Haparanda

Haparanda (Finnish:Haaparanta) is a city in Norrbotten, at Sweden's easternmost point. The Finnish town of Tornio is just across (part of) the Torne River. It is a great gateway to the wild north of Scandinavia.

Understand
Haparanda has been the easternmost outpost of Sweden since 1809 when Finland was lost to Russia. Haparanda has always been an important trading post; this continues with the world's northernmost IKEA store, bringing customers from all across the Barents region. Most people here speak Swedish, Finnish and English.

The two towns of Haparanda and Tornio are a showcase of cooperation across the border. Not only is the border more or less invisible, with people living, shopping and working on either side, regardless of their nationality, but there are also shared police patrols, with one in a pair taking command and responsibility depending on what side of the border they happen to be.

Get in
If arriving from Finland, check Tornio and notice the time zone change.

By plane
Haparanda has no airport of its own, the nearest one being Kemi-Tornio airport on the Finnish side (24 km from Haparanda), where Finnair runs scheduled flights from Helsinki. From there you'll have to continue with the bus service (see Matkahuolto), the nearest bus stop of Kemi airport is named Kemi lentoasema th. Oulu airport is farther away, but the fares are usually cheaper and flights more frequent. From elsewhere in Sweden, fly to Luleå and take the bus or train to Haparanda.

By train
Haparanda has a train station, which has three return connections per day of Norrtåg from Luleå and Boden. Two daily night trains operated by SJ, one from Stockholm and one from Gothenburg, terminate in Luleå with a connecting express bus to Haparanda waiting. For arriving from Finland, there are seasonal overnight trains by VR from Helsinki that call in Tornio, just across the river. Otherwise your best bet is Kemi, with quite frequent connections from all parts of Finland – from there you can take the bus to Tornio and walk across to Haparanda; some of these buses also go further to Haparanda travel centre.



By car
Arriving by car is easy since Haparanda is on the E4 with roads in good shape (and close to the E8). It is a border town so there is a fair share of heavy duty traffic coming through.

By bus
Express coaches from Sweden are handled by Länstrafiken Norrbotten. There are daily connections from cities like Kiruna, Luleå and Umeå, while some buses come all the way from Stockholm. Resrobot finds the best public transport routes.

From Finland there are frequent bus connections to Haparanda from Tornio and Kemi, but some lines extend even to the bus stations in Oulu and Rovaniemi. Beware that all buses going to Finland depart according to Finnish time, which is one hour ahead of the time in Haparanda. The central organisation for intercity bus traffic in Finland, Matkahuolto, provides schedules and ticket information on their website.

Linje 100 has 6 buses a day on the Sundsvall - Örnsköldsvik - Umeå - Skellefteå - Luleå - Haparanda route departing Sundsvall at 10:00, 12:00, 14:00, 16:00, 18:00 and 20:00.

Tapanis Buss has a route going from Stockholm to Tornio, Finland stopping at Haparanda. Ticket from Stockholm 870 kr.

Orajärven Bussit seems to be the only operator which serves the Tornio - Kemi - Oulu route, as of July 2023. Departure times: Tornio - Kemi - Oulu: M-Th 15:00, F 16:00, Sa 15:00, Su 15:30; Tornio - Kemi M-Th Sa 12:45 and M-F 16:45.



Get around
Ringlinjen connects most parts of Haparanda and Tornio. Fares are 12 kr for a single trip.

By taxi
Finnish taxis:

See

 * - One of the points on the world heritage listed Struve Geodetic Arc. It's in the middle of the woods, near the village of Karunki and the only point in Sweden with the original markings preserved. There are many paths in the forest, but the regional administration of Norrbotten suggests to drive along Highway 99 about 10 km south from Karunki, then along local road 730 (such roads are all too often not numbered in Sweden) towards Björkfors for 1 km, then head north along a forest road for 1 km to a designated parking lot and walk along a forest road from there for 5 km to a path leading up to the summit.
 * - One of the points on the world heritage listed Struve Geodetic Arc. It's in the middle of the woods, near the village of Karunki and the only point in Sweden with the original markings preserved. There are many paths in the forest, but the regional administration of Norrbotten suggests to drive along Highway 99 about 10 km south from Karunki, then along local road 730 (such roads are all too often not numbered in Sweden) towards Björkfors for 1 km, then head north along a forest road for 1 km to a designated parking lot and walk along a forest road from there for 5 km to a path leading up to the summit.
 * - One of the points on the world heritage listed Struve Geodetic Arc. It's in the middle of the woods, near the village of Karunki and the only point in Sweden with the original markings preserved. There are many paths in the forest, but the regional administration of Norrbotten suggests to drive along Highway 99 about 10 km south from Karunki, then along local road 730 (such roads are all too often not numbered in Sweden) towards Björkfors for 1 km, then head north along a forest road for 1 km to a designated parking lot and walk along a forest road from there for 5 km to a path leading up to the summit.
 * - One of the points on the world heritage listed Struve Geodetic Arc. It's in the middle of the woods, near the village of Karunki and the only point in Sweden with the original markings preserved. There are many paths in the forest, but the regional administration of Norrbotten suggests to drive along Highway 99 about 10 km south from Karunki, then along local road 730 (such roads are all too often not numbered in Sweden) towards Björkfors for 1 km, then head north along a forest road for 1 km to a designated parking lot and walk along a forest road from there for 5 km to a path leading up to the summit.
 * - One of the points on the world heritage listed Struve Geodetic Arc. It's in the middle of the woods, near the village of Karunki and the only point in Sweden with the original markings preserved. There are many paths in the forest, but the regional administration of Norrbotten suggests to drive along Highway 99 about 10 km south from Karunki, then along local road 730 (such roads are all too often not numbered in Sweden) towards Björkfors for 1 km, then head north along a forest road for 1 km to a designated parking lot and walk along a forest road from there for 5 km to a path leading up to the summit.
 * - One of the points on the world heritage listed Struve Geodetic Arc. It's in the middle of the woods, near the village of Karunki and the only point in Sweden with the original markings preserved. There are many paths in the forest, but the regional administration of Norrbotten suggests to drive along Highway 99 about 10 km south from Karunki, then along local road 730 (such roads are all too often not numbered in Sweden) towards Björkfors for 1 km, then head north along a forest road for 1 km to a designated parking lot and walk along a forest road from there for 5 km to a path leading up to the summit.
 * - One of the points on the world heritage listed Struve Geodetic Arc. It's in the middle of the woods, near the village of Karunki and the only point in Sweden with the original markings preserved. There are many paths in the forest, but the regional administration of Norrbotten suggests to drive along Highway 99 about 10 km south from Karunki, then along local road 730 (such roads are all too often not numbered in Sweden) towards Björkfors for 1 km, then head north along a forest road for 1 km to a designated parking lot and walk along a forest road from there for 5 km to a path leading up to the summit.

Do




Buy
Swedish kronor and euros are accepted in most stores.



Budget
There are several cheap restaurants scattered in the city centre, some serve only lunch. For cheap grub, head out the in-store IKEA restaurant.



Connect
As with most places in the western world, Wi-Fi is readily available at hotels, as well as a variety of other places.

Go next
Set your clock forward one hour, change your kronor to euros, get your Finnish phrasebook ready, and cross the Torne river into Tornio.

See also E4 through Sweden.