Sarek

The last wilderness of Europe

Sarek National Park, with its wild mountains is often considered the last wilderness in Europe. It is a huge area in Northern Sweden where there is no road, no trails, no mountain huts (except some cabins if weather conditions may be hard), just 2 bridges, no cell reception and no tracks of humans.

Sarek National Park (Swedish: Sareks nationalpark) is established in 1909 in Jokkmokk Municipality, Lapland in Northern Sweden. The park is the oldest national park in Europe and a central part of the World Heritage site Laponia site as it was founded in 1996.

Laponia (Swedish: Lappland, Northern Sami: Sápmi, Finnish: Lappi), stretches over four countries: Norway, Sweden, Finland and the Kola peninsula of Russia. Laponia was a historical Swedish province, or landscape, in the north of Sweden. In 1809 the RussianEmpire annexed the eastern part of Sweden which in effect created a Swedish Lapland and Finnish Lapland. Even though the region of Laponia crosses several northern countries it is mainly associated with Sweden and Finland.

Sarek angränsar i norr till Stora Sjöfallets nationalpark och i väster till Padjelanta nationalpark — *Sarek adjacents to two other national parks, in the north to Stora Sjöfallet National Park and in the west to Padjelanta National Park*

Sarek is one of Sweden’s most inaccessible national parks for anyone who cannot hike in on their own. There are no roads leading up to the national park. To get to the southern part of Sarek, the Kvikkjokk area is the best starting point. Aktse is a good Buses travel from Jokkmokk Kvikkjokk. If you want to enter Sarek from the north, there are communications from both Gällivare and Jokkmokk. Several trains a day go to the Gällivare railway station. The bus station is adjacent to the train. From Jokkmokk you can take a bus via Porjus to travel farther along the Way West.

Ritsem – Saltoluokta