Driving Through Northern Sweden | Nordic Road Trip 2022 [3/6]
In the summer of 2022, we decided to take a Nordic road trip. We started our trip on the Åland Islands, from where we continued to Nastola, right outside Lahti, in Finland. This is the third part of our story, in which we drive through northern Sweden. The goal was to continue to the Lofoten archipelago in Norway. You can read the first part about our Nordic road trip here.
Continue North Along the Border to Aavasaksa
Inkludera Jespers cykeltur på morgonen till Kukkola (Blir en separat post om den)
We stayed the night in Haparanda, on the Swedish side of Torne, the river that forms the border between Sweden and Finland. In the morning, we wanted to continue our journey. Jesper. however, decided to enjoy some biking, so he cycled to Kukkola, a small locality about 15 kilometers north of Haparanda, most famous for its rapids.
From Kukkola, we continued to Aavasaksa. This sharp-edged hill on the Finnish side of the river has some truly amazing sights. It is one of the 27 National Landscapes of Finland and being a part of the Struve Geodetic Arc, it is also a UNESCO World Heritage site. Aavasaksa was indeed a beautiful place, it was a bit of a climb. but the spectacular views over the nearby rivers made it worth it.
Crossing the Arctic Circle
After our stop at Aavsasaksa, it was time to return to Northern Sweden and cross the Arctic Circle. We crossed it at Naisheden, on the way to our next stop, Gällivare. Up here in the north of Sweden, there isn’t much to see except for a lot of nature. Fortunately, the weather was sunny and it wasn’t at all as cold as one could think.
Meeting Jesper’s Aunt in Gällivare
In Gällivare, we met Jesper’s aunt. While walking to a pizzeria to grab something to eat, we had the chance to see the center of Gällivare. It seemed a nice enough place, with wooden buildings and a lot of space.
As for the pizza, there were a lot of options, including reindeer pizza!
In Gällivare it was also time to get a good night’s sleep before continuing to the west!
The Great Lake of the North – Torneträsk
One of the highlights of the drive through northern Sweden was Torneträsk, a lake in Kiruna Municipality. This lake, the 6th-largest and 2nd-deepest in Sweden, is usually covered by ice until June. The ice had melted when we got there. However, my mother dared to dip her toes in the water, and she said it was cold.
Next to Torneträsk is Abisko, a National Park, which is on my list of places to visit. We made a short stop there, considering the option to stay a little longer and perhaps go for a walk. In the end, we decided against it. We wanted to continue to the Norwegian side of the border, and there was still quite a distance remaining before we would get there. Perhaps some other time!
Trying to Find Somewhere to Spend the Night in Norway
In the end, we made it to the Norwegian side of the border, but we were soon faced with a challenge: finding somewhere to sleep! We were not able to camp at Riksgränsen (which is the border) or in Narvik. So, we kept on driving and had some adventures on the way. My mother decided to take a swim in the fjord – it was so close that she didn’t get up from the icy water!
After the scare, we continued driving to Hinnøya, an island just off the western coast. As we drove, nature became more and more impressive with high mountains. It was late, but as we were so far north, it was still light. However, we were getting really tired and we also desperately needed to use the restroom. We finally found one in Lødingen, about a two-hour drive from Narvik.
We had seen a lot during our drive through Northern Sweden, but our destination was still ahead of us. However, Lofoten was not far away now!
Read more about the places we visited
