Venue and travel

Venue

The conference will be held in Umeå, Sweden from the 29 August – 1 September 2023 at the P5 conference centre.

P5 is in the very centre of Umeå, and just an 8 minute taxi ride from the airport or a 9 minute walk from the train station. Uniquely placed, P5 is co-located under one roof with two hotels (U&Me Hotel and Stora Hotellet), cafes, movie theaters, art galleries, a bakery, the city library, a theater, restaurant, bar and delicatessen.

How to get to Umeå

Train travel from southern Sweden is easy along the Bothnia Line – a high-speed railway line that runs along Sweden’s east coast. Direct trains are available from Stockholm Central with Norrtåg or SJ.

Air connections are available from Stockholm Arlanda (ARN) several times a day with both SAS and Norwegian. Additional direct flights may be seasonally available from Oslo, Helsinki and elsewhere. Umeå airport code is UME.

Note: If you are planning on attending the field excursion in Tromsø, you may wish to book your return travel directly from Tromsø rather than coming back to Umeå.

Additional travel information and links are available on the Visit Umeå website: here.

Accomodation

There are plenty of accomodation options to choose from budget-friendly hostels to high-end hotels. A comprehensive list can be found on the Visit Umeå website here.

Umeå and surroundings

With world-class museums and universities, Umeå is the cultural capital of northern Sweden (and 2014 European Capital of Culture), with magnificent wilderness on its doorstep. It’s one of Sweden’s – and Europe’s – fastest growing cities, with a current population of around 130,000 people. Umeå is also known as the City of Birches (Björkarnas Stad), with some 2,300 birches lining the city’s avenues.

With easy access to the coast – Umeå is located a mere 15 km from the sea – and with mountains and deep forest on its doorstep, this northern city is also a nature lover’s dream. Close to Umeå centre is the Grössjön Nature Reserve, with a 4.5 km walking trail, unspoilt forest and cloudberry-yielding marshland, and Lake Nydala, with a 12 km hiking trail as well as family-friendly activity facilities, lakeside beaches and cafes.

The climate is subarctic, defined by four distinctive seasons, with snowy winters and warm summers – complete with midnight sun. At the time of the meeting, daytime temperatures are expected to be ~17°C and nightime temperatures ~7°C.