Blue Highway ( no, Blå vegen, sv, Blå vägen, fi, Sininen tie, russian: Голубая дорога) is an international tourist route from

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and th ...

via

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic countries, Nordic c ...

and

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bot ...

to Russia.

Sights

The Blue Highway follows the ancient waterways from the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the "Old World" of Africa, Europe ...

Lake Onega Lake Onega (; also known as Onego, rus, Оне́жское о́зеро, r=Onezhskoe ozero, p=ɐˈnʲɛʂskəɪ ˈozʲɪrə; fi, Ääninen, Äänisjärvi; vep, Änine, Änižjärv) is a lake in northwestern Russia, on the territory of the Re ...

. There are numerous lakes and rivers by the road. Vast areas of

taiga Taiga (; rus, тайга́, p=tɐjˈɡa; relates to Mongolic and Turkic languages), generally referred to in North America as a boreal forest or snow forest, is a biome characterized by coniferous forests consisting mostly of pines, spru ...

forest dominate the landscape, and a section of the

Scandinavian Mountains The Scandinavian Mountains or the Scandes is a mountain range that runs through the Scandinavian Peninsula. The western sides of the mountains drop precipitously into the North Sea and Norwegian Sea, forming the fjords of Norway, whereas to the ...

in Norway and western Sweden. There are rural villages as well as cities and towns by the Blue Highway.

The Development of the Blue Highway

* The idea of a road across Northern Europe was born in the 1950s * The Blue Highway Association was formed in Sweden in 1963 * Year-round ferry service between

Umeå Umeå ( , , , locally ; South Westrobothnian: ;). fi, Uumaja; sju, Ubmeje; sma, Upmeje; se, Ubmi) is a city in northeast Sweden. It is the seat of Umeå Municipality and the capital of Västerbotten County. Situated on the Ume River, Um ...

and

Vaasa Vaasa (; sv, Vasa, , Sweden ), in the years 1855–1917 as Nikolainkaupunki ( sv, Nikolajstad; literally meaning "city of Nicholas),

in 1972 * The Blue Highway became a European Highway in 1973 * A cross-border public bus route between

Mo i Rana Mo i Rana () is a city, and the administrative centre of the municipality of Rana, in Nordland county, Norway. It is located in the Helgeland region of Nordland, just south of the Arctic Circle. Some of the city's suburbs include Båsmoen an ...

and Umeå was established in 1989 (service withdrawn in 2014 between Mo i Rana and Hemavan"Busslinjen till Mo i Rana läggs ned"
''SVT.se'' 12 December 2013 (in Swedish)) * Border crossing (Niirala/Vyartsilya) with Russia was opened in 1990 * The Blue Road Highway extended to

Pudozh Pudozh (russian: Пудож; krl, Puudoži; vep, Pudož; fi, Puudosi or ') is a town and the administrative center of Pudozhsky District of the Republic of Karelia, Russia, located on the Vodla River east of Petrozavodsk, but traveling by t ...

, Russia, in 2000
Sights in Västerbotten/Sweden, The Blue Highway, pdf, 2008, Västerbotten Local Folklore Society and The Museum of Västerbotten, January 9, 2015

Gallery

Image:Mo i Rana Norwegen.JPG,

Image:Hemavan Sweden 2012.JPG, Hemavan,

Image:Lycksele-Korpberget-2012-06-23.jpg,

Lycksele Lycksele (; sma, Liksjoe; Ume Sami: ) is a locality and the seat of Lycksele Municipality in Västerbotten County, province of Lapland, Sweden with 8,513 inhabitants in 2010. History Lycksele is the oldest lasting Sami settlement in Swedis ...

Image:View from Norrskär lighthouse.jpg,

Kvarken Kvarken ( sv, Kvarken, Norra Kvarken (as opposed to South Kvarken); ) is the narrow region of the Gulf of Bothnia separating the Bothnian Bay (the inner part of the gulf) from the Bothnian Sea. The distance from the Swedish mainland to the Fin ...

Image:Raippaluoto bridge towers.jpg, Replot Bridge,

Image:National roads 9 and 23 in Liperi.jpg