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I am going to go backpacking this summer, and my goal is Sweden. Looking around, I have grown to like the landscapes of Abisko in the north of Sweden. But, because it is rather far away from where I live (Germany, that means 35 hours by bus+train) I am asking if there are any landscapes similar to that of Abisko, closer to me, in Sweden. Giant valleys and woods sprinkled inbetween, with many flowing rivers and creeks.
Any info is greatly appreciated! :)
The Scandinavian mountains reach from Stavanger in the south to the North Cape in the north. You can easily explore where mountainous areas are via the interactive topographic maps of Norway and Sweden. Southern Norway is geographically closest, but is less well connected, with only few trains connecting Malmö with Oslo. You might find that it's just as fast to take the train to Östersund (central Sweden), from where you can quickly reach the central Swedish mountains. It probably depends where in Germany you are: from northern Germany you may be able to reach Oslo in a day in time to take the sleeper train north or west into the mountains, from southern Germany you'd need at least an extra day (or an overnight bus, which sucks).
I've been to southern, central, and northern Norway, as well as to central and northern Sweden and northern Finland. Broadly speaking, the mountains look roughly similar, but with significant differences, so whether the other mountains are "like that of Abisko" is subjective. I know some valleys that somewhat remind me of the Abisko valley, but they all take longer, not shorter, to reach (and get at least two orders of magnitude less hikers).
In practice, I think that if you're traveling overland to the Scandinavian mountains anyway, then the extra time it takes to travel to northern Sweden is not that huge, considering there are two trains per night going there from Stockholm.
Abisko is kind of unique in Sweden, with it’s accessible alpine setting. (It’s a long journey no doubt, but not complicated thanks to sleeper trains)
The areas of Kebnekaise and Sarek have a similar feeling, but takes even longer to get to, even if slightly more south.
Then you have the area between Hemavan and Ammarnäs. Still further south but not significantly faster to get to. (Unless flying to Hemavan)
The only Swedish area I can think of that has an alpine feeling and is closer to Germany is western Jämtland. Start from the mountain station Storylvån for example.
Then again, for Scandinavian mountains, Norway beats Sweden hands down. Quite a bit more expensive though.
