Activities and Pastimes
Jokkmokks Municipality in Sweden is fantastic for those who love the outdoor life. If you are interested in the wilderness, dog sledding, snowmobiling, fishing, hunting, hiking, trekking, camping, skiing, skating, canoeing, rafting, cycling or any type outdoor activity, Jokkmokk can provide them all, in abundance.
This is mainly due to the scope of different landscapes on offer; alpine mountains, glaciers, tundra, lakes, valleys, plains and of course, the ubiquitous forests. The many large rivers provide excellent swimming and boating opportunities, as well as rafting, kayaking and white water rafting (at varying degrees of difficulty for both rubber rafts and kayaks). Golf resorts in Sweden are among some of the best in Europe.
Sweden has the world’s northernmost golf course officially known as the Arctic Golf Course. The northernmost golf course can be found within the Arctic Circle near the town of Kvarnbacksvagen. The golf course has 9 holes and is open from the middle of June through to the middle of August. Thanks to the sun shining almost 24 hours a day during these summer months, the course is open 24-hours a day to golfers. Playing golf under midnight sun can be a little surreal.
Downhill skiing is very popular in Jokkmokk of course, as skiers can expect snow throughout the winter, every winter, without fail. There are several slalom runs within Jokkmokks Municipality for both skiers and snowboarders alike. Most of these facilities are run by the local communities and are available to users at a very reasonable cost. Cross-country skiing is also very popular in the Jokkmokk Municipality and there are a number of excellent cross-country ski trails – in fact almost every town and village offers public skiing tracks for cross country skiing.
Cycling is a popular activity and sport for Swedes as well as visitors. All major towns have bike paths and designated cycle lanes and in addition there are many trails for mountain biking within the region.
Riding is very popular in Jokkmokk , which has hundreds of great riding trails and many villages within the Municipality have their own community run riding stables. The mountains and forests in Jokkmokk are made for horse riding, as the area is wide open and not too steep. This is the case for both winter in the snow on Icelandic horses and summer under the midnight sun.
Sweden has one of the highest numbers of horses per capita in Europe and there is a deep rooted tradition of quality horse management and breeding. It is often said that no other country in the world has such healthy horses as Sweden. This is because of the strict regulations regarding animal welfare and perhaps that the horses have such a wonderful environment to live in.
Fishing is a huge pastime in the Jokkmokk Municipality. The region has an abundance of different varieties of fish and excellent fishing waters consisting of hundreds of lakes and several large rivers. All of these are pure and clear and offer fishermen of all persuasions a wide variety of fishing opportunities.
You can bait fish for roach and bream in the lakes and fly fish and spin fish for salmon, trout and grayling in the rivers and lakes. You can also spin fish for pike and perch or jig for char in the mountain waters. Ice fishing (pimpla in Swedish) with jigging gear, is also very popular and catches can be very rewarding throughout the whole winter.