Arvidsjaur: where cars test the ice

The winter testing tracks, used by major German and Japanese automakers, transform Arvidsjaur each winter into a secret center of the global automotive industry.

A few minutes away, the Sami village of Lappstaden preserves traditional wooden huts once used during seasonal markets and local religious functions.

Heading into the dense boreal forest, you practice dog sledding, a traditional and very popular activity of Swedish Lapland.

In the evening, local restaurants serve smoked reindeer meat and lake fish according to ancient Sami culinary tradition.

Arvidsjaur hosts thousands of engineers from the world's major automakers every winter, attracted by consistently sub-zero temperatures and vast frozen lakes ideal for secret testing of new models.

Lappstaden, an ancient Sami village dating back to the 1600s, remains one of Sweden's best-preserved Sami settlements, with over eighty traditional huts still standing.