I've been watching your videos for several years and was wondering when you were going to go to the north. I am from Sandy Oregon and now live in Sweden, It is a great place to be. I live between Hudiksvall and Sundsvall which if you were in Alaska, I would be about 10 miles south of Talkeetna, Alaska. The people here will tell you that there is a real mentality shift once you get to about Gävle, Sweden. I can tell you that I feel more at home here than I ever have in the US. There is no way to explain it. I have Swedish ancestry and maybe it does come through in the genetics. People in the US think I am nuts to pack up everything I own for my business and move it to Sweden. Maybe they are right. Most people my age are retired by now, but at 72 I am having the time of my life and do not see any reason to stop following my heart because people believe more that how they think and feel is related to a number. I think it has everything to do with mental age, being engaged and doing what you love. Mine just happened to be here and now. I am glad that you made it out of town and opened up to the north. You will be back.

North, middle and south are seriously really different....most people would probably dont notice it, you really have to actully live in sweden to see the difference

Last December my daughter with her family moved from Dublin, Ireland, to a small town in the north of Sweden Kalix and they are very happy there. They found there everything that they wished, amazingly friendly people, beautiful nature and excellent schools. And I couldn't believe that the summer is much much better than in Ireland.

One thing about people outside of Stockholm. In general people from Stockholm have a lot of prejudice of people from Norrland, that they are quite, dont speak a lot, are not social etc. My experience being with a girl from Kalix during 5 years is that people in general are alot more talkative, a lot more social, alot warmer and more spontaneous.

Västerbotten here. I'm so happy that you got to see the real Norrland, the light and Storforsen. It's so sad that most Swedes never go north of Dalälven at all. The mountains are probably the most beautiful thing we have and they are most beautiful in autumn. Höga kusten is also a nice place. Piteå residents are a special people in my experience. Everyone I have met has been unusually open and warm....and there you will also find the most beautiful dialect in the country.

You've experienced something many Swedes never even dream of, every fall we get back to work and all I hear is how people brag about their experiences abroad, many Swedes Don't realize how beautiful country they live in, even if it's a small country. Thanks for a nice review of Sweden..

I live in Piteå, work in Luleå so I'm quite used to our landscape up here but I want to give a tip on where you can visit if you want to go to the north of sweden other times, especially during the winter is to visit Arvidsjaur, Arjeplog, Jokkmokk, Gällivare, Kiruna. Its just magical with the snow, all the frosted trees, to get the chance to see the northern lights when it's cold outside.

I have moved from the south to the north of Sweden about four years ago and I just love it. One thing I have noticed is that the summer temperature is simmular to the south and sometimes even higher. And because that the sun never go down it never gets cold in the nighttime.

Haha I can't wait to hear about your winter experience

My sisters boyfriend is from skåne. When he was visiting us in Skellefteå for the first time he thought he was in the middle of nowhere at the airport, he had never seen a real forest in his life. Whenever he saw a few trees together side by side he would refer to them as a forest!😂 it was pretty cute. I am used to hearing that we have a lot of trees up here!

I'm born and raised above the Arctic circle by the Finnish border. I have been living in Singapore for the past 10 years and it really has helped me see how exotic the midnight sun, the stillness, the nature and the northern lights are. We have an almost 400 year old traditional timber house in a tiny village by the coast north of Luleå and it is the most amazing feeling to come home during summertime and appreciate everything that I took for granted before moving to South East Asia.

Lived my entire life in Gothenburg, never travelling further up than Dalarna (though only once). Today however I live in northern Norrland and I absolutely love it and really can't imagine myself moving back down again too soon... Even the long cold winters are so much better since we get actual snow instead of slask for 6 months straight

Sweden is so beautiful. I live in a little village in south of the country and it is so quiet you can hear the silence. clean air, lovely walks, water, forests, animals, a dream come true for someone born in the far north of England.

Dear Stefan, Thx again from the USA! Of all of the "Sweden experience" channels on KZfaq, I have found yours to be the most informative! Good work, champ! Please keep producing.

