One Of The Largest High-Elevation Lakes In Sweden Is A Scenic Mountain Reservoir With Ethereal Beauty

Sweden is one wild, wild nation. Not only is something like 70% of the land here covered in forests, but an adventure-stoking 97% of it is completely uninhabited by humans. On top of that, there are nearly 100,000 lakes peppering the country, making it a doozy of a destination for lake-loving travelers. In fact, there's one artificial lake to be found up in the raw, rugged landscapes of Arctic Sweden that's sure to impress. It goes by the name of Lake Akkajaure, and at a massive 100 square miles (when the waters are high), it ranks among the largest in the whole nation.

Akkajaure spreads its long — think 37-mile-long — arms through the peaks and troughs of the Swedish north. The mountains loom large here. They soar out of the Stora Sjöfallet National Park, which rings the waters of Akkajaure on two sides, reaching a zenith at the summit of Mount Áhkká, a mountain of deep significance in Sámi culture that rises to over 6,600 feet. The lake itself sits at around 1,500 feet above sea level, with panoramic hiking trails passing its banks and sweeps of Arctic tundra and forest dominating the peripheries.

Unlike the islands that make up the Stockholm Archipelago Trail near the Swedish capital, this particular taste of Scandinavian nature is a little trickier to get to. It'll be a drive of roughly 14 hours (yep, 14!) from Stockholm. You can also fly into the regional town of Gällivare, which is served by links to Stockholm's busier airports, to cut drive times down to two or three hours in all.

Lake Akkajaure might be just a fraction of the size of Sweden's largest lake, Lake Väner, but it promises an altogether more remote experience than its compadre. While Lake Väner sits neatly amid the fairytale castles and trendsetting cities of Sweden's western region, with parts of its shore just an hour's drive from the perennially underrated city of Gothenburg, Akkajaure is squirreled away in the UNESCO-listed Laponian Area, where glaciers glisten on high, and there's basically not a single major town to be found.

But this is, perhaps a little surprisingly, no natural lake. It was formed way back in the early 20th century, when a dam was constructed on the Lule River in response to a booming need for domestic energy production. The powers that be even altered the boundaries of the surrounding national park to make way for the hydroelectricity project, and that bisected wilderness still flanks both sides of Lake Akkajaure, spreading out to the north and south.

Thankfully, despite the jostling of park borders and past construction projects, this whole place remains a true adventure mecca. You could hop on the Storlule boat to cross the lake the old-fashioned way, gazing up at the great peaks looming on the horizon, with the hulking Mount Áhkká lording over the southern shoreline, which counts no fewer than 10 glaciers among its various high points. The reservoir also provides access to the Padjelantaleden, a 100-mile hiking trail through Padjelanta National Park, with mountain cabins along the route. And the lake banks host refuges like the STF Akka Mountain Cabin, which paves the way to even more hiking routes, winter skiing, and jaw-dropping visions of high peaks and glistening lake beaches alike.