Lapland

This thoroughly updated fourth edition of Bradt's Lapland is the only standalone guidebook in English to this wintry wonderland, a region spanning the northernmost fringes of Norway, Sweden and Finland where there are as many reindeer as people, it never gets dark in summer and never gets light in mid-winter. In this new edition, expert author James Proctor covers all the latest developments, including the most up-to-date information on where to see the Northern Lights (Lapland is the best region in the world for Northern Lights viewing) and where to go husky sledding, reviews of the treehouse hotels which have sprung up across the region, the latest details of how to fly directly to one of the Europe's most far-flung destinations from the UK and USA, plus information on a wide range of summer and winter adventures, from hiking and wild swimming to snowmobiling, wilderness stays and staying in the Icehotel. Everybody has heard of Lapland. Everybody knows it's the home of Father Christmas. Yet remarkably few people can accurately pinpoint Lapland on a map. Bradt's Lapland lifts the lid off this little-known, enigmatic region and shows that there's much more to Lapland than the man with the long white beard and the red suit. This is a land of elemental beauty with plenty to offer anyone who's looking to explore the great outdoors without the great crowds. Lapland is vast and empty, a place of indigenous villages, sweeping forests, mighty waterfalls - the raw side of nature here is the region's defining and inescapable characteristic and no visit is complete without leaving the creature comforts of the nearest town well behind. Whether on an organized tour or travelling independently, Bradt's Lapland is the essential travel companion.

James Proctor first visited Lapland in 1983 on board the legendary train, the Lapland Arrow, from Stockholm. The thrill of crossing the Arctic Circle proved irresistible and James has been back and forth ever since. While working as the BBC’s Scandinavia correspondent, he produced reports on everything from the reindeer races at the Jokkmokk winter market to the effects of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster on the Sámi community. James now divides his time as a travel writer between the south of France and his forest retreat in Sweden. A self-appointed Nanook of the North, he has also written Bradt’s Faroe Islands and West Sweden guides as well as co-writing and contributing to guidebooks about the Nordic countries for other major travel publishers.