Abisko National Park

6 min read Updated October 2026 Compare all tours

Abisko National Park was founded on 24 May 1909, which makes it one of the first national parks in Sweden. Its purpose, in the words of the park administration, is to keep a high-northern mountain landscape in its original condition. The park covers 7,700 hectares, of which 6,807 are land. Birch forest fills the valley floor, with open meadows and heath above it and bare alpine terrain on the mountains around. The river Abiskojåkka runs through the middle, cuts a canyon just before the village and ends in a delta on Torneträsk.

The railway between Kiruna and the ice-free port of Narvik was completed a few years before the park was founded, and it brought the first tourists. The old construction road used by the railway workers, the Rallarvägen, still survives. Today the E10 and the railway both pass through the park, with car parks on both sides of the road, and the railway station Abisko Turist lies about 800 metres from the Naturum visitor centre and from STF’s mountain station, Abisko Turiststation, where the trails begin. The getting there page has train, bus and flight details.

The canyon loop

The walk most visitors take first starts at the Naturum and follows yellow markers. It passes a small hut, a museum and a tunnel decorated by artists, then runs about 300 metres on a wooden boardwalk along the west side of the canyon to a picnic spot with the park's symbol, a golden crown. You return along the east side or take the gravel road down to the shore of Torneträsk. The park describes the loop as roughly an hour.

The canyon is cut into hard schist and dolomite, and dippers nest along the water. A tunnel under the E10 takes you to the south side, where the river drops through a tunnel under the railway built in 1899.

Parts of both routes are adapted for visitors with limited mobility. On the yellow route from the Naturum, about 150 metres of sloping gravel path without a handrail lead down to the river, with gradients of up to 8 percent; on the west bank the boardwalk has railings and slopes at up to 8 to 10 percent. A car park below and west of the tourist station, for holders of a disabled parking permit, shortens the way to the canyon. The green route follows a gravel road for 1.2 kilometres and a 30-metre path to the fireplace by the lake, and permit holders may drive down to a lay-by at the shore.

The lakeshore and the delta

A green-marked path leads from the Naturum to the shore of Torneträsk. At the end there is a picnic area with benches and a fireplace that can be reached by wheelchair. A small hill nearby gives a view over the delta of the Abiskojåkka, which is a bird sanctuary. Between 1 May and 31 July the delta is closed to visitors, on land and on the water.

About 300 metres behind the station stands a reconstructed Sámi camp for autumn and spring, with storehouses, wooden huts and drying racks. Sámi people have used this valley for thousands of years, and the reindeer of Gabna sameby still graze here. The Sámi culture and reindeer page lists tours with a herder.

The first stage of the Kungsleden

The Kungsleden, Sweden's oldest and best known long-distance trail, starts at STF Abisko Turiststation and runs south to Hemavan. Its first stage follows the Abiskojåkka through the park to the Abiskojaure huts: 14 kilometres on a wide, easy path, about four to five hours on foot, with a suspension bridge over the Kamajåkka at the end. In winter the same valley is used by guided snowmobile and snowshoe tours.

AKKA Nature runs a two-day snowshoe journey along this route, with a night in a shared, off-grid mountain cabin at Abiskojaure and meals on the trail. Groups are capped at six. Backpack, warm clothing and boots are your own. For shorter routes on foot or on snowshoes, see snowshoeing and hiking.

Park rules worth knowing

Tents may only be pitched at designated sites, which are at the STF mountain station, at Nissonjohka about 5 kilometres south along the Kungsleden and at the Abiskojaure huts. Fires, including grills, are only allowed at marked fireplaces; a camping stove is fine. Fishing and hunting are banned in the whole park. You may pick berries and mushrooms, but not other plants. No aircraft may land in the park, and the English version of the rules names drones explicitly.

Dogs are generally not allowed. A leashed dog may come along between 1 January and 30 April, and all year on roads, marked trails, at STF Abisko Turiststation and at the Abiskojaure huts. A dog sled with more than four dogs needs a permit from Länsstyrelsen Norrbotten. Motor vehicles, snowmobiles included, may only use designated roads, car parks and snowmobile trails. Exceptions apply to Gabna sameby for reindeer herding and fishing.

The Naturum and the research station

Naturum Abisko, run by Länsstyrelsen Norrbotten, stands next to STF Abisko Turiststation, by the road and the railway. It has nature guides, an exhibition on habitats in a changing climate, a room for films and talks, a small shop with books and maps, a library and a corner where children can play. In winter 2026/27 it opens on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, from 14:00 to 17:00 between 1 December and 13 February and from 13:00 to 17:00 from 15 February. These are the times on the naturum Abisko page of Länsstyrelsen Norrbotten, which runs the centre; the national park website gives 17 February as the start of the late-winter hours.

The Abisko Scientific Research Station has worked in the village since 1913 and has measured the weather here ever since. Its data show how dry the valley is: with a normal of 347 millimetres a year for 1991 to 2020, Abisko is the driest station in Sweden, because the mountains to the west hold back the rain. The station is a place for researchers, not a visitor attraction.

Seasons in the park

From December to March the park is a winter landscape of frozen falls and snow-covered birch, and the snowmobile tours run on the marked trails. Above the valley, on the mountain Njullá, the Aurora Sky Station sits inside the park at about 900 metres. In summer the light never fades: from 25 May to 19 July 2027 the sun stays above the horizon around the clock. The meadows of Njullá, which the park calls the flower mountain, bloom then, and the delta is closed for nesting birds until the end of July.