Welcome to Swedish Norrbotten / Lapland.
The unspoiled countryside of Swedish Norrbotten / Lapland is a destination like no other. The landscape is wild and vast, the air pure and the bright summer nights never-ending. No matter if you come here to find unexpected adventures or to re-energize your body and mind, you will find enough of it to fill your heart’s content. And more.
In Swedish Lapland there are plenty of the things that are in scarce supply elsewhere: time, space, tranquillity, silence, clean air, clean water and the midnight sun. Did you know that, in theory, each Swede has an average of no less than 50,000 square meters of land at his/her “disposal”? Or that more than one third of the moose in Europe are in Sweden?
Along the coast of Swedish Lapland, the Bright Coast, you will find one of Sweden’s most beautiful archipelagos. The archipelago is the perfect place for relaxation, peace and spiritual purification. 300 kilometers of coast, several hundreds of islands and a light that can be seen nowhere else make it unique and breathtaking. Imagine fabulous wood-fired sauna bathing and sandy, shallow-water beaches and time-polished rock that await you.
The river valley of Råneå River, Sweden’s longest woodland river, is ideal for all types of outdoor adventures and activities. Following it from its source to the coast, you would find both calm waters, gentle currents and thundering white-water rapids, all of which makes it ideal for both fishing, meditative kayaking and adrenaline boosted rafting. Enjoy beautiful hikes along fascinating nature trails and through deep forests, along the untamed, wild river, where there’s a good chance of catching a glimpse of wildlife, including moose, reindeer and even bear. It is the perfect combination of relaxation and adventure, quite simply.
You will find very clean water in Swedish Lapland, not to mention possibly the purest air you’ll ever breathe. And we promise you amazing light. The Midnight Sun warms and energizes Swedish Lapland for a hundred days and a hundred nights every summer. Enjoy a leisurely swim in a river or a lake, let silence speak and move you, free your senses and just dive in. If you are a bit on the adventurous side, you could wander off to find your own crystal-clear secluded lake somewhere in the deep, magical forest, and treat yourself to a liberating midnight sun skinny dip. Get in touch with nature, and with yourself.
Another gorgeous way to spend an afternoon would be to go on a picnic in the forest or the sea shore. Bring a soft blanket and explore the surroundings. Find your own private flat rock, warmed by the sunshine, and enjoy a handful of handpicked sweet berries from the forest; wild strawberries, raspberries or maybe even arctic raspberries. Look up towards the tree-tops, and listen to the intense silence. Feel the sun caress and warm your skin, and just be…
Midsummer magic
In Sweden, many customs are closely associated with the changing seasons. Swedes celebrate summer with an intensity that can only be found in a people who have just endured a long, dark winter. Most traditional customs are celebrated in the home, with the family. The only real exception is Midsummer, when Swedes, regardless of the weather, want to be outdoors, to meet others and to greet the arrival of summer. But then Midsummer is an occasion with pagan roots.
Midsummer period is the lightest of the year, and legend has it that the night before Midsummer’s Day is a magical night, for love, and also the best time for telling people’s futures.
Traditionally, on their way home from the celebrations, girls and young women picked seven different species of flowers and placed them under their pillows. At night, their future husbands would appear to them in a dream. Many girls ate salted porridge (‘dream porridge’) so that their future husbands might bring water to them in their dreams, to quench their thirst. They also kept watch at springs for a reflection of their husband-to-be in the water. Some of these traditions are still followed today by curious and hopeful women, both young and old.
On Midsummer Night, you could discover places where treasure was buried, for example by studying how moonbeams fell. When digging, you might be confronted by strange sights that would tempt you to laugh or speak. If you manage to keep quiet, you would find the treasure.
Also on Midsummer Night, it was said, water was turned into wine and ferns into flowers. Many plants acquired healing powers on that one night of the year.
You will find the unspoiled, Swedish countryside it at its magical best during Midsummer. Escape to Lapland and let the bright, magical summer nights and Nature’s playground enchant, seduce and free you.