Looking for culture in Northern Sweden?
The Sami are the indigenous people of Northern Sweden and the Sápmi nation (‘Lapland’ in Sweden) in which they live covers the land north of the Arctic Circle in Sweden, Norway, Finland and the Kola Peninsula in Russia.
A new quality label ‘Sápmi Experience’, run by Visit Sápmi and Sami people, is your guarantee of quality and sustainability for your conference, meeting or incentive.
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What better way to discover Northern Sweden than with the Sami, whose ancestors were here almost 10,000 years ago? Visit visitsapmi.com to find our more.
Nature's Best arrangement Pathfinder Lapland
Photo: Staffan Widstrand/imagebank.sweden.se
What to visit?
- Nutti Sami Siida
- Jokkmokk Market
Eco-tourism with the Sami
Nutti Sami Siida is a Sami eco-tourism company based in the village of Jukkasjärvi close to the famous Ice Hotel. Here you can enjoy reindeer sledding tours with a guide and learn how the Sami look after their herds. Dog sledding and snowmobile tours are also available and you can expect a mix of spectacular scenery, Sami culture and cuisine Sami-style. There is comfortable accommodation available at the ‘Reindeer Lodge’. For more Sami-run tourism service providers visit visitsapmi.com.
Sami culture, events and shopping at Jokkmokk market
For 400 years the Jokkmokk market in the far north of Sweden has been a meeting place for Sami people. You can enjoy the atmosphere of this unique market every February and look out for traditional Sami ‘slöjd’ consisting mainly of knives and cups elaborately handcrafted from reindeer antlers, as well as clothing, bracelets, jewellery and bags. Many cultural events take place in and around the market and for a snapshot of Sami culture the Jokkmokk market is unique.
The sights of Northern Sweden? How about the Northern Lights – one of nature’s most extraordinary performances, or the Midnight Sun that turns night into day in the summer months. Northern Sweden is literally unique because it is Europe’s last remaining wilderness and it is a celebration of expanse, wild nature, silence and people with a unique frontier spirit. There is nowhere like Northern Sweden.
Conferencing, meeting or on an incentive trip in Northern Sweden? And can’t shake off that ‘shopping feeling’? Then visit the shopping streets and malls of one of the big three towns up here; Kiruna, Umeå and Luleå. The great thing about these towns is that they are small enough to do their shops in a day and this being Sweden, the land of the ‘fika’ (coffee break), there are tons of cafés for a pit stop.
Where can it be – 40 C in winter, and +30 C in summertime? Where is Europe’s last wilderness and home to Europe’s only indigenous people, the Sami? Where is the land of eight seasons, the Northern Lights and the Midnight Sun? Northern Sweden.
Northern Sweden inspires cold climate cuisine. The indigenous Sami people of Swedish Lapland source natural ingredients from a hardy landscape and have developed cooking techniques that would embarrass you for needing an oven. Open fires, hot stones and smoke is all you need to cook top notch fare and make nourishing food to last through the long, cold and hard winters.
Northern Sweden, including Lapland, is Europe’s last wilderness and the great outdoors of Sweden. And the outdoors here is great for snow sports and year-round activities as part of incentive and conference packages. Here’s a sample of high-speed adventures you can get up to in Northern Sweden.
Central Sweden is where you can enter a Viking city, see Sweden’s first Viking town, hand paint a Dalecarlian horse, go to an opera in an open quarry where the conductor arrives by boat, or eat a ‘Falukorv’ hotdog while looking into the Great Pit.
Central Sweden offers you the best of big city shopping in Uppsala, Karlstad and Örebro. But for linen straight from the factory, traditional folk art and handicrafts, hit for the region’s heartlands.
Central Sweden is a natural playground. And Swedes love their nature so much they have introduced an eco-tourism charter and Europe’s first eco-label ‘Nature’s Best’, that assures the quality of nature holidays and activities run by its eco-certified tour operators. As well as being covered in National Parks, you can go anywhere you want in Central Sweden – literally – Sweden enjoys the Right of Public Access (Allamansrätt) making all land accessible to everyone.
Central Sweden landscapes lend themselves perfectly to great golf courses. Huge swathes of forest, rolling countryside and open meadows, as well as an abundance of lakes and streams, means that most courses are of a parkland/woodland mix. There are also several links-type courses on the east coast. And with more daylight hours here than in northern climes, you get to play more golf.