As a norrbottning, it makes me so happy to hear that you liked the north. If you go a second time I really recommend Jokkfall, Abisko and during winter the ice hotel. Also I think Vassholmen in Kalix is a great place to spend time in the summer, but I'm biased since I'm from there

Im from a small town outside Umeå and I really think you should go back in the middle of winter to see northern lights and go on snowmobile hikes🌨🥶

Now you've made me homesick! 😊 I really miss the midnightsun, the crisp, cool air at night, and the nice people, right now! I think it takes 10 h 30 min to drive from Sth to Piteå, without brakes to strech your legs... 😊 I've driven to Skellefteå from Stockholm, it takes about 10 h, with a couple of breakes for food and such... From Skellefteå it takes about 1h 15 min to Piteå. Sweden is tiny compared to USA but it is a long country with very different climates, culture, dialects and so on, between different areas... I'm glad you liked Piteå and had a nice trip to the north parts of the country! 😊

I live in the "North" - Umeå - but that is really only halfway up the country. I have been to Piteå once on a road trip through to the Ice Hotel, close to Kiruna. It was December and daylight was only 4 hours long with only an oblique golden light streaming through the trees. There was an ice storm & the road inland from Piteå to Kiruna in the dark was life threatening. 🤣🤣 (Me being an ex South African and this being my first winter in Sweden & Kiruna being north of the Arctic Circle). In winter - even in Umeå - the sun never rises above the trees line for about 2 months of winter. But on clear blue winter days you have never seen anything more beautiful. It is literally a scene straight out of the Disney movie, Frozen. The temperature on a clear sky day plummets and sometimes it is so cold that water vapour freezes in the air & then with the oblique sunlight all these tiny vapour ice crystals can be seen sparkling & refracting rainbow colours & being blown in swirling patterns this way & that. The land of ice & sun in March/April. Days are longer and stunning. Everything is crunchy ice crystals unless there are atypical warm snaps & ice becomes slushy. Piteå is a very different place in Winter, even colder than Umeå that can go down to -28⁰C. Kiruna & Luleå can definitely see temperatures down to -45⁰C. People are still friendly & get together inside in Winter, just summer is annual holiday season. But from ages past northern communities only survived by relying on & supporting each other. So 'fika' is really the thing that kept people socialising, checking up on each other & sometimes doing some serious manual labour together to clear a heavy snowfall & help those older or too fragile/in ill health. A community that fika's together, weathers the harsh times together 😁🌈☀️

I’ve lived in Luleå for all my life so I feel like I take beautiful nature for granted. Thank you for reminding me!

I was born and raised in the village Vidsel near Storforsen and have spent hours and hours around Storforsen during the summers. I moved to Norsjö, Västerbotten, when I was 21 (now I'm 55) and I'm always longing to "go home" to beautiful Vidsel ("Vackra Vidsel" - loock it up 😄) to visit friends and Storforsen! There is more beautiful places and rapids upstreams and downstreams from Storforsen, you can always find spots beside the Piteå River where you can camp. 🥰

My girlfriend is from Piteå, I drove the “Norrlandskusten” a few times now. It’s super nice! Last time I drove from Stockholm, stopping in Piteå, Jäkkvik, Bodø, then took the ferry to Lofoten. It was worth, such a great nature

It's not often i see people speak about the area i grew up. It's cool to see you visit places i've been to a lot in my childhood

You should go really far up north. My favorite part is northern Norrbotten, Haparanta, Pajala, Korpilombolo and Övertorneå. My dads family and ancestors has lived there since the 1500s. Great fishing, nice people.

Super interesting to hear about the north of Sweden. I'm from Michigan and I'm moving to Stockholm in the fall for work and its been so interesting hearing your perspective.

I’m from ”Norrland” but not so far up north, Örnsköldsvik. But I’ve been to ”Idre fjäll”, the mountains and it’s also SO beautiful in the summer to go on tours in the mountains. And it’s also so cool to se reindeers all over the streets. 😁😍 And off course go skiing in the mountains in the winter! 😍

So great to see that you went up to my hometown Piteå(Pite) I acutally remember when a couple of my relatives from Stockholm came up to visit during the summer and thought that I was joking about being late at night, because the sun was still up and I had the reversed experince when I went to Stockholm for the first time also during the summer that I couldn't believe my eyes that it was getting dark at night (I was 9 years old back then and had never been so far south before).

