Abisko · Backpacking
ON A BUDGET
A research station, a national park and a rain shadow that makes this the clearest sky in Lapland.
Abisko Turiststation
The mountain station has dorms and a shop; Abisko Östra, one stop east, is cheaper. Allemansrätten allows wild camping outside the park's protected core.
What a day costs
SEK 600–1,000, roughly $55–95, if you self-cater. The station shop is small and expensive — buy food in Kiruna or carry it from Stockholm.
The night train
Sleeper trains from Stockholm reach Abisko in around seventeen hours, and buses run from Kiruna airport. There is no local transport: you walk or ski.
Free by day
The first stretch of the Kungsleden, the Abiskojåkka canyon boardwalks, the shore of Torneträsk — and the aurora on most clear winter nights.
The station common room
With one building and one bar, everyone ends up in the same room comparing aurora forecasts and arranging shared trail plans for the morning.