Kautokeino, Norway, earned its place as a Lapland Photo Stop due to its status as the capital of Europe’s only indigenous people, the Sami, and its strategic location between the Pallas-Yllästunturi National Park in Finland and the Altafjord on the Norwegian Sea.
An estimated 85% of Kautokeino’s residents speak Sami as their first language. Their ancestors have occupied the Lapland regions of Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Western Russia for thousands of years.
The village of 2,800 sits on a scenic inland plateau, midway between Pallas and Alta, with flat and rolling plains bisected by the Alta River and boasts a reputation as the coldest inhabited area in Norway. January temperatures average -15C (5F).
The weather was perfect in May.