You talk about always having light, it's pretty awesome. I live in the northern Sweden and pretty much over 1 month of never darkness. However when winter hits, especially in december, we have like 4 hours of light lol

Using my husband's account to comment as I don't have one. :) We moved here to Sweden at the end of April this year. We're in Jamtland and though I know we're in the "middle" for me, it feels quite north. Though hey, if anyone fancies swapping homes I'd LOVE to relocate as far north as I could go. :) We love it here, the people are friendly which was a surprise as we'd been warned about how reserved they would be. The scenery is stunning and the pace of life, quiet and peaceful which at our age (I'm 61) is just fine with me. Will admit we are struggling to learn the language but we are persevering. Zero regrets about retiring here. This is a very special country and we feel privileged to be living here. :)

Great video. Thanks for sharing your positive comments of northern Sweden. I moved here 23 years ago from England and I live the midnight sun, it still amazes me how light it is in the middle of the night. Welcome back up to the North and good luck with the dating 😉😉

The Gothia Cup is the world's largest and most international soccer cup for youth. Every year around 1700 teams from 80 nations participate and they play 4500 matches on 110 pitches. and Storforsen, part of the Piteälven, is Europe's largest unbound rapid and is located on road 374, 40 km west of Älvsbyn. The distance of the fall is 5 km and the height of the fall 82 m. The last two kilometers the river falls 60 m. In addition to the rapid itself, you can see the "dead fall", giant potholes and ravines with rare plants.

So happy you love our beautiful country. Please go visit the mountains to Padjelanta, Sarek. Abisko, Kebnekaise. Its a completely different experience. And so beautiful. Norrland is amazing.

I was in Kiruna celebrating my 40th birthday. With scooter safari to see the Northern Lights. It was an experience.

Most people up north talk to either neighbours, because if anything goes wrong, all you have is each others. I seen neighbour save farm animals, milk computers while the barn is burning because the fire department is too far away. And then while the barn being rebuilt, every one helps with the animals, milk them if needed.

Piteå and Luleå i Norrland yes. But for me, the real Norrland is further inland. Leave the coast! The coast up north is "some kind" similar to the whole coast of the the baltic sea. From Östersund and straight up is the best! Take the road E45, make a turn in Strömsund against Gäddede, turn north again against Stora Blåsjön - Klimpfjäll 👍. If you don't want to drive so much, take the Airplane to Kiruna, Rent a car, visit Abisko - Jukkasjärvi and Nikkaluokta.... There's so much to see in the "inland Norrland".. I think you will be impressed! Forgott about Kiruna it self, they moved the city, it's cool. I'm not from the north but I love the north.

You have to visit during winter. Check out the Ice Hotel, Riksgränsen/Åre for skiing and snowmobiling, Luleå ice roads, dog sledding, Jokkmokks marknad and more.

I have followed you for a couple of years now, and I am really glad that you finally came to visit us in the north. I actually live at Storforsen. Not at the exact spot, but you can easily walk from my home to Storforsen, and it was the place where we teenagers went to bathe in the summers when I was young. Glad you enjoyed your stay! 🙂

One of my best friends lives in Bodoe (the oe is supposed to be the o with a slash through it), Norway, which is just north of Pitea. I spent 2 weeks living with him a few years ago. It was truly amazing. And weird--that midnight sun helps when you and your buddy are staggering home after a "not really night out cuz the sun's still up", but it's weird trying to sleep. The folks up there had a similar vibe like you mentioned of being laid back. A lot of them said it was the southern part (Oslo) that was rude and haughty.

Been following you for a year or two now and it surprised me to see a video involving my hometown Piteå and the rest of the north, and it always makes me happy for people from southern Sweden to realize how car-bound we are up here 😅

The Midnight sun really is special, its up there with the Northern lights

Congrats mate, Piteå is probably the friendliest town in all of Sweden! I personally live in Skellefteå (my hometown) about 80km south of Piteå by car

Enjoy your videos very informative and fun to watch keep up the good work .

Great to see your video, when Piteå is my hometown. And I can promise you that you still have a ton of stuff to experience within the area. One thing that comes to mind, is that we have like a fifth season, called vårvintern. It’s when the sun comes back after the darkness of northern winter, but the snow is still laying on the ground. We have a lot of activities we do outside then, such as is fishing, grilling, riding snowmobile. It’s a really amazing time!

