The Luleå Archipelago extends into the Bothnian Bay as a maze of over 1,700 islands, islets, and skerries — one of the largest archipelagos on the Swedish coast. In summer, the islands are covered in wildflowers and inhabited by breeding seabirds, and the flat, sheltered waters between them are ideal for kayaking and canoeing. A few islands have small fishing communities and summer cottages; most are completely undeveloped.
In winter the same landscape transforms entirely. The Bothnian Bay is one of the few seas in Europe that freezes reliably every year, and the ice typically reaches a thickness of 50 to 70 centimetres. Luleå maintains a network of marked ice roads across the frozen bay, connecting some islands to the mainland by road for the first and only time each year. Walking or skiing out across the flat, silent ice to an island that in summer is only accessible by boat is one of the more unusual experiences in Sweden.