Dals Långed locks, Dalsland Canal

Lock chambers: 4
Elevation: 13,1 m
Duration: 60 min

Opening hours

The lock system starts with a single lock, continues with short stretch of canal to a double lock and then follows another short stretch of canal to a single lock. So much water is needed for passing through the double locks that the canal and single lock above the double lock must be filled simultaneously. Moor and fender extra carefully.  

Buy your lock tickets here

Some history

“When you die, you come to Kramfors. But if you’ve been naughty, you have to stay in Dals Långed.” Or so went the famous old Swedish comedy act. The quote could probably be filed under the category: you can only joke about what you love. 

In the mid-1800s, a sawmill and a flour mill were built in Långed. They were closed, however, when Carl Fredrik Waern, at Baldersnäs Manor, started what was to become one of Sweden’s largest groundwood mills. Waern was incidentally a staunch supporter of the construction of Dalsland Canal and became its first director.  When the demand for pulp started to decline, factory manager Alexander Halling started Dalsland’s first paper mill. This business has now been moved to the Dunis facility in Skåpafors. To utilize the water power in the Upperud River, a hydropower plant was started in 1909 in Dals Långed. In 1984, the plant was purchased by energy company Vattenfall and is now their largest small-scale hydropower plant. It has recently been modernized and fitted with new turbines. 

Långed has long enjoyed a rich cultural life, due in large part to the Steneby school, founded in 1934 by school teachers Josef Andersson and Erland Borglund. Today, the school is part of the University of Gothenburg, educating designers and artisans who have often gone on to international fame. 

Visit an open studio in Dals Långed and you’ll be glad you didn’t make it to Kramfors.