I live in Härnösand which is also northern Sweden even though I live in the very south of the northern part. 2/3 of Sweden is the 'northern part'. But we only have around 10% of the population. I live somewhat close to Stockholm, 'only' a 5 hour drive. But it's so nice up here, calm, lots of nature, not a lot of people. I would also love to experience more of the north, glad you liked it! The air is different, the atmosphere too. Everyone who has visited here have said the same. All best!

Earlier today, I was thinking about leaving you a comment about going up north! And now I saw this video was posted! 😊

Having followed your channel for a long time it is amazing to see you visiting my home town of Piteå. Growing up in the rural outskirts of Piteå I remember the summers of my youth filled with endless, endless summer nights going swimming at 2 in the morning. I'd say that many things that foreigners associate with Sweden is actually more about northern Sweden. Its not uncommon to have very warm July in Piteå but it can get brutal in winter. The coldest Ive experienced was -41.5 back in 1999.

Stefan, I really recomment driving the E45 and Vildmarksvägen up trough the north of Sweden. You need 3-5 days but there is alot of nice scenery and locations. The E4 is a boring road (unless you take detours), so I understand you took the flight.

So nice to see this.. Im live in Luleå and happy that u come up and look how it is :)

Im starting Swedish this year. I had a big dilema btw Norwegian, Danish and Swedish. I decided already. Lets see how it goes! Great Video.

can’t wait for the winter edition 😅

I am really enjoying your videos. I am willing to migrate end of December. Thank you very much for share these videos.

Thank you so much that You liked north Sweden, and that you visited this part of our country. I live in Vasterbotten/lapland. And I agree It's a calm and nice here, more fresh air and lots of nature all around.

Short, intense summers with immense sunlight is typical in Norrland. It usually starts in mid May and ends in late August. The coastline of Norrland can have more hours of sun in the summer than Gotland (the place that usually wins the hours with most sun during the summer).

There are many prejudices regarding people from Norrland, but most people find us charming and peaceful. If you went to Piteå with a girl from Piteå, I trust you had Pitepalt which is a simple but loved dish from a time when Sweden was poor. I suggest you visit fjällen either way up north, like Abisko or further south like Jämtland. You will find a similar mentality to that of Piteå, in Jämtland. You could also visit my city; umeå which was the European capital of culture in 2014. Good luck!

Having spent a year in Skelleftea already, you capture the North of Sweden very well with this video.

Cool to hear you visited the town where I was born. :) Lived in Umeå for 14 years but now live on the outskirts of Piteå (Norrfjärden) with my wife and kids and work at Sunderby hospital outside of Luleå.

i grew up in the area of storforsen, i lived there my first 15 years,great that you been there,now i live in boden thats about 75 kilometers from piteå.

I'm from the northern part of sweden, to be exact Luleå and I'm genuinely glad you find our nature and living enviroment peaceful :)

You need to go to Höga Kusten and visit Ulvön, in June, July or August!! And while you are there, you have to go up on the mountain. The view is breathtaking! And then you also have Skuleberget on the mainland, to go up on, and there is a cave as well, a bit from the top. Rövargrottan. And while you are there, drive along the coastal trail and visit Bönhamn, Norrfällsviken and maybe go to Mjältön, Sweden highest island. But there are other islands as well to visit!!

I live in Trollhättan 75km north of Göteborg. My sister lives in Piteå. The distance by car is about 1150km. Almost every summer I take car and drive up to Piteå. I love every kilometer of the Swedish coast line. It takes about 11 hours to drive. If you avoid the speed camera you can drive pretty fast on the highway (motorväg)

The summer nights where the the sun is just below the horizon but it is still light are called "white nights" It should be possible to ski under the midnight sun at Riksgränsen. They usually get the midnight sun from around 22nd of May and that is about the time they close the pistes for the season - just in case you want to try a really special experience!

