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.
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.
The overview, marked with #3 and #4, shows the designated plots. It is a perfect place to realize the two concepts we had in mind. You could take a hike, enjoy the rest of your day on the island (#4), and later go to sleep in your tent, camper, or one of the cabins on the other side of the lake (#3).
I went out and took several drone overview pictures to capture the actual beauty of this place and to better showcase how perfect the location is for the concept.
A modern place to gather and enjoy yourself.
“Vagla – fritid & spis” translates to English as “be glad – leisure & dining.” Vagla is written phonetically ,correctly written, it would be “var glad,” but it is common to just say “va gla”. The name combines the purpose of the destination with a distinct twist. This makes it instantly relatable.
The tagline highlights the overall concept, making it clear that food is available—something that is otherwise hard to find around here. Using “spis” instead of “mat” (the standard Swedish word for food) elevates the term. It signals right away that this isn’t just a place for basic hot dogs, but a spot for genuinely good food.
“Dalstorp” is written in a contrasting, handwritten typeface to set it apart from the rest of the logo, giving the impression that it was added manually. This is intentional to allow for the easy interchanging of location names, should the project expand to other vacation spots in Sweden.
We shifted our focus to plot #4 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.
From the initial idea in 2021, it became an incredibly slow process due to the municipality discussing land-related topics. We were then encouraged to proceed with our planning in 2024, so we went into more detail, and there were even talks of the municipality starting to bring sewage and electricity to the site.
I then made a rough sketch over the aerial drone shot to visualize where all the activities could take place. After we received confirmation from the municipality, I went a step further and integrated 3D objects in Photoshop to provide an even better visualization of the project’s ultimate goal.
The outcome was that the zoning laws had changed in 2025 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, but we went ahead and started our own smaller Airbnb after that. You can see this project here.