Umeå is a northern Swedish city in the Västerbotten region. The city is known from the 14th century, but the nomadic Sami have been in the region before an actual settlement was formed here. Umeå consisted initially of a church and a trading post, which was located on Kyrkbacken a little west of the current city center. For centuries there was trade with the Sami in Umeå, which did not grow significantly, and therefore it lost its privileges in the 1590s.

In 1622, Gustav II Adolf reestablished Umeå, which in 1638 had around 40 houses. However, the small town grew and became the residence city of Västerbotten. Approximately 1,000 people lived in the city in 1800, and this number grew to 3,000 in 1885. In 1888, Umeå was hit by a large fire that left most of the inhabitants homeless, and during the reconstruction, many birch trees were planted, and they can still be seen in the streets.

Today, Umeå is a cozy town located along the northern bank of the river Ume Älv. You can go for some wonderful walks here, starting at, for example, Rådhustorget, where the city’s beautiful city hall from 1891 is located. Here the street Rådhusesplanade ends to the north, which is one of the typical avenues with birch trees. South of the town hall, you can take a walk in the green area of Rådhusparken, around which some of the city’s most stately buildings were constructed after the fire in 1888, and there are also several buildings worth seeing along the street Storgatan.

Umeå has several museums you can visit. At the Västerbottens Museum you can learn more about the cultural history of the city and the region, while you can see various exhibitions of international contemporary art and visual art at the Bildmuseet. At Ume Älv you can take a walk in Döbelns Park, which was laid out in 1865 as the city’s first park and named after General Georg Carl von Döbeln. It was laid out in the English style with gazebos, terraces and winding footpaths. The park was opened on part of the land of the Residence.

The Residence is located east of Döbelns Park og was built in Italian Renaissance style 1891-1894 as an official residence and place of representation for the governor of Västerbotten Län. The governor is the representative of the Swedish government in the county of Västerbotten. At Döblens Park you can also see the beautiful wooden villa, Moritzska Gården, which was built in 1891.

Opposite Döbelns Park you can visit the church Umeå Stads Kyrka, located in the modern center of the city along Ume Älv. The church is a three-nave hall church that was built in neo-Gothic style in 1892-1894 after a fire in the former church on Christmas Eve 1887. From old Umeå you can visit Backen west of the center, where the church Backens Kyrka stands.

Backens Kyrka has been at the place since at least the early 14th century, and in the first centuries it was a wooden church. The current stone church was constructed 1501-1508 as one of the region’s largest churches. Close to Backens Kyrka is Umedalens Skulpturpark, which is a popular place for a walk between different works of art.