Go wild in Central Sweden. It’s a veritable buffet of nature’s bounty. The lake and forest rich region provides seasonal wild game, game fish and an abundance of forest berries. Local producers have naturally already gone wild and tend carefully to the respected natural resources. Result? Wild game, organic root vegetables, handcrafted cheeses, smoked fish, cured meats and knock-your-socks-off good blueberry jam.
Central Sweden is the heartland that is home to Viking towns, a Nobel Laureate, Sweden’s oldest university and the source of Swedish interior design. And where you can attend an opera in a quarry, or just rage around town in middle-ages gear and be one of the crowd.
Central Sweden is a vast and varied landscape. It’s non-stop mountains, forest and lakes and dotted with the quintessentially Swedish red wooden-cabin villages. That means your incentives package is insanely picturesque and non-stop action from the get-go with year-round options focusing on mountain, water and snow sports.
Southern Sweden, with its pastoral, rolling countryside, endless forests and temperate climes is home to the fabulous city of Malmö, the university town of Lund and Helsingborg on the coast.
Sweden is known worldwide as one of the leading countries for design in everything from fashion to furniture with glassworks and ceramics and every sort of interior knick-knack in between. And no better place to shop for it than southern Sweden as it is home to the Kingdom of Crystal, The Kingdom of Furniture, and Swedish fashion factory outlets. And if food is more your thing, make for Skåne’s farm shops.
Conferencing or meeting in southern Sweden? We can recommend its rolling countryside, rocky coastlines to the east and west and long stretches of sandy beach at its southern tip. There are boat trips out to the fabulous archipelagos here, hiking and trekking on its coasts and fabulous fishing in its lakes.
Southern Sweden has more quality golf courses than you can shake your carbon-shafted driver at. It is home to some of Sweden’s best championship golf courses, including Barsebäck, Falsterbo and Halmstad, and the 70 plus golf courses here are just a couple of hours’ drive from each other. Coming to southern Sweden for a conference or a meeting? Take our advice and bring your clubs.
Southern Sweden is a gourmand’s gem. Golden eggs, smoky eels, gorgeous goose, herring feasts in smeltries, mouth watering lamb, vodka, Swedish champagne and smashing award winning restaurants. A few eyebrow raising moments maybe, but satisfied taste buds every time.
Southern Sweden is pretty as a patchwork quilt: fertile farmlands, forests and lakes littered with castles, manors and museums plus magnificent gardens. A stronghold of the Viking era, you will also find an abundance of medieval churches as well as picture perfect Renaissance style villages.
Southern Sweden is simply magnificent. Dune dusted white sand beaches, rolling green pastures, picture-perfect cottages by lakes, and fairy-tale woodland trails with charming castles and manors all over the place. It’s incentive enough to sit around and do nothing but just admire it, but go Swedish and get active.
The sights of Stockholm – please. All of Stockholm is a sight for sore eyes. Stockholm is a city set on fourteen islands facing proudly out over the Baltic Sea with its very own and very beautiful archipelago. So if you’re conferencing, meeting or are coming to Stockholm on an incentive trip, put your best foot forward, because the best way to see Stockholm is by foot. Other ways include from the air, from the water, from the rooftops…
Shopping in Stockholm is a stylish affair. The city has fashion instinct, design and sophisticated Swedish ceramics, glassware and handicrafts coming out its ears. Shop like a local and stop regularly for Swedish ‘fika’ bun and coffee breaks.
Try as you will, you just can't get away from Mother Nature's natural charms in Stockholm. It's just as well to succumb to the city's beguiling natural beauty. When in Stockholm, do as Stockholmers do and get close to the stunning nature of the city.
We’re not suggesting you bunk off early from your conference or meeting in Stockholm to play golf. But we would understand if you did. You see, Stockholm has many top quality golf courses on its doorstep; including Arlandastad, Bro Hof, Drottningholm, Kunsängen, Vidbynäs, along with many others.
So if one of your fellow conference-goers is a keen golfer and goes AWOL, you know where to look.
Stockholm is a cosmopolitan capital of cuisine with everything from sushi to sill (herring) available on every block. But you won’t want to miss ‘husmanskost’, a trip to a Salluhall, tunnbröd hotdogs, nouvelle Nordic cuisine, or eating from the Nobel banquet menu in a golden room.
Stockholm and culture go hand in hand. On a day out and about you can cover everything from the ancient and traditional to contemporary and cutting edge in Swedish, Scandinavian, and world cultures.
Stockholm is a city of islands and canals on the great Lake Mälaren that opens up into a massive archipelago of over 24,000 islands and skerries. That’s a lot of water for you to get active on. But you don’t have to stay water bound – you can find yourself spotting wildlife in a national park within 20 minutes of the city or you can float right over in a hot air balloon.