I’m so glad you visited Storforsen. I live near there so I’ve seen it often but it is a wonder to behold

ive lived in kiruna all my life. really used to basically being in nature when i walk outside. Would highly recommend visiting in winter and possibly catching the northern lights :D

Stefan, I'm glad you have had the opportunity to visit Norrbotten in summer. In july of 2010 we traveled from Västerbotten all the way through Norrbotten via Kiruna and Riksgränsen into Norway and over to the city of Harstad which is situated on the northernmost island of an array of five islands where the three southern ones are called Lofoten. We drove all the way to Å at the very south tip of the islands and when we decided to drive the 200 km back to Harstad it was around 9 PM. It was partly cloudy with the midnight sun breaking through the clouds and the mountainous terrain combined with the North Atlantic all around us. A day that never quits, hours of driving into a kaleidoscope of a view that defies description. That is as closest to beauty overload I have ever been. I felt the urge to share the experience. All the best to you and your girlfriend.

Välkommen till Norrbotten! I'm looking forward to a video when you have experienced winter up here :)

I’m born above the arctic circle in Tornedalen, and yes I always miss it.

Such a nice review ❤ I was born in Skåne, as far south as possible, but moved out and settled in Norrland some 30 years ago. I have lived here my whole grown up life. I have never regret it. Happy to see you also liked it here. Do visit again. You are always most welcome 🙂

I'm happy to hear that you liked it up here. You are so welcome back! 😃 I live in Piteå and I have no plans at all to move from here. 😄 ❤️

You should travel to Sarek and Stora Sjöfallet national parks. They are the most beautiful parts of Sweden!

I am from Luleå, but live today in Florida. You need to visit Luleå and Norrbotten under the winter time to see the ice road we have going from south harbor to North harbor in the winter time, and if you are lucky you will be able to catch the northern light. Its something I really miss. Gällivare is where my dad is from its also a nice place both summer and winter, don't know if they still do it but they used to have this santa race in the winters with santas coming from different countries to see who is the best santa for that year. So there is a lot of things you need to try still about not only Norrbotten and Lappland, but all the areas that is in Norrland.

I am Brazilian living in Montreal, but I love Scandinavia. I had some experiences there that made me love this culture and way of living and seeing things. I love your videos and I watch them as often as I can. My husband is also a PE teacher. I tell him about your experiences. Up north I have been as far as Tromso in Norway and the feeling of being in a peaceful and silent place I had too, as you described. Can you imagine that to a Brazilian from São Paulo. It seems a totally different planet. And check this out, I also had one year of experience in SD. And I can say Scandinavia in general is fantastic. Keep doing this great job.

I just love your videos about Sweden and am so glad you've featured the north of the country.. I had 2 grandfathers who came from Sweden. My mother's father who is from Ornskoldsvik and my father's father who hails from Kiruna/Svappavara...If I were ever going to relocate from Canada to the land of my grandfathers, I'd go to the Kiruna area, where it's a slower pace and peaceful....PS Yes it does get hot up there but it also gets COLD!! Bravo to you for this video!!... PS, if anyone in the Kiruna area knows the Kemi family, chances are they're my Dad's family....

So funny. I follow your cobtent and Love it, and Im living in Linköping, but Im actually Born in north and raised in Piteå, so I know of all these place and happenings and Im glad you had the chance to visit Piteå (Pite). Now, I want you yo go further north, Jokkmokk, Gällivare, Kiruna... And tell us about the diffrence 👍☺️

By the way, Piteå and Luleå is very heavy populated compared to where I grew up. My parents live in a village with 7 (up from 5!!) people. And 20 km dirt road to nearest tarmac.

I live on a island outside Umeå today, but i grew up just south of stockholm. I could never live in the south again. To much stress, not enough forests. more people, who more often feels unpleasant. You should go to Holmön some day, it's nice here... If you like forests that is, it's the only thing we have (other than a pub)

Thats really cool. Im born and raised and living in Öjebyn 6-7km north of Piteå. When u here u gotta visit paltzerian in Öjebyn for some Palt:)

I live in the small town of Lycksele, and I need to tell you both about its swimming park of Ansia as well as the town having the largest zoo of the north, specialized in species native to the area. Oh, and that the town also exists in Guinness World Records as having the largest ice pillar in the world.

I studied music in Pite and I loved it there. It gets cold and dark in the winter (I was there when we had -36 for two months, not the best, but hey...) but everyone is still as friendly as they are in the summer. I really loved it there, and I'm glad to hear you like it too! All you have to do now is come and visit northern Hälsingland. Please do, I think you will love it too. Also, it's closer to stockholm. ;-)

Beautiful contrast to the most dense residential areas, also pointing out how environment shapes peoples mentality. Still, the coast of Pite is crowded compared to the endless central forests and the spacious mountains at the western border to Norway.

