Hiking Scandinavia

When to hike Scandinavia

In July and August, all 11 destinations clear our recommendation criteria. Not one of them does from November to March.

Averaged across the destinations, July is the warmest month at 12 degrees in the hiking window and January the coldest at -10.

How far apart the destinations are

The selected grid cells run from 94 metres at Lofotodden National Park to 1,671 metres at Jotunheimen, with a median of 814 metres. Lofotodden National Park clears the criteria in 7 months (from April to October), Jotunheimen in 3 months (from July to September).

The longest season belongs to Lofotodden National Park, at 7 months (from April to October); the shortest to Sarek, at 2 months (in July and August).

What closes the missing months

Where a destination loses months, a critical climate component falls below the threshold at which we stop recommending a month. The main reason is snow cover, for every one of the 11 destinations.

In January, the quietest month, every destination is closed, 8 of them by snow cover.

Conditions in August

August is when the open destinations score highest on average. Hiking-window temperature then runs from 7 degrees at Jotunheimen to 16 at Koli, and rain falls on 44 to 66 percent of days depending on the destination.

What these figures cover

Each destination is described by one selected ERA5-Land grid cell, averaged over 1991 to 2025. The figures above summarise those 11 cells. They are not a map of the whole area or of any route, and they are not a forecast.