Gothenburg is Sweden’s second largest city, but second to none when it comes to sightseeing. Being a maritime city, with Scandinavia’s largest port, one of the best ways to see Gothenburg and its magnificent West Coast archipelago is by boat. You can take a boat trip on the city’s 17th century canals and in summertime take a boat out into the archipelago with brunch or dinner included.
Gothenburg has it all. Cobbled streets, covered lanes, vintage hot spot, handicraft heaven and the biggest shopping mall in Scandinavia. Along with a multitude of design boutiques and fashion forward Swedish brand stores - all within strolling distance of each other.
Gothenburg is a green city – literally. It has great sweeps of forest, meadows, lakes, parks and gardens and there is almost nothing that Gothenburgers prefer than chilling out with a picnic. Apart from visiting the Western Archipelago that is. You should too, because in this beautiful island and skerry scattered maritime world you get the chance to catch and savour some of the world’s tastiest lobster and oysters.
If you are a keen golfer attending a conference, meeting or incentive trip to Gothenburg or its surroundings, fear not, there are a number of fine courses close to the city. Bring your clubs and prepare for some city and coastal golf.
Gothenburg is a gourmet haven for seafood lovers. Wander through food halls, fish churches, eat Michelin starred ‘husmanskost’, go on lobster safari, eat oysters straight form the sea and bite into a heavenly prawn sandwich in the clouds.
Gothenburg is Sweden’s answer to a grand day out for eclectic culture vultures. You can discover design, Romantic art, cutting edge photography and the acclaimed Museum of World Culture, or venture out into the archipelago to glimpse a day in the life of a fortress at sea.
Gothenburg is a gem for action and adventure without having to leave the city. You have Liseberg amusement park, curling, hot air ballooning and gokarting options. But for those who want to go further afield, hit the water and head out into the city’s archipelago straight from the harbour.
With the opening of the Öresund Bridge in 2000, joining Malmö with Copenhagen, the city is part of the Öresund Region – creating a single metropolitan area that is one of the most expansive, exciting and energetic in Europe.
Malmö city is growing; reclaiming land from the sea to create new parts of the city such as the Western Harbour area and its landmark Turning Torso building. Come to Malmö to see its sights, both old and new and celebrate its regeneration.
Malmö makes for eclectic shopping. It’s got woolly chairs, contemporary crafts, a 16th century shopping market square, flea-market finds and more shopping centres than you can shake your wallet at. And the magic of shopping in Malmö is that it’s largely pedestrianised.
Discover the nature of Malmö in its parks, gardens, beaches and waterways. Malmö boasts its very own downtown beach at Ribersborg beach, 2.5 kilometres-long and known locally as ‘Scandinavia’s Copacabana’. It has received the international ‘Blue Flag’ award for its clean, clear water. A visit to this fine beach adds an unexpected and delightful dimension to you conference or meeting here in Malmö.
There are more than 70 golf courses here in southern Sweden, all within a two hour drive of Malmö. Some of Sweden’s very best championship golf courses are here, including Barsebäck, Falsterbo and Halmstad. There are also some very good courses around Malmö. Here are some of them.
Malmö is a multicultural melting pot of world culture cuisine as well as the capital of the Skåne region, famous for its rich dairy, goose, eel and farm fresh foods. You can just as easily grab a genuine kebab on the go as gourmet escallops of fried goose liver.
Experience multi-culti Malmö in its museums and castles, modern art galleries, a real-life Viking village and its theatre and dance. All in a day out in Malmö.
Malmö is a city on a sound, fringed with white sandy beaches and with a population mad for water sports. But don’t let that stop you from trying F1 go-karting, Ferrari driving, skydiving or learning some marksmanship at the pistol range.
When it comes to world-class corporate meetings, conferences and study visits, you won’t get much more unique than in Sweden.
When it comes to world-class corporate meetings, conferences and study visits, you won’t get much more unique than in Sweden.
Sweden as an incentives destination? What other incentives destination has Swedish Lapland, the iconic Icehotel, the drop-dead beautiful capital city of Stockholm and more natural beauty than any one country should be allowed?
There is no other way to put it – Swedes just love to plan and organize. That means you can expect worry-free, professional (and sustainable) event management from start to finish. Allow us to make your event memorable with trend-setting entertainment, itinerary development and catering that allows you more time to promote positive employee and client relationships.
How you do things in Sweden and what is worth knowing about Sweden?