Laponia
UNESCO World Heritage Site (1996), Natural And Cultural: One Of Europe'S Largest Untouched Wilderness Areas, Sarek'S Roadless Mountains And The Summer Grazing Lands Of Sami Reindeer Herders · Stora Sjofallet, Norrbotten County
Laponia is a UNESCO World Heritage Site of roughly 9,400 square km in the mountains and forests of Norrbotten, inscribed in 1996 for both its nature and its culture. It joins four national parks - Sarek, Padjelanta, Stora Sjofallet and Muddus - with the Sjaunja and Stubba nature reserves, and it is often described as one of the largest areas of untouched wilderness left in Europe. It is also the summer grazing land of Sami reindeer herders, who have moved their herds between forest and fell here for centuries and still do, which is why the listing is cultural as well as natural. People come for Sarek's roadless glacier country, the wide lake plateau of Padjelanta and its marked hut trail, the old-growth forest and bogs of Muddus, and the long road from Gallivare to Ritsem under the massif of Akka. The honest caveat: most of Laponia is reachable only on foot, by boat or by helicopter, the visitor centre stands beside a waterfall largely dried up by hydropower dams, and Sarek is for experienced trekkers only.
Naturum Laponia at Stora Sjofallet, on the road to Ritsem west of Gallivare; the area covers Sarek, Padjelanta, Stora Sjofallet and Muddus, Stora Sjofallet, Norrbotten County, Sweden
Laponia is open land and never closes, but the visitor season is short. Naturum Laponia at Stora Sjofallet is usually open daily from about mid or late June to September, with a few spring weeks for skiers in some years; it is closed most of the winter - check the current schedule. The STF mountain stations at Saltoluokta and Ritsem and the huts on Padjelantaleden are normally staffed from about late June or early July to around mid September, and some open again for ski touring in March and April. Getting there: take the train (the night train from Stockholm or Norrtag) to Gallivare, then the summer bus run by Lanstrafiken i Norrbotten out along the road toward Ritsem, about 170 km, stopping near Kebnats for the Saltoluokta boat and at Stora Sjofallet for the naturum; check the timetable, because it can be one bus a day. The southern side is reached from Jokkmokk by road to Kvikkjokk. Book the night train, mountain station rooms and any helicopter seats ahead for July and early August.