Arvika (dead link: February 2023) is a town in Värmland in Sweden with 14,000 inhabitants, and the centre of Arvika municipality (Arvika kommun), which has about 26,000 inhabitants.
Arvika is known for various cultural activities, such as (until 2010) holding the Arvikafestivalen music festival each summer.
The area is also renowned for its arts and crafts: e.g. the Klassbols linen mill, a glass-blowing studio. In town there are many arts and crafts shops. Around 1900, there was an artists community working in Rackstad Colony, which is now a museum. These artists designed the church of Arvika in Nordic Romantic style.
The area around Arvika is mainly forest area. There are several nature reserves where you can walk along marked hiking trails.
Oslo Gardermoen Airport is the nearest international airport. Karlstad airport has daily flights from Stockholm.
Take the train from Karlstad or Oslo.
Take a bus from Karlstad or Oslo.
Public transportation within Värmland is available, although can be infrequent. The website for Värmlandstrafik is really only in Swedish but is largely usable to English speakers and provides a phone number which you can call to find out more.
There are various shopping opportunities on Storgatan and Kyrkogatan.