Kiruna
Kiruna is a small mining town located 200km north of the Arctic Circle. Home to Abisko National Park, Sweden’s highest mountain Kebnekaise and the ski resorts Björkliden and Riksgränsen. Not to mention the Icehotel in the small village Jukkasjärvi. The Icehotel is the first hotel made from ice and snow, founded in 1989. A world famous hotel and an art exhibition reborn every winter. The rooms are unique and hand carved by artists from around the world and a wide range of disciplines. Spending a night in Icehotel is a surreal experience and a memory for life.
In Kiruna you can experience contrasts from Northern Lights to the midnight sun and the highest mountain in Sweden to the world’s largest underground iron-ore mine. It has a subarctic climate with short, cool summers and long, cold winters. The sun does not set between May 30 and July 15, and perpetual daylight lasts from early May to early August.
With its 19,447 square kilometres, the municipality is as big as half the size of the Netherlands – where over 17 million people live. In Kiruna Municipality, just over 23,000 people share the half as many square kilometres. That is almost a square kilometre per person. More than 18,000 of them live in the city, the rest of them living in about 50 villages.
Kiruna is also undergoing an exciting transformation. The entire town is about to relocate, as the mine and ore deposits extend beneath the town centre. Never before has such a large community undergone this kind of transformation. If you want some insight in the ongoing city transformation we can recommend the guided city tour ‘A city in motion’ starting at Kiruna Lappland Tourist Center.
Both our Fly Drive package, Full Circle as our Highlights Swedish Lapland travel packages include Kiruna as destination.
