The airfield at Umeå occupies flat land on the west bank the River Ume. Umea Airport is a single-runway, small regional airport with a smart modern terminal and ample outdoor parking. If you pick up a hire car at the airport you'll find the city centre is just two miles to the north. The road connections are good too: the E12 and E12 highways skirt the airfield providing easy access to the main Swedish coast road and the road inland towards Lycksele and Lapland. Holmsund and the ferry to Vaasa in Finland is a six-mile drive down the opposite river bank.
The university city of Umeå stands near the mouth of the River Ume on the Swedish coast at one of the narrowest points of the Gulf of Bothnia. It's one of the commercial and arts capitals of northern Sweden and was European City of Culture in 2014. So you'll find a good variety of shopping – and a good variety of art galleries too. With a big student population there's lively nightlife, particularly if you like live music. Outside the city the highlights include Älgens Hus, an elk farm with animals so tame you can stroke them, and the charming rural museum at Bobacksgården.
