Walking time as STF (the Swedish Tourist Association) states it for this stage; measured on the mapped line: 3 h 18. Climb measured on the mapped line, on terrain heights. STF (the Swedish Tourist Association)
12.3 kmStage distance
52 mAscent, measured
4–6 hOfficial time
10Stage number
To the boat landing on the Tarraätno delta: about 12 km on foot, then 3 km by boat to Kvikkjokk, 4 to 6 hours in all, STF says. The boat is mandatory and must be booked ahead: Båttrafik i Kvikkjokk ran scheduled trips from 18 June to 13 September 2026 and trips on request from May to October; Kvikkjokk-Turism runs the other.
Best season: Late June to early September. The trail is walked from late June to early September. In 2026 the cabin camps were hosted from 28 June to 6 September, STF's cabins and the boat from Ritsem ran from 26 June to 6 September, and the summer bridges were in from 25 June to the last week of September. Mid-May to late June and October to November are the thaw and the freeze-up, when travel is hard. For 2027 STF's cabins open from 2 July to 5 or 12 September; the camps and the boat have not published their dates. STF's cabins also open from late February to April. Before you go
Njunjes to the Tarraätno landing
Loading topographic map…
Flat (<5%)
Green: Njunjes to the Tarraätno landing. Grey: full trail. Elevation follows this mapped track.
Facts read from the operators' own pages and OpenStreetMap on 13 October 2026. A page can change after we read it, so confirm with the hut before you rely on a date or a bed.
The end of the walk: a landing on the Tarraätno delta, with no road. A boat, booked ahead, takes you about 3 km across to Kvikkjokk, where STF's mountain station and the bus are.
Njunjes to Tarraätno boat landing: 4–6 h.
Measured on the mapped line: 3 h 18. The operator's time is much longer than the time measured on the mapped line: the ground is slower than it looks. Plan on the operator's time.swedishtouristassociation.com, read 13 October 2026
Make it your trip
No booking in the camps, a boat at each end
The six cabin camps of Badjelánnda Laponia Turism, owned by the Sámi villages, take no bookings: everyone who arrives gets a bed. Pay the cabin host on arrival by card or cash, or pay ahead by bank transfer (2026: 500 SEK an adult, 550 SEK at Stáloluokta with the sauna). STF's cabins (Akka, Såmmarlappa, Tarrekaise, Njunjes) and its Kvikkjokk mountain station are booked online with STF. Book the boat at Kvikkjokk ahead; the boat from Ritsem sells tickets online or on board. Carry your food: the camps' kiosks sell basic food for cash and can run out late in the season, and STF lists a shop only at Såmmarlappa and Kvikkjokk.
Änonjálmme to Kvikkjokk
STF's ten stages, a night in each cabin or camp, with a boat at each end.
Typical weather on this stage, around 305–452 m. Select a month to see why it is rated as it is.
Monthly climate averages and daylight
Month
Weather
Poor
Poor
Poor
Poor
Mixed
Good
Good
Good
Good
Mixed
Poor
Poor
Day / night
-4°/-13°
-4°/-13°
-1°/-11°
4°/-5°
9°/0°
16°/6°
19°/9°
17°/8°
11°/4°
4°/-1°
-1°/-7°
-3°/-11°
Rain, mm
52
44
46
35
47
70
97
73
62
46
52
52
Snow at high point
Likely
Likely
Likely
Likely
Possible
–
–
–
–
Possible
Likely
Likely
Daylight
3 h 51
7 h 59
11 h 31
15 h 24
19 h 32
24 h
22 h 15
17 h 17
13 h 20
9 h 39
5 h 39
1 h 56
Source: TerraClimate 1991–2020 monthly averages. Averages for the area at each point’s elevation (4 km grid, corrected for height). Not a forecast or a report of current trail conditions. Snow at the high point is estimated with a simple snowpack model from these temperatures and precipitation, not observed; steep islands and high summits can hold more snow than it shows. Daylight is for the 15th of each month. Hut, transport and park seasons are separate: check them for your dates.
Before you go
Prepare for the Padjelantaleden
Arrange your stays, food and travel first, then check conditions again near departure.
A boat at each end, in summer only
The walk starts and ends at a boat landing, and STF calls both boats mandatory. M/S Storlule crosses Akkajaure from Ritsem to Änonjálmme and Vaisaluokta (2026: 26 June to 6 September; the evening boat stopped on 17 August for low water and short days; it may be cancelled in rough weather). At Kvikkjokk two operators cross the Tarraätno delta; book ahead.
