Catering largely to tourists who are in Swedish Lapland to visit the nearby Icehotel, Nutti Sámi Siida is a Sami ‘camp’ offering a whole sleighful of wintry outdoor activities.
The Sami herders behind this place branched into tourism in 1996 when thick ice prevented their reindeer from grazing in the usual way. They began feeding the reindeer in corrals and then invited tourists to come and see the animals. Soon guests from the Icehotel were being sent here, and Jukkasjärvi’s fledgling tourist industry began to really take off.
Today Nutti Sámi Siida serves as a base from which you can go reindeer sledding, take a northern lights safari or head out into the countryside in search of wildlife with Sami guides. Prices for the guided tours here are extremely high, though – in the region of 2,750 SEK per person for a half-day reindeer trek.
If you’d rather not spend so much, it’s still possible to drop by the camp and look at the reindeer without needing to join a tour. Reindeer food is available if you’d like to feed the beasts, and you can also look around the camp’s handicraft shop, home to lots of reindeer-based products. The onsite café gives you the chance to try reindeer meat, if you’re not too put off by meeting Rudolph and his other reindeer friends just minutes before.
Entry
150 SEK (entry to the café and shop is free)
Nutti Sámi Siida
Marknadsvägen
Jukkasjärvi
nutti.se
+46 980 213 29
Daily 10 am–5pm (late-Nov–mid-April and mid–June–late Aug only)
Last updated: December 2014
