Dalslandsleden (Sweden): gorgeous nature, but the "cycle route" is mostly you sharing a road with cars
After a few great days on the Kattegattleden, we wanted to try somewhere new and headed inland to Dalsland, in western Sweden, the lake district just west of Vänern. There are several cycle routes advertised there, so it looked like a perfect area to spend a few days riding. Boy, were we wrong.
The nature? Genuinely gorgeous. Lakes, forest, the Håverud aqueduct, all of it. But the cycling infrastructure is basically non-existent. What's marketed as the Dalslandsleden is, in practice, a few signs slapped onto ordinary secondary roads. And before someone says "but it's low-traffic": the speed limit on most of these roads is 70 km/h, and a car coming around a blind, winding bend at that speed is not my idea of "fun cycling."
The distances make it worse. All those beautiful lakes and the total lack of dedicated bike paths mean there are almost no direct routes. You're constantly forced to follow the main road around everything, and those roads are built for cars, not bikes. What looks like a short loop on the map turns into a long detour on tarmac shared with traffic.
Services are thin too. Few cafés or restaurants, and long gaps between the ones that exist. (Also, why are there ten pizza places for every actual restaurant?)
Here's the thing: this is Sweden, a country most of us associate with excellent, purpose-built cycling infrastructure. That reputation is exactly why the disappointment stings. It does not hold for this region. If you're coming off the Kattegattleden expecting anything close to that kind of separated route, adjust your expectations hard, or bring a car and use it to reach trailheads instead of relying on the "leder."
TL;DR: Dalsland in western Sweden is stunning to look at, but the Dalslandsleden is signposted secondary roads with 70 km/h traffic, not real cycling infrastructure. Beautiful to see, frustrating to ride. Don't plan a bike trip around it the way we did.