VaGla Dalstorp
the brief
Back in 2021, my wife and I started an Airbnb in a rented apartment in Gothenburg. It was running great, but because there was simply too much visitor traffic for a residential building, we closed it six months later.
We then started looking for a spot in a rural visitor area close to a lake. I remembered all the “Scandinavian Instagram aesthetics” that were actually nowhere to be seen in Sweden (or at least, very rarely)—simple, modern wooden house accommodations that would make a stay in the forest an unforgettable event. The places to build something incredible like this definitely exist.
And, as luck would have it, this is exactly where we live: right here in Dalstorp, Sweden.
A beautiful lake, a well-known hiking trail, a ski area close by—what more could you want? Yet, there was absolutely nowhere for visitors to stay, let alone a place to eat like a restaurant, bar, or café.
We just had to pick the right spot and get going.
the solution
First, we focused on a larger area that was already cleared of trees, right by our beautiful Dalstorp lake. This spot was meant to house 4 to 6 small cabins and 1 or 2 treehouses, along with a sauna building close to or directly on the lake.
Since this site was owned by the Swedish Church, it was pretty difficult to get ahold of anyone willing to sell. However, while we were talking to the municipality to get approval, we found out about a peninsula with an empty house on the other side of the lake, owned by the government. They were very happy that someone wanted to do something for the community and offered to lease the plot to us indefinitely, provided we could show them a workable concept.
We shifted our focus to this plot and developed a concept for a wholesome vacation experience, including an automated “Kayakomat,” several leisure concepts like a forest minigolf course, a campsite, lakeside tents, and a floating sauna. We even designed a logo to show the direction we were planning to go and to give the project a name that would work for both sides of the lake, if we would later proceeded with the cabins and treehouses on the other side.
From the initial idea in 2021, it took the municipality four meetings over three years (!) just to discuss land-related topics, like whether the ground by the lake was stable enough to build on, who would provide electricity and from where, and so on. It was an incredibly slow process. We were then encouraged to proceed with our planning, so we went into more detail, and there were even talks of the municipality starting to bring sewage and electricity to the site—but nothing happened.
Seven months later (!), we had our next and final meeting, but with a completely new board of people. The outcome was that the zoning laws had changed for most parts of our municipality, and it was no longer permitted to build anything closer than 200 meters to the lake. So, the concept was sadly canceled in 2025, but we went ahead and started our own smaller Airbnb after that. Here you can find this AirBnB.