Holiday apartment in Gislaved – industrial heritage, parks and trails

Gislaved presents its industrial history in a particularly vivid setting: Gislaved Industrial Museum is located in the former Remfabriken, Gislaved’s oldest factory building dating from 1893, by the waterfall on the Nissan River. The museum conveys this history through rubber, glass, celluloid, Bakelite, plastic and leather products, as well as the associated machinery. The museum is open to everyone and also serves as an InfoPoint for certain tourist information.

Culture and history

The development of local industry in the 20th century initially centred on the leather and rubber industries, which became leading branches of industry. Later, plastic also gained importance as a key material. The Kulturstig Nissan offers another way to explore the area’s industrial and cultural history: the 3.6-kilometre circular trail is located outside Gislaved Industrial Museum and explains the history of the area using various information boards.

In the northern part of the town lies Gislaved’s heritage park, with around ten buildings and approximately 600 objects. Next to the park is a domarring, a prehistoric stone circle that is now interpreted as a burial site. The buildings include Orrastugan, originally the crofter’s cottage of Gislaved’s old inn, which was moved to the heritage park in 1961. Väståkrastugan is a detached house from the 18th century with an entrance porch and ridge pole. Tingstensstugan was built here in 1845.

Gislaved also adds cultural touches to its public spaces. The Stjärnfall roundabout artwork covers almost 3,800 square metres and consists of 125 six-metre-high columns made of brushed stainless steel.

Parks and townscape

Several parks shape different parts of the town. Dalenparken is Gislaved’s largest park and is located by the Nissan River. It has a gravel football pitch, a pétanque court and an outdoor exercise station. Kyrkparken is located in the centre of Gislaved and features a fish pond, seating, shade-providing trees, as well as summer flowers, perennials and flowering cherry trees.

Torgparken is Gislaved’s central park, below Stortorget. It offers seating and a water feature with a fountain pond. During concerts and other events, Torgparken provides shade.

Trails and nature

The Nissan nature and cultural trail is a walking path in the Gislaved urban area. Along it, visitors can experience and learn about the local natural and cultural landscapes. The Solsystemet walking trail has a different theme and is based on an unusual scale concept: it begins in the Dalen residential area of Gislaved and runs a total of four kilometres to the last planet in Mossarp. Solsystemet is designed to a scale of 1:1.5 billion and consists of stone installations.

The Anderstorps Stormosse nature reserve is located in the vicinity of Gislaved, within walking and cycling distance of the edge of the town. A roughly 3.5-kilometre gravel cycling and walking trail also runs through the area.

Leisure

Gislebadet has a large 50-metre pool and a smaller teaching pool. Swimming lessons are offered there, from baby swimming to courses for children aged six and over. The facilities also offer the Aqua Power, Aqua Fitness and Aqua Deep water aerobics formats.

At Glashuset, Gisle Bowling has eight lanes. Also located there, Filmcentrum offers opportunities for image and film editing, various courses, and the chance to try out cameras, equipment and technology with expert support. In southern Gislaved, there is a 2.5-kilometre illuminated running and training track alongside the Nissan River along Kappeledsvägen.

Geographical location

Today, Nissastigen intersects in Gislaved with National Road 26 between Jönköping and Halmstad and National Road 27 between Borås and Växjö.

Other places

Other places in the destination include Broaryd, Burseryd, Hestra, Reftele, Smålandsstenar, Gislaved, Skeppshult, Bosebo and Anderstorp.

To the higher-level travel overview: Jönköping.