Västerbotten County, Sweden — Towns & Travel Guide

Västerbotten is known for its rivers and its north-country life. The county climbs from the coast at Umeå up the long valleys of free-running rivers into a wilderness of forest, fell, and Sami herding land along the Norwegian border. Umeå is a lively university city.

The hard north-country cheese carries the province's name across Sweden. People know it for salmon rivers, birch forests, and the bright Arctic summers of the far north.

Västerbotten lies in northern Sweden, a long county that climbs from the low coast of the Gulf of Bothnia in the south-east up across a wide belt of forest to the high mountains of the Norwegian border in the north-west. Deep coniferous forest, bog, and lakes cover most of the interior, threaded by great rivers that run down the long diagonal valleys toward the Baltic, while the bare fells and peaks rise beyond the last trees along the frontier and the coast frays into low islands and bays. Rivers shape the land.

The Ume and Vindelälven run east to the sea. These rivers gather their waters in the western mountains and run down across the interior to the coast, carving the broad valleys where the towns and farms sit. The Vindelälven runs free and undammed, one of the great wild rivers of the north.

The county shares its long western border with Norway among the high peaks. Umeå and Skellefteå anchor the coast, while small forest and herding settlements scatter through the vast interior.

Västerbotten blends north-country, Sami, and university life. The reindeer-herding Sami have long lived in the mountains and forests of the interior, and their language, craft, and herding calendar still shape life along the border country, while the coast carries the hardy traditions of farming, fishing, and forest work. Umeå is a young, lively city.

Two cultures meet across the county. The coastal towns hold a strong heritage of timber, smithing, and church-village life, seen in the old wooden settlements like the great church town at Skellefteå. Umeå, with its university, drives a busy arts and music scene and once served as a European Capital of Culture.

Folk festivals and markets fill the year. Sami handicraft, north-country food, and the famous hard cheese of the province carry the older culture forward, while river fishing and mountain walking shape the outdoor life across the seasons.

Västerbotten is old Sami and settler land. The reindeer-herding Sami ranged the mountains and forests of the interior long before Swedish settlers pushed north up the river valleys to farm, fish, and trade along the coast. The county took form in the seventeenth century.

Umeå grew at the river mouth into the regional capital, though fire and war marked its early years, and the coast and rivers later drew timber, mining, and waterpower that built the modern north. Herding, forest, and river towns carry that long story still.

Västerbotten has a cold subarctic climate. Winters are long, cold, and snowy, with deep and lasting snow across the forests and fells and short, dark days through the heart of the dark season in the far north of the county. Summers are short and bright.

The long northern days bring bright evenings and near-endless light to the coast and the mountains, drawing walkers and anglers out through the brief, green height of summer. The high western fells stay cold and hold snow longest of all.

Västerbotten is reached by air, rail, and road. Flights run up from Stockholm to Umeå and Skellefteå, the quickest way north, while the coastal railway and the night train carry travellers along the Gulf of Bothnia and on toward the far north. The main coastal road threads the towns.

Roads climb west up the river valleys to the mountains. Onward roads cross the border into Norway among the peaks.