Essential places of northern Sweden

When you are ready for pure arctic nature you are ready for Norrland. Norrland is in the north of Sweden and is known for reindeer and reindeer salami, the Sami people, snowmobiles, open landscapes, peace, freedom, and hikes in the midnight sun. That's what happens up there and I'll deliver some tips on where to go in this ''little guide to north Sweden!'' We have heard all the wonders of Kiruna and now it's time for the rest of the essential places in glorious Lapland!

For more articles from here, have a look at Kiruna - Swedish Lapland, Uppsala day trip, and Riksgränsen - The Ski Regime

Photo ©: Fraggelot

Keinovuopio

The northernmost village where you actually have people living is Keinovuopio. Technically, Kummavuopio is further north although it doesn't have people living there permanently. A settlement sort of needs somebody living there so Keinovuopio might actually be the northernmost! Five people live here permanently. The name is connected to Finland just like the road to get to the village. Sweden doesn't have a road here and you'll have to enter through the Finnish road to reach it unless you cross the ice from the Swedish side. North Sweden is inspired by Finland and Sami culture in the names and dialects. This you will see when you read the place names, listen to them speak, and see their relation to nature.

Övertorneå

The town of Övertorneå has under 2000 people. The name means ''upper Torneå'' which means there's an ''lower Torneå'' as well. These names can be a little confusing because sometimes the same name is used for a place in Finland. Some feedback on AirBnB is that the travellers arrived in the wrong city and one person even visited the wrong Torneå! What you can do here that you can't do in your home is to watch the Northern lights and do a sled dog tour with arctic dogs!

Kurravaara

Kurravaara is 12 kilometres away from Kiruna and is considered a village. You can meet around 57 people in Kurravaara and that's people who are closely connected to Kiruna, within a *15-minute drive by car. In most of these places, you can join sled dog *tours. That's standard for the north of Scandinavia.

Jukkasjärvi

Photo ©: Tom Corser

Jukkasjärvi is an exceptional village. The world's biggest ice hotel that you'll find inside the town is the main contributor to that. The quantity of tourists is unequally proportionate to the 550 people living in the village. This is because when you google ''visit ice hotel'' or similar things this place will pop up and the web page is called ''ice hotel''. A particularly smart and strategic marketing move! Another remarkable thing in this village beside from the incredible ice hotel and economical thought put into the hotel is a really old church building from 1607 that is made from wood.

Near the ice hotel, you can spend a night in this unique Northern Light Hut beside the Torneriver. When the river is frozen, you can actually walk to reach the ice hotel from the hut. The hut offers comfy beds, kitchenette, and cozy fireplace where you can sit around warmly while watching the northern lights dancing in the sky.

Abisko

Photo ©: Lawrence Hislop, GRID-Arendal

The exciting thing is that Reindeer hang out in the nature of Abisko. People  come to realise their travel passion-project. If you want to get as far up in Sweden with tourist things to do, then Abisko is absolutely the clear-cut choice. Hiking paths are everywhere with nice wooden bridges, some hanging bridges, rivers, old buildings, and animals. Like true Swedes, the animals are peaceful.