Åre

Åre lies in Åredalen, the valley of the Indalsälven, on the main route across the mountains between the Gulf of Bothnia and Trondheim. Its stone church was built in the late 12th century, when Jämtland belonged to Norway, and for centuries pilgrims passed through the village on the way to the shrine of Saint Olaf in Trondheim. Sami herders settled in the area in the mid-17th century for its good reindeer pasture, and from the 1740s until 1919 copper was mined at Fröå on the eastern side of Åreskutan.

Tourism arrived with the railway. King Oscar II oversaw the building of the Östersund–Trondheim line in 1882, and soon visitors came by train to breathe the mountain air and walk to the top of Åreskutan; they were known as luftgäster, "air guests". A restaurant opened by the station in 1888, a tourist station in 1891 and the first hotels in the 1890s, and the kings of Sweden and Norway holidayed in Åre and Storlien. The funicular up the fell followed in 1910.

The ski area dates from 1909, and Åre grew into the centre of Swedish alpine skiing, hosting the Alpine World Championships in 1954, 2007 and 2019 and more than a hundred World Cup races. Lifts spread to Duved from 1966 and Björnen from 1981, the resort company SkiStar took over the lifts in 2000, and a wave of apartment building changed the village. In the early 2020s Åre was tested by the pandemic and by Storm Hans, whose mudslide flooded the village centre in August 2023.

Åre's culture is the culture of the mountain. In winter the village fills with skiers, snowboarders and seasonal workers, and après-ski in the bars around the square is part of the rhythm of the day. Freeskiing has deep roots: the Freeride World Tour winners Henrik Windstedt and Reine Barkered, the latter from Duved, are local names, and the freestyle skiers Jon Olsson and Henrik Harlaut are among the skiers associated with Åre. Åre has been the planned venue for the alpine events in Sweden's eight unsuccessful bids for the Winter Olympics.

Summer has its own crowd. Åre has been Sweden's largest mountain-bike resort since the 1990s, with lift-served downhill trails, the Mayhem festival at the bike park, and the Åre Extreme Challenge each July, a race of paddling, mountain running and mountain biking regarded as an unofficial championship in multisport. Hiking, paragliding, kayaking and Europe's largest zipline park, opened in 2007, fill the long days.

Beneath the resort lies an older Jämtland. The medieval church, the pilgrims' route to Trondheim and the Southern Sami presence in the mountains around the valley — the village's Sami name is Ååre — tie Åre to a history that is older than skiing, and local crafts such as candle-making in Undersåker and glassblowing in Duved draw visitors along the valley.

About 3,200 people lived in Åre in 2018, though far more people stay there in the ski season. It is not the seat of its municipality, which is Järpen. Around a quarter of the local economy depends on tourism — downhill skiing and mountain biking in Åre, Duved and Storlien — and the growth of visitors has brought hotels, apartment blocks, shops and restaurants to what was once a farming village of a few hundred people.

The year has two high seasons. Winter, from December to April, brings skiers and the instructors, lift staff and hospitality workers who serve them, while summer brings cyclists and hikers. The lifts and much of the resort's lodging have been run by SkiStar since 2000, and the E14 and the railway tie the village to Östersund, about 100 km to the east.

Apartment building has come in waves since the late 1980s, when the large 'Mitt i Åre' housing project was planned. The clean-up after the 2023 mudslide, estimated by the municipality at more than 50 million kronor for the stream and its surroundings, was a major local project.

Western Jämtland lies within the old Sami lands, and Sami cooking — based on reindeer, fish and game, with very little seasoning beyond salt — shapes the local table. Reindeer meat is the staple, and the mountain lakes and rivers give whitefish, perch and Arctic char. A modern Sami-influenced dish, suovaskebab, puts slices of smoked reindeer meat, cucumber, salad and garlic dressing into pita bread and turns up at festivals and fairs across northern Scandinavia.

Some of the restaurants near the slopes serve local dishes, while the village also has many casual burger, pizza and à la carte places for hungry skiers. Everyday Swedish husmanskost — meatballs with cream sauce and lingonberry jam, pea soup, herring — and the weekday lunch special are easy to find.

Åre makes its own treats. Åre Chokladfabrik has made handmade truffles, pralines and toffees from regional ingredients since 1991, two breweries make beer in the village, and a small distillery, Buustamons, has worked nearby since 2000. Strong drink is otherwise sold only through the state Systembolaget.