Kiruna Travel Forum

Hi there! I was just wondering if anybody can tell me about how life is in Kiruna. For example, accommodation, nightlife, how difficult or not is to find a job, costs, weather etc. I always had a dream to go and live in a very northern place and as I have a degree on rocket science I am aware of Esrange (close to Kiruna) that is a great launch site so I could as well have a job there..
Thanks

Hm...never lived up there myself but dave_21 lives in Umeå and can probably give you some more ideas since he travels in the north regularly. Cold (but dry with a lot of sun!!!) winters and then summers where the sun never sets. There is apparently an Indian restaurant in Kiruna so it must have some civilisation :-)))

Check www.kiruna.se for general moving advise (they have a lot in English too, including a link to the Swedish job centre's Kiruna branch). They also have a lot on the weather.

As for accommodation etc. it all depends on what you need. The main council housing company (not with the same ring to it as in the UK!!!) is Kirunabostäder which you can look at: http://www.kirunabostader.se/

Thanks for your reply and for the link. This link has some really cool pics of the place (and also other links with photos which just blow me away :) ).
I will hope though for a reply from dave_21..

Have you tried mailing him? I know he's a busy student but eventually he will reply.

Hi,
I've been there tons of times and I have not really noticed anything really bad about it. BUT, It's quite expensive to live in kiruna, even though the rents aren't that high. It's the food and supplies that is expensiver than for example south Sweden. Nightlife is not that good. Festivals in summer and winter are quite common though. The Ice festival is great.

The weather in winters is dry and very cold, down to
-40 C is quite common. Beautiful auroras at nights. Close to great alpin skiing and snowboarding (Riksgränsen, Abisko)
In the (very short) summer the temps are around 10-15C but somtimes 20-25C. And of course the midnight sun. The sun never sets in june and almost whole july.

What I like about Kiruna is the seasons, and they only have two!! Winter and spring! :-)
The Ice Hotel in jukkasjärvi is cool too.
But what I like the most about Kiruna is it's closeness to Europe's last wilderness...

I'm not familiar with the job situation up in Kiruna, the easiest is to email them yourself. www.kiruna.se

I hope I could help you with something.

Dave

Thanks for the info ;-)

i live in kiruna, i know that you posted that note a while ago, like last year or something, but if you still want to know, email me... aussie_swede88@hotmail.com
take care

Ojay, what are you doing up there then? :)

I love it in Kiruna and surroundings. Just came back from a fab New Year there which could become a tradition :)