The bridges over the Bållávrjåhkå (stage 5) and the Varvvek are summer bridges: they go in around the last week of June and come out in mid to late September, depending on snow and water. In 2026 they were in from 25 June and were gone by 1 October. Before and after, those rivers have no bridge. Laponia posts the dates.
Padjelanta (Badjelánnda) is part of the Laponia World Heritage site. Dogs are allowed, on a lead, only from 1 January to 30 April, even though some STF cabin pages list rooms for pets. Cycling is banned, and drones and organised events need the county board's permit. Fishing is banned except in certain waters along the trail, with a licence; naturum Laponia sells them.
Reindeer herding goes on across Laponia. If you meet a herd, sit down and wait or go round it; take extra care at the spring calving and the summer calf-marking, and do not camp beside a reindeer corral.
Mobile signal reaches only Ritsem, Änonjálmme, Vaisaluokta and Kvikkjokk. The camps have no electricity or wifi; the cabin each camp keeps open all year has an emergency phone connected to the police. Stáloluokta's kiosk closed for 2026 on 10 August: late in the season carry all your food.
Google Maps journey searches, not confirmed services. A mountain endpoint may need a booked transfer or an additional walk.
To the start: the bus to Ritsem, the boat to Änonjálmme
Road to Ritsem, a commercial bus, runs from Gällivare (train and airport) to Ritsem from 22 June to 20 September 2026, one or two trips a day; book through SJ, Vy or Norrtåg. The morning bus (09:15 from Gällivare, 18 July to 5 September) meets the boat: M/S Storlule leaves Ritsem at 13:20 and lands at Änonjálmme at 14:00 (26 June to 6 September 2026). The afternoon bus reaches Ritsem at 18:40, for the evening boat while it runs. Fiskflyg's helicopter from Ritsem to the Akka cabins, daily at 13:00, takes walk-ins.
STF's other start leaves the boat at Vaisaluokta and walks 18 km to its Kutjaure cabin, then 19 km to Låddejåhkå, missing Gisuris. That way is not on our line.
In summer Fiskflyg flies a scheduled helicopter between Kvikkjokk, Stáloluokta and Ritsem, in the early afternoon; book it ahead. Its 2026 timetable gave no first and last dates.
The trail ends at a landing on the Tarraätno delta: book the boat across to Kvikkjokk ahead, with Båttrafik i Kvikkjokk (scheduled trips 18 June to 13 September 2026, on request from May to October) or Kvikkjokk-Turism. From Kvikkjokk, Länstrafiken Norrbotten's bus 94 runs direct to the train at Murjek in summer; at other times bus 47 runs to Jokkmokk, on weekdays only.
Prepare every stage before you leave Ritsem or Kvikkjokk: there is mobile signal only at Ritsem, Änonjálmme, Vaisaluokta and Kvikkjokk.
Keep your route and maps on your phone for places without a signal. For multi-day trips, prepare them in the installed TrailSplits app.
Open this trail in the app.Install TrailSplits, then open this trail there. On iPhone, downloads in a browser may not be available in the installed app.
Choose your route or stages. Choose Prepare offline above. Wait for the route and maps to finish downloading.
Try it before leaving coverage. Switch offline, close and reopen the app, then use My Hikes to start navigation. Repeat for every part you will need.
Saving a bookmark is not a map download. Storage can be cleared by your device; keep a backup map for remote trips.
Route & sources
Route map & sources
Svenska Turistföreningen (STF) publishes the Padjelantaleden as ten stages, from the boat landing at Änonjálmme, by its Akka cabin, to its mountain station in Kvikkjokk, with an official stage time for each, shown beside ours on every stage. Its stages add up to 140 km, the last 3 km by boat across the Tarraätno delta; its quick facts give 160 km. The line here is the route on OpenStreetMap (superroute 897726 and its seven sections, from the planet of 11 October 2026): 133 km from the Änonjálmme landing to the boat landing for Kvikkjokk, cut at STF's ten cabins, without the boat. Every stage is within 1.5 km of STF's figure. STF's times are longer than our estimate on most stages: plan by STF's. Our climb is measured on terrain heights, so short steep steps are smoothed out.
Official guidance and mapped-source comparison checked 13 October 2026. Map data is a route reference, not confirmation of today's path, weather or accommodation availability.