Sweden Infos about the region Lapland
Lapland is Sweden’s biggest and most northern historical province and has borders with Norway and Finland. The province has less than 1 inhabitant per square kilometer and comprises more than one fourth of Sweden’s land area.Lapland is the province of contrasts: There is Sweden’s highest mountain, the Kebnekaise, as well as Sweden’s deepest lake, the Hornavan. While there is permafrost in the mountain areas, temperatures of 25 degrees centigrade can easily be reached in summer in the lower areas. But not only considering the climate the differences in this area are huge; you will even find a large diversity in the languages spoken in this area. Next to Swedish, there are the minority languages Finnish, Sami and the Finnish Meänkieli dialect. Many villages and cities have Sami or Meänkieli names. The Sami, the native population of this area, had their first nomad settlements along the rivers and lakes of this area maybe already 9000 years ago. The county can even provide UNESCO world heritage: the Laponian area, consisting of 4 national parks and 2 nature preserves. In general, Norrbottens län can be seen as one huge nature preserve. In the whole province, there are 165 nature preserves, 47 protection areas for birds and 8 national parks, which make out more than 90% of all Sweden’s nature preservation areas. The cold winter climate allows some very unusual attractions: Every fall there is an ice hotel built in Jukkasjärvi, approximately 200 km north of the arctic circle. So, if you wish to spend your holiday in a lonely nature, Lapland is the right place for you. If you don’t mind frost, then you will have the biggest chances to see an Aurora in Norrbotten in winter. And in summer, when it can be even warmer than 25 degrees north of the arctic circle, you can see the Midnight Sun.