Abisko National Park and the Aurora Sky Station

One Of Europe'S First National Parks (1909), In A Mountain Rain Shadow Known For Clearer Skies Than The Coast; The Northern End Of The Kungsleden Trail And Home Of The Aurora Sky Station · Abisko, Norrbotten County

Abisko National Park, created in 1909 as one of Europe's first national parks, is a small park of birch forest, mountain slopes and a deep river canyon on the south shore of Lake Tornetrask, about 95 km west of Kiruna and close to the Norwegian border. It sits in a rain shadow behind the mountains to the west, often called the blue hole, and that dry, often clear sky is why it has become one of the best-known places in Europe to watch the northern lights. The Aurora Sky Station, a small viewing station on Nuolja mountain reached by chairlift, opens on winter nights for aurora watching and in summer for the midnight sun. STF Abisko Turiststation, beside the railway, is the park's base and the northern start of the Kungsleden trail, which runs about 440 km south to Hemavan. People come for the aurora in winter and for hiking in summer. The honest caveat: the aurora is never guaranteed, winter nights can reach -30 C, and June and July bring heavy mosquitoes.

Abisko Turiststation, beside the E10 and the Ofoten railway, about 95 km west of Kiruna, Abisko, Norrbotten County, Sweden

The park is open all year and free to enter. The Aurora Sky Station usually opens on winter evenings from roughly late November or December to about March, with the chairlift running up after dark, and again for midnight sun evenings in roughly June and July - confirm the current season, the nights it operates and whether it is closed on some weekdays, because the pattern changes. STF Abisko Turiststation runs most of the year with a gap in late spring and autumn - confirm dates. Getting there: the train from Kiruna takes about 1 hour 30 minutes and stops at Abisko Turiststation; the night train from Stockholm continues here on its way to Narvik. By car it is about 1 hour 15 minutes from Kiruna on the E10. Book the Sky Station evening, any dinner there and your room at the Turiststation ahead, especially for February and March.

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