Umeå is located on the River Ume in the north of Sweden near the Baltic Sea coast. As the largest city in Norrland, it is an important cultural center with the Västerbotten Museum, which presents the history and culture of the region, and the Bildmuseet, a modern art museum. The city is also known as the "City of Birches", as thousands of birch trees were planted after a fire in the 19th century. Umeå is also an important educational center with Umeå University and a lively student life. Especially in winter there is the opportunity to experience the impressive Northern Lights.
In the sparsely populated Swedish province of Norrland, Västerbotten, Umeå has 80,000 inhabitants and is the largest city. Almost 40,000 students attend the country's two northernmost universities there. Located around 20 km from the Gulf of Bothnia, the city is known as the "city of birches" ("Björkanas stad") due to its strikingly large number of birch avenues, and the origin of the birch splendor is linked to the devastating city fire of 1888. The white-black trees, which were considered to be fireproof due to their moisture content, were planted en masse when Umeå was rebuilt.
The density of cultural institutions in Umeå reflects its importance as a university town. In 2014, Umeå was even named European Capital of Culture. The Umedalen Sculpture Park, for example, offers a cultural experience in the open air with novelties and classics of modern sculpture such as the Tony Cragg work "Early Forms" (1999) or Sean Henry's "Trajan's Shadow" (2001). The history and folklore of the province of Västerbotten can be experienced up close at the Gammlia open-air museum. Known as a paradise for cyclists and vegans, Umeå is also an epicenter of the Swedish rock music scene. The city's hip clubs and the guitar museum with its 500 string-sounding exhibits are a perfect match. A visit to Umeå can also be used for a trip to Finland on the ferry to Vaasa, which departs from the nearby port of Holmsund. The journey on this shortest ferry connection between Sweden and Finland takes around four hours.