Best Arctic Experiences
Are you looking for unique and exciting things to do when you visit Bodø and Salten? Whether you want cultural, history, or nature experiences, Sulitjelma is a gem that offers the best arctic experiences for both young and old. In the abandoned mining village in the mountain world towards Sweden you will find one of Norway’s largest untouched wilderness areas, exciting mining history, and the Sami cultural heritage. Here you can read about three things to do in Sulitjelma.
Northern Lights
Northern Lights is probably the most unique and best arctic experience. Jakobsbakken is ideally located on the Northern Lights oval, the area where the northern lights are most likely to be experienced. The advantage of experiencing the northern lights from Jakobsbakken is that there is minimal light pollution. Due to a stable inland climate, there are also very good opportunities for the clear sky when you are here.
You will also have the opportunity to make angels in the snow, go snowshoeing to ice fishing waters, or go skiing on a World Cup-standard trail. From Jakobsbakken we can offer real winter experiences on historical grounds in the Arctic mountain world.
Experience magical walks in unspoiled nature, where you can walk for hours without meeting a single person. You will get close to nature in the Arctic mountain world and perhaps the opportunity to see wildlife with reindeer, grouse, and fox up close.
At Jakobsbakken you can also experience light and weather in many different variants. Everything from magical sunsets to storms that thrills.
Mountain hiking
Do you want to lie in the heather and dream away, while the only thing you hear is your own pulse and the wind whistling? Mountain hiking in midnight sun is truly one of the best arctic experiences.
Sulitjelma mountains are known far beyond Norway’s borders as one of Norway’s most majestic natural landscapes. It is located in the heart of Lapland and is the gateway to the Laponia World Heritage site, which is just across the border from Sulitjelma. Here you will find everything from the magnificent, hilly countryside with many large and small fishing lakes to elongated U-valleys between high-altitude mountain massifs.
From Jakobsbakken you can walk a few hundred meters, then you are inside the venerable Junkerdal National Park. In the national park you will find many old testimonies of Sami settlement and farm use. There are traces of Sami tent settlements, old-tufts, fishing facilities and fireplaces. In the forest border there are also tufts after permanent Sami farm settlement.
The Sami are still running reindeer herding here. There are also other remnants of outcrops, fishing, trapping, harvesting, and traces of drilling in mineral deposits.
The landscape has a very rich flora with many rare plant species. The whole area has been very important for understanding the establishment and propagation of plants and animals since the last ice age in Northern Norway.
Fishing
The Sulitjelma area is one of Norway’s most well-known hunting and fishing areas. Here you will find over 400 fishing lakes and several of them are in close proximity to a road. The area has many fine fishing lakes that invite to the best arctic experiences.
From Jakobsbakken it is a short distance into Junkerdal National Park, with many fine fishing lakes. By local fishermen, the trout at some fishing lakes in Sulitjelma mountains is described as so red that you hardly believe it to be true.
In the mountainous areas around Sulitjelma there are many nice walks and fishing opportunities. The area offers trails and easily accessible fishing lakes, while there are many opportunities if you want to walk away from the trails and into little-visited areas.
August and September are generally the best times in the mountains, both in terms of insects and catches. But both late winter and early summer can offer experiences of a lifetime. Please note that it is a weathered area and storms can come abruptly.
The quality of the trout in the area is exemplary. Bugs are rich in many of the waters, giving the fish a delicate red color. The taste is also delicious. Fishing in the mountains can be whimsical, but it is rarely difficult to get a nice catch.