Things to do in Lapland - 42 tips, sights and experiences

Writer: Peter Bergström

What can you do in Lapland? Here you will find majestic mountains, vast national parks, the Northern Lights, Sami culture and some of Sweden's most spectacular nature experiences. We have travelled around Lapland ourselves and collected our best tips, sights and experiences from places we have visited. Here are our best tips on sights and things to do in Lapland.

Quick guide – best things to do in Lapland

• Experience the midnight sun and the northern lights
• Visit Abisko National Park
• Hike along the Kungsleden trail
• Discover Icehotel
• Ride a dog sled or snowmobile over the mountains
• Experience Sami culture and reindeer in Swedish Lapland

1. Dare to go rafting in the Vindelälven River

Rafting in the river Vindelälven is for those who like adrenaline rushes. We tried rafting with Forsknäckarna and the trip started from Ekorrsele, between Umeå and Lycksele. What an adventure!

2. Try the high-altitude cable car at Vindelälven

At the same place where we did the rafting, at Forsknäckarna in Ekorrsele, we also tested High-altitude cable car with a view of the Vindelälven River. At least those of us who aren't afraid of heights! This also offered a wonderful adrenaline rush.

3. Ride the inland railway through the landscape of Lapland

Take the Inlandsbanan and see nature from the train for a sustainable holiday in Sweden. You can travel from Mora to Gällivare in two days one way. What an experience!

4. Stay at the cool ice hotel in Jukkasjärvi.

The dream becomes a reality if you just book on. Many people want to spend at least one day in a lifetime living in the ice and snow created in 1989. The Ice Hotel is the world's largest hotel made of snow and ice and the ice is taken from the Torne River, and 1000 tonnes are needed to build the hotel with a church, bar and 100 beds.

5. Experience a Lapland town in Lapland

In the 17th century, the church demanded that Christianity be introduced throughout the country and that one should visit a church a few times a year. The distances are long in Lapland and therefore cities were built around the few churches that existed in the north of Sweden. The Lapp town is one of the fine cultural heritage with huts, huts near a church and where the Sami could stay and meet.

6. Learn about Sami culture

Follow reindeer herders into the forests to feed their reindeer and get a unique insight into their lives and the Sami culture. During the winter market 2021, daily tours run from 1 - 7 February with fixed departures. Pick-up and drop-off by car in the centre of Jokkmokk is included.

7. Have fun at Lycksele Zoo

Lycksele Zoo with Nordic fauna since 1959. Here you will find otters, red deer, wild boar, wild sheep, brown bears, reindeer, wolverines, lynx, musk oxen and much more.

8. Look in the town of Lovikka

In the town of Lovikka you will find the world's largest Lovikka glove, which is 3.5 meters long and stands in a large cabinet outside the school building.

9. Elevated in Kiruna wooden church

Outside the centre of Kiruna you will find the beautiful wooden church built between 1909-1912. It is inspired by the fine Norwegian wooden churches and the bell tower stands outside. The altar and altarpiece were designed by Prince Eugene.

10. See UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Lapland

Struve's Meredian arc was used by the German-Russian astronomer Wilhelm von Struve in the early 19th century for triangulation to calculate the size of the Earth. The arc consists of 265 measuring points around the globe, seven of which are in Sweden. Four are part of the World Heritage Site, one of them on Mount Tynnyrilaki in Kiruna.

Laponia is one of Europe's great wildernesses (including four national parks and two nature reserves) with beautiful landscapes: plains, forests, mountains and glaciers. Laponia is also home to a Sami cultural landscape and thousands of years of human history, located in Sarek National Park.

11. Hike the King's Trail

The King's Trail between Abisko and Hemavanis an exciting adventure and incredibly well known as one of the world's most famous and best hiking trails. The trail is over 400 kilometres long and has been visited by hikers from all over the world.

12. Be fascinated by the Kebnekaise mountain

Experience a bit of Kebnekaisewhich is Sweden's highest mountain at 2096 metres high and is located in Kiruna. Kebnekaise is located in the Skanderna mountain range and the north peak is the highest. Mountain station with 200 beds for those who want to climb Kebnekaise or just climb a bit.

13. Admire Lapland's beautiful northern lights

When visiting Lapland in the winter months, you should watch the northern lights. Find a dark place to get the best experience.

14. Discover the historic Three Kingdoms Mound

Trerik's crescentshould be experienced once in a lifetime which is the border between Sweden, Norway and Finland located in lake Koltajaure.. The cairn is the world's northernmost tri-country point and you can get there by walking from Kilpisjärvi or by taking a lovely boat trip with M/S Malla & M/S Maria.

