Karesuando is genuinely small, which is part of the point. The sights cluster along a short stretch of road, and walking the entire village takes twenty minutes. The appeal is less a list of attractions than an encounter with the subarctic edge of Europe — the light, the silence, the sense of being at the end of things.
Crossing the bridge to Finland is worth doing for the ritual alone. Karesuvanto, the Finnish twin town on the other side of the Muonio River, is culturally almost identical to Karesuando — the Meänkieli and Sami heritage bleeds across the border with no regard for national lines.