern unlike any other lake.

The natural surroundings of the lake are very rich and unspoiled. It's possible to sail on it for hours with only the water, the birds, the wooded islands and the barren skerries for company. Areas of human habitation are few and far between but, right in the heart of the archipelagos, there are traces of old routes from the times when all ships went under sail, in the shape of leading marks and cairns. You can also find the caissons that were used to help draw the ships forward in places where the lead was particularly narrow.

In days gone by it was hardly practicable to travel from place to place by road. Water travel was a good deal quicker. As a result, for centuries Lake Vänern was an all-important link in transport and travel. One such route led right across the lake, from Kållandsö to Lurö and Värmlandsnäs, and was the one taken by pilgrims in the 1100s on their way to Nidaros Cathedral in Trondheim. Today the lake is still an important transport route.

Lake Vänern has Europe's largest freshwater archipelago and is home to a huge population of seabirds and waterfowl. Gulls alone number more than 26 000. More than 30 species of bird breed here. The most widespread species is the common gull. Others include the Arctic tern, red-breasted merganser, black-throated diver, heron, cormorant, mallard, oyster catcher, Caspian tern and osprey.

Lake Vänern is also home to 35 different species of fish, the largest number found in any lake in Sweden. The most valuable of them from the point of view of professional fishermen is the vendace, because of its bleak roe. The vendace is the second most common fish out in the lake itself, the most common being the smelt.

Fishing is extensive. Some 100 professional fishermen earn their living from the waters of the lake. There are approx. 4 500 people licensed to fish with nets and otters, and over 1 000 licensed to troll. These figures do not include all those who fish with rod-and-line or jig, or the many tourists who like to try their luck.

Lake Vänern is a very important source of drinking water. The waters of the lake and of the River Göta are drunk by more than 800 000 people.