15. camping in Lapland

Taking your tent, motorhome, caravan or car and discovering Norrland is a bigger adventure than the rest of Sweden. Here you have rapids, waterfalls very close by, and if you come in late summer you can pick exotic berries. If you do not have a vehicle to live in, or if you do not want to live in a tent, there are many who rent out huts. What an adventure!

16. Join a guided tour of the Kiruna mines!

Take a guided tour of the mines in Kiruna. The mine in Kiruna is the world's largest underground iron ore mine where it is mined from pits, one at 1250 and one at 1365 metres underground. Visit the LKAB Visitor Centre.

17. Visit LKAB's Malmberget mine in Gällivare, Sweden

Malmberget (Mount Illuvare) was discovered in 1690 but the great ore rush started in 1888. Experience the history in the shantytown as it is called about how life worked in the late 19th century. Book a guided tour with the tourist office in Gällivare to Malmberget which may take you 1250 meters straight down into the depths.

18. Be fascinated by the Bolliden Aitik Copper Mine in Gällivare

Boliden's Aitik copper mine is one of the largest in Europe, where copper, gold and silver are mined. Karin Niva event & Support organises guided tours with stops at the copper mine, the copper mine is located 15 km southeast of Gällivare.

19. visit Kiruna

Kiruna is both the northernmost and largest municipality in Sweden. Here you will find both midnight sun and polar night, 6000 lakes, skiing in midsummer at the national border.

20. explore Gällivare

Gällivare is one of six major towns in Lapland, and there is a lot to see and experience in nature with plenty of adventures in Swedish Lapland. Check out Great Lake Falls, Devil's Gorge, Dundret Nature Reserve or pick berries and mushrooms in late summer.

21. discover Arvidsjaur

The Inland Railway runs through Arvidsjaur and there are daily flights from Stockholm. See the frog spring, the troll rapids, the rattle museum, or try reindeer sledding.

22. holiday in Arjeplog

Arjeplog is beautifully situated between the large lakes Hornavan and Uddjaure in the Skellefteälven catchment area. Experience the Galtispouda viewpoint, snowmobile, play on the ice or go on a guided hunt.

23. viewing Jokkmokk

Jokkmokk offers wonderful nature experiences during all four seasons of the year and lots of wonderful attractions. Check out Sweden's oldest pine tree on Porjusberjet, learn more at Naturum Laponia, visit Jokkmokk's Jokkes Museum, or see beautiful waterfalls.

24. stay in Dorotea

Dorotea is the southernmost of the largest towns in Lapland and has 17 nature reserves. Enjoy the Kullerbacken open-air farm, the caravan museum, the Borgahällan rock wall or guided fishing.

25. Stroll in Stora Sjöfallet National Park

Great Lake Falls (Stuor Muorkke) National Parksince 1909 with mountain ridges, Sweden's most beautiful valley in the north, glaciers to the south between the municipalities of Gällivare and Jokkmokk. Stora sjöfallet has been part of the Laponia World Heritage Site since 1996.

26. Enjoying Abisko National Park

Abisko National Park with mountains and mountain meadows, rapids and Scandinavia's largest mountain lake Torneåträsk in the town of Abisko will be an adventure to visit. Stop at Abisko mountain station, skate on Torneträskisen, experience the troll lake or take the cable car up Mount Njuolja to Aurora sky station. Don't forget the Rallarmuseum, Sameviste and Border Defence Museum.

27. Discover Pieljekaise National Park

Pieljekaise National Parkis an old birch forest located 10 km south of Jäkkvik in Lapland, one of the seven national parks in Lapland.. The highest mountain is 1138 metres high in the north and in the south there are rich fishing lakes. The King's Trail passes Pieljekaise and there is also an overnight cabin in the national park.

28. Photograph around Vadvetjäkka National Park

Vadvetjåkka National Parkwith bare mountain, water, marsh, glacier and mountain birch forest located outside Torneträsk in Talma sameby. at the Norwegian border. It contains some of Sweden's largest quartz/limestone caves, the deepest of which (Vojtaskallo) is 155 metres deep.

29. Get to Sarek National Park

Sarek National Parkis Sweden's largest high mountain area, with mountains over 2000 metres high, where Sami people have lived and followed reindeer migrations since ancient times in Jokkmokk. Nature is like a fairy tale with over 100 glaciers, rivers, streams, alpine lakes and visitors from all over the world. Here you can see 'Braided Steams' which are braided streams through meltwater from glaciers.

30. Get around Padjelanta National Park

Padjelanta National Park (Badjelánnda 'the higher land') is the largest national park in Sweden on the border with Norway. It is a high plateau and reindeer husbandry is practised here during the summers in several places. Rissájávrre is the place known as the 'inaccessibility pole' and is furthest away from civilisation.  

