Visiting Umeå, Sweden: Top Sights on Foot

Umeå is a northern Swedish city known for contemporary culture, university life, public art and its connection to the Ume River. The best things to do in Umeå range from major museums and a world-class guitar collection to bridges, sculptures and a university campus full of distinctive landmarks. Neywo has a free audio guide for Umeå with 53 narrated places.

What to see in Umeå

Bildmuseet

Bildmuseet is one of Sweden’s leading contemporary art museums. Umeå University founded it in 1981 to bring art from national collections, including Moderna Museet and Nationalmuseum, to northern Sweden.

Today, the museum produces exhibitions in collaboration with artists, art institutions and universities around the world. Contemporary art is at its centre, but its programme also includes historical retrospectives, photography, architecture and design. The museum moved to its current home on Umeå Arts Campus in 2012.

Guitars – the Museum

Guitars – the Museum is one of Umeå’s most distinctive attractions. Its collection contains more than 500 guitars, mostly from the 1950s and 1960s, making it one of the largest guitar museums in the world.

The museum occupies a brick building dating from 1904. The former Vasaskolan was later transformed into a cultural space, and the museum moved to the top floor of Umeå Folkets Hus in 2018. It opened in 2014, during Umeå’s year as European Capital of Culture.

Västerbottens museum and Gammlia

Västerbottens museum preserves and presents the cultural history of the Västerbotten region. Its setting in Gammlia includes far more than indoor galleries: the site also contains the Gammlia open-air museum, a ski exhibition, a fishing and maritime exhibition, the county’s popular movement archive and several Sami camps.

The museum’s collections include objects, textiles, documents and photographs. Its photo archive holds around eight million photographs and negatives, together with documentary films. A bronze link from a thousand-year-old Sami grave found in Vargviken along the Vindelälven river appears in the museum’s logo.

Norra skenet

On the Umeå University campus, Norra skenet—“Northern Light”—is one of the area’s best-known landmarks. Swedish artist Ernst Nordin created the stainless steel sculpture after winning a nationwide competition in 1967. It was unveiled in 1969 and moved to its present position beside the University Pond in 1995.

Its diagonal form is supported by four legs and made from welded square tubes of polished stainless steel. The metal reflects changing light, so the sculpture’s appearance shifts with the weather and seasons.

Grön eld at Umeå Central Station

One of the most recognisable sights in the city stands directly in front of Umeå Central Station. Grön eld, or “Fire in Green”, is a nine-metre-tall green glass sculpture created by Vicke Lindstrand and unveiled in 1970.

The sculpture weighs 45 tons and, when erected, was the largest glass sculpture in the world. It rises from Järnvägstorget, a half-circle-shaped square inspired by Parisian city planning. The surrounding Bågenhusen buildings were added in the 1950s, creating a distinctive urban setting for the flame-like artwork.

Gamla bron

Gamla bron is Umeå’s oldest remaining bridge across the Ume River. Built from steel in 1863, it stretches 301 metres across the water.

The bridge is an important part of Umeå’s historic riverside landscape and is one of the stops on the city’s walking routes focused on the places that survived the 1888 fire.

Kyrkbron

Kyrkbron carries Östra Kyrkogatan across the Ume River to Teg. Construction began in 1973, and the bridge opened on 26 September 1975 as Umeå’s third bridge across the river.

The structure consists of two parallel concrete bridges, each with its own lane. During construction, workers discovered an unknown burial ground, prompting archaeological excavations. Plans for a bridge beside the church had been debated for more than a decade before work began.

Museum of Women’s History

The Museum of Women’s History, or Kvinnohistoriskt museum, is dedicated to women’s history and was the first museum of its kind in Sweden. It opened on 22 November 2014 inside the cultural centre Väven.

Its exhibitions examine gender and power, identity and history. The museum’s former logo, XX, referred to the chromosome pairing associated with women.

NorrlandsOperan

NorrlandsOperan is Umeå’s major venue for opera, music and performing arts. Founded in 1974 as a regional opera ensemble, it has developed into a full-scale performing arts house with its own symphony orchestra.

The programme includes opera, dance, music and art. Productions are created in the venue’s own workshops and studios, with many later touring in Västerbotten and beyond.

Umeå University and its library

Umeå University was founded in 1965 and is the largest university in northern Sweden. Its campus grew around the need to train professionals for the region, including doctors, nurses and dentists. Its location beside Norrlands universitetssjukhus has supported close links between education, research and clinical care.

The university library, completed in 1968, is the largest research library in Norrland and welcomes the general public as well as students and researchers. It is one of only seven libraries in Sweden that receives a copy of every book printed in the country directly from printers under the legal deposit system.

Den förhistoriska världen

Den förhistoriska världen is a natural history museum with an explicitly creationist perspective on prehistory, the formation of the Earth and the origins of life. It is operated by a non-profit, interdenominational Christian association founded and run by Mats Molén.

The museum places particular emphasis on dinosaurs, making it an unusual stop for visitors interested in prehistoric material and in alternative interpretations of scientific evidence.

Umeå MC-museum

Umeå MC-museum is a working life museum devoted to everyday working life and the industrial heritage of Umeå Municipality. Its focus offers a view of how people lived and worked in the region in earlier periods.

Umedalens Skulpturpark

Umedalens Skulpturpark occupies the grounds of a former hospital area in western Umeå. The park is free to visit, open around the clock and accessible throughout the year.

The sculpture park began taking shape after the former Umedalen mental hospital site was purchased in 1987. From 1994 to 2000, annual group exhibitions were held under the name Umedalen Skulptur; later exhibitions continued every other year until 2012. The permanent collection now contains 45 sculptures, with artists including Louise Bourgeois, Anthony Gormley, Tony Cragg and Anish Kapoor.

Explore Umeå with a self-guided audio tour

A Umeå self-guided walking tour is an easy way to connect the city’s museums, artworks, bridges and university landmarks. Neywo offers four walking tours and one bike route in Umeå, with stories that play as you reach each place, at your own pace, with no group and no schedule. Narration is available in 11 languages.

The four walks are:

• Fire in Green: From the Station to the Town Hall — 1.25 km, 84 minutes and 12 narrated stops.
• Survivors of the 1888 Fire: Umeå’s Riverside West — 2.16 km, 61 minutes and 6 narrated stops.
• Church, Park and Contemporary Art on the Ume — 2.07 km, 78 minutes and 9 narrated stops.
• Campus Umeå: County Museum, Sculptures and the Arctic University — 2.19 km, 72 minutes and 7 narrated stops.

There is also one bike route:

• Along the Ume: Bridges, Art and a Red Warehouse by Bike — 5.1 km, 26 minutes and 7 narrated stops.

Together, the routes cover museums such as Bildmuseet, Västerbottens museum, Guitars – the Museum and the Museum of Women’s History, as well as Grön eld, Gamla bron, Kyrkbron, Norra skenet and Umeå University.

Download Neywo and explore Umeå at your own pace

Download Neywo for a free audio guide to Umeå with 53 narrated places. Choose one of four walking tours or the bike route, start when you like and follow the stories as you arrive at each stop. You can explore alone or with your own companions, without joining a group and without following a schedule.

Umeå is one of many places to discover in Sweden, from Gothenburg and Stockholm to northern destinations such as Östersund and Gammelstaden.