Umea
Northern Sweden'S Largest City And A University Town, The 'City Of Birches', European Capital Of Culture In 2014 And A Gateway To The Vindel River And Southern Lapland · Umea, Vasterbotten County
Umea is northern Sweden's largest city, a university town of well over 100,000 people on the Ume River, about 15 km from the Gulf of Bothnia. It was chartered in 1622, but a great fire in 1888 destroyed most of the wooden town. The city was rebuilt with wide streets and thousands of birch trees planted as firebreaks, which gave it the nickname the city of birches. Umea University, founded in the 1960s, made it a young and creative city, and it was European Capital of Culture in 2014. Visitors come for the riverside art museum Bildmuseet on the Arts Campus, the free Gammlia open-air museum with the Vasterbottens museum, the Guitars museum, the Umedalen sculpture park and the ferry to Vaasa in Finland. The honest caveat: this is a tier 3 stop. Umea is pleasant, lively and good for a night or two, but it has little old town left after the fire, and most travellers pass through on the way to the Vindel River, southern Lapland or Finland.
Central Umea on the Ume River, with Gammlia open-air museum and the Bildmuseet art museum on the university riverside, Umea, Vasterbotten County, Sweden
The city is open all year. Gammlia's outdoor grounds are open daily, with the farm buildings and staffed activities mainly in the summer season, about late June to mid August; the Vasterbottens museum indoors is usually open daily except some Mondays outside summer - check the current schedule. Bildmuseet is usually open Tuesday to Sunday and closes between exhibitions; confirm it is open. The Guitars museum keeps shorter winter hours - confirm. Umedalen sculpture park is open outdoors at all times. Getting there: SJ and Norrtag trains reach Umea C, the night train stops here, and Umea Airport is about 5 km south with flights from Stockholm. The Wasaline ferry to Vaasa leaves from the port at Holmsund, about 20 km south, and should be booked ahead for cars in summer.