31. Go to Muddus National Park

Muddus (Muttos) National Parkwith ancient forest in Gällivare, and is Sweden's most forested national park. Here you will also find Sweden's fifth largest waterfall 'Muddusfallet' which is 42 metres high.

32. Go to the cultural reserve Autoklimpen

Cultural reserveThe "Atoklimpen" is an oddly shaped mountain at 1006 metres high 30 km west of Tärnaby, where you can see the Sami reindeer herding environment since prehistoric times, and the mountain is sacred to the Sami.

33. Explore the Gallejaur Village Cultural Reserve

Gallejaur village In Arvidsjaur by the Gallejaursdammen with several unpainted log houses from the 19th century as well as a farm environment and agricultural landscape. Here you will find the 9 original farms where the Crown offered 15-40-year tax breaks for anyone who wanted to move and farm land inland.

34. Culture at the cultural reserve Fatomakke church town

Fatmomakke Kyrkstad is a sacred site for Sami people and settlers since the 18th century, located in Vilhelmina municipality. Fatomakke is a multicultural and spiritual place for the Sami people.

35. You can pick cloudberries in Lapland!

Cloudberry is the exotic bright yellow berry (ripe) found in Lapland in late summer. Cloudberry is found throughout Sweden but not as wild as in Norrland. Cloudberry thrives on moist and acidic soils found in bogs, marshes and woodlands. They are typical of subarctic and northern regions. Cloudberries usually ripen during the summer months, usually between June and August.

36. See the midnight sun

In summer, the sun doesn't set and there is daylight for two consecutive months in northern Lapland, known as the midnight sun. You don't know when to sleep or be awake.

37. Experience the polar nights

From about 12 December to 31 December it is only night, because the sun does not come out and this is called the polar nights. Half of Lapland is above the Arctic Circle, hence the polar nights.

38. Eat northern crowberries

There are crowberries and northern crowberries and the latter is from Norrland and is a little sweeter. The crowberry is tart and a bit special in its flavour, but in jam and juice it is very good. The crowberry is rich in fibre, and has more protective antioxidants than any other berry in Sweden.

39. Check out unique animals

When you are in nature in the mountains, you have the chance to see animals that are more common in Norrland than in the rest of Sweden. Here you can see arctic foxes, wolverines, lemmings and lynx, but they are shy. Bird species such as blue jays, blue jays, grey partridges, narrow-billed snipes and double snipes.

40. Visit Esrange Space Station

40 kilometres east of Kiruna is Europe's only civilian space base since 1972. It launches sounding rockets and balloons but no people. Esrange is the centre of European space research and offers guided tours.

41. Downhill skiing in Tärnaby

Our most medals and world cup victories come from Tärnaby. 131 of the approximately 200 world cup victories ever come from Tärnaby. With approximately 500 inhabitants and a large ski slope, you can feel like Ingmar Stenmark, Anja Person, Stig Strand, Jens Byggmark or Bengt Fjällberg. They just go!

42. Play golf in northern Sweden

Golf is very popular throughout Sweden and playing golf in a completely different climate is a wonderful challenge and a breath of fresh air. The perfect thing to do in Lapland.

READ MORE: Here you will find all our reports about Lapland.

FAQ – frequently asked questions about Lapland

What is Lapland known for?

Lapland is known for its majestic mountains, vast wilderness, northern lights and midnight sun. It is also home to some of Sweden's most famous nature experiences, Sami culture and popular destinations such as Abisko National Park and Icehotel.

What not to miss in Lapland?

Some of the most popular experiences in Lapland include hiking the King's Trail, visiting Abisko National Park, experiencing the Northern Lights, and trying out activities like dog sledding or snowmobiling. Many also want to visit the Icehotel and learn more about Sami culture.

When is the best time to travel to Lapland?

Winter is the best time to experience snow, the Northern Lights and winter activities such as skiing and dog sledding. Summer offers midnight sun, hiking and fantastic nature experiences in the mountains. Autumn is also popular thanks to the beautiful autumn colours and a slower pace.

How many days do you need in Lapland?

It depends on what you want to experience, but at least three to five days are recommended to see the mountains, experience nature and try some activities. If you have a week or more, you will have the opportunity to travel between several places and discover even more of Lapland.

More landscape guides nearby

Want to discover more of Sweden? Here are more guides to nearby landscapes that are perfect for more excursions, road trips and holidays at home.

• Things to do in Norrbotten
• Things to do in Jamtland
• Things to do in Harjedalen
• Things to do in Västerbotten
• Holidays in Sweden