Kläppen with children – Sälen's family-owned ski resort with the trolls, the gondola and the children's area

Kläppen is in the Sälen mountains but does not belong to SkiStar. It is a resort in its own right, Sweden's largest family-owned one, with its own lift pass, its own ski school and its own way of looking after families with children. If you are coming from the south, Kläppen is the first resort you reach in Sälen, before SkiStar's Lindvallen, Tandådalen and Hundfjället. In winter 2026, Kläppen was named Ski Resort of the Year and Sweden's best ski resort for families with children, and for a family with small children it is easy to see why.

Kläppen or SkiStar's Sälen – what is the difference?

The most important thing first: SkiStar's SkiPass is not valid in Kläppen, and Kläppen's lift pass is not valid in SkiStar's areas. Kläppen is one mountain with 41 runs and 22 lifts gathered around Kläppentorget, Hotell Kurbits and the gondola. SkiStar's Sälen is four areas along the same valley, linked by ski buses and connecting lifts.

With small children, that matters. In Kläppen, the children's area, the ski school, the playground and the café are all within a couple of hundred metres, and you never need to take a bus. SkiStar's Sälen has more children's slopes in total, but also more logistics. You can read how the four areas work in Sälen with kids, and about the whole mountain region, with Stöten and the smaller ski slopes, in Sälenfjällen.

The children's area and Junior Snowpark

The children's area is big and built for play: a magic carpet, a button lift carousel where the youngest go round and round until they have cracked the technique, and the ski school right next to it. In front of the warming hut in the children's area there is a playground with swings, a climbing frame and a slide, so there is something to do when the ski boots start to rub.

Just above the children's area is Junior Snowpark, a smaller copy of the big park with small jumps and rails. That is where the seven-year-old who has grown tired of the button lift can try a first jump without ending up among the teenagers.

And the teenagers? Kläppen Snowpark is one of the best-known parks in the country, and Blue Line has faster jumps for those with more experience. So a family with both a four-year-old and a fourteen-year-old can all fit on the same mountain.

The ski school – troll groups from age three

Kläppen's ski school groups the children by age and level, and the groups are named after the trolls:

• Minitroll – three-year-olds who have never stood on skis. The only requirement is that the child can manage without mum and dad during the lesson.
• Småtroll – four- and five-year-olds, from beginners to those who can manage blue runs.
• Stortroll – six- to eight-year-olds, from beginners to red runs.
• Kidz – nine- to eleven-year-olds, with a dedicated park group for those who already ski red runs.

Each lesson is 75 minutes. The children's groups run Monday to Friday or Friday and Saturday, and group ski school is cheaper if you book online before you arrive. If it is your child's first time on the slopes, the rest of the preparation is in first ski trip with kids, and how Valle's ski school works in SkiStar's areas is in Sälen with kids.

Teach the children Trolle and Trolla's slope rules before you go: look in every direction, make big turns, stop where others can see you and help a friend who falls. There are seven of them, and they are easy to practise in the car.

Trolle and Trolla

Trolle and Trolla are Kläppen's two trolls, and they turn up wherever there are children. They ski on the slopes, sing at Trolle and Trolla's après-ski, put on shows on their stage and in Trollgården, and lead treasure hunts during the week. All of this is included for guests, and what is happening on which day is in Kläppen's calendar. Play their songs in the car on the way up, so the children recognise them.

The lift pass – free up to and including age seven

Children up to and including age seven ski free in Kläppen. Every child still needs their own Keycard, so add one per child when you book. From eight to fifteen, the youth pass applies. The pass gets cheaper the earlier you buy it, and there is a parent pass that two adults can take turns with while the other stays by the children's slope. If you already have a Keycard, enter the number in the booking, and new cards are collected from the machines at Kläppentorget or at Hotell Kurbits.

Trolle and Trolla's weeks are Kläppen's best offer for small children. In weeks 51, 2, 3 and 4, children up to and including age seven get group ski school, ski hire and a lift pass free of charge if you book accommodation and adult passes in the same booking. In winter 2026/27 it applies to week 51 (12–19 December) and weeks 2, 3 and 4 in January, and the last day to book is 9 November 2026. The offer applies to both a full week and a short week.

The 2026/27 season

Kläppen opens on 11 December 2026 and closes on 4 April 2027. The resort has a snow guarantee of at least 16 open pistes from opening day to the last day, plus 37 kilometres of cross-country trails for a day on skinny skis. Week 51 and the January weeks are quieter than sportlov, the Swedish February school ski break – which week your municipality is off is in winter sports break 2027.

Accommodation near the slopes

Kläppen is built so that the car can stay put all week. Hotell Kurbits is by the gondola, with family apartments, ski-in/ski-out, a breakfast buffet and a spa. Around the mountain there are cabins and apartments, most of them near a run or a ski path, and Kläppens Camping is open all year round for anyone who wants to stay in a caravan. ICA Kläppen is open every day during the season, and the restaurants range from the pizzeria to Toppstugan up at the gondola top station.

Stay near the children's area if the children are small. With a three-year-old in Minitroll, a five-minute walk to the meeting point is worth more than a view.

How to get to Kläppen

Kläppen is about 400 km from Stockholm, 450 km from Gothenburg and 720 km from Malmö. All four car parks around the resort are free.

• By air: Scandinavian Mountains Airport is the nearest airport. Outside the terminal there are transfer buses, taxis and hire cars.
• Bus: during the winter, Fjällexpressen, Flixbus and Dalatrafik are among the operators running to Kläppen.
• By train: SJ to Mora or Borlänge, and then a bus for the last stretch. More about taking the train to the mountains in train to the mountains.

We compare what suits your family best – car, train or plane – in getting to the ski resort. You will find the packing list in the ski trip packing list.

Kläppen or somewhere else?

If you want more slopes to choose from and a ski bus between the areas, SkiStar's Sälen is a better fit, and a SkiPass for at least three days includes two days in Trysil with kids. If you want to compare with other Swedish mountain resorts, they are gathered in ski trips in Sweden, and another neighbouring ski area in the Sälen mountains with its own lift pass is Stöten.