Thank you for sharing and i live in Örnsköldsvik and it is at the high coast and from me it is about 7 - 8 hours drive to Stockholm. And i have been living here since 95 so i really enjoy the life here and the nature. And it is more relaxed up here if you compare it to Stockholm or Gothenburg or Malmö. And i´m glad that you liked the northern parts of Sweden as well.

Luleå often has the record for most sunny days in the summer. Also you have the Midnight sun. Summer in Norrland can be quite magical if you can stand the mosquitoes and the "knott" . 😉

The north of Sweden looks very vast and tranquil, and since you mentioned Norrland, I think the next time you're up there you should collab with Big Steve (He lives in that area).

Happy to hear you enjoyed Norrbotten! Fun fact: you know the airport in Luleå is called ‘Kallax’ so now you know where the IKEA book shelf is named from. 😊

Nice review, but you really should visit the mountain areas in the winter too to get the full picture: 1) Wait until January 2) Hop on the direct train (yes, train!) from Stockholm to Abisko. Bring skis. 3) Enjoy!

You have to go there in wintertimes it is so beautiful

You should go back during the winter time to check out the Northern lights 🤙🏻

Welcome to piteå!! (My home town). Am glad you enjoyed it. :)

I´m from Norrland (the southern part though) and I´ve never heard of the soccertournament up there. Learning things about my own country, and even region, here from an Amreican. hahaha love it.

Maybe you have Done it, but skiing in north Sweden is a good way to survive the Winter. 😍

The sun may never set in the summer, but it's always dark there in the winter.

Person from Luleå here with family from Kiruna (granted, I live in the Czech Republic for studies right now) and every time someone from anywhere else tells me they want to go to Sweden to experience it, I always tell them to go north. There is so much more than Stockholm, and if one wants an experience that does not feel like most european countries, something more unique and something closer to what one would picture when they think about Sweden, north is the way to go. Happy to hear your perspective! Tack! ... and yes, the midnight sun, the best and worst part of summer simultaneously

Hey, that´s my hometown!! 😀Happy that you had a good time! Piteå is really a good place to be, and a growing city as I understand it. I realize that me and my fiancee was there when you were there! We were at the (sort of new) hotel Kust when the kids did their thing in the streets! 🙂And yeah, Storforsen is just so cool - exciting and calming, at the same time...

I studied in Luleå for a year in my youth and a few years later I had a job at Pite Havsbad outside Piteå, first for a couple of months in the fall and then for the whole summer. I love Norrbotten! Both summer and winter are magical. And people are really calm and still and even though it may take some time and effort to get some of them to warm up to you, it's well worth the effort! You should go in winter time as well, it's really beautiful even though you only have daylight for a few hours.

Oh, you visited the civilized part of Sweden. The part where people in general cares about other people, even people they don't know. Good for you.

Hi nice video. Not many foreigners went that much north. Yes, it is very strange how Swedes treat north- whatever is northen from Gavle, they consider north. I actually drove once from Goteborg to Lofoten in Norway. For 1 and a half day. With a truck.

Speaking of distances - You mentioned Piteå is a 9+ hour drive from Stockholm. Kiruna is a 5 hour drive from Piteå, and driving from the westernmost village of Kiruna Municipality (this would be Riksgränsen) to the easternmost one (Saviomuotka) takes almost as long (4h30m). Kiruna itself is on the southern stretch of its municipality. The northern bits are roadless and virtually uninhabited.

You need to visit Höga kusten next summer!!

Abisko in November. Loved my short trip but definitely want to go back in the summer to enjoy the hiking and nature

I live in Piteå! We moved here in spring from Scotland, love it here!

Two things I noted when I went there last year: You see very far in the forests, they aren't nearly as dense as forests in southern Sweden. Reindeer! You never know when one comes strolling by, they're everywhere!

you should also try the winter especially for cross country skiing. try bruksvallarna, are, pitea,umea.....the cross country ski venues and culture are hallmarks of sweden and some of the best places in the world...and a lot of fun.best wishes and tx you for your very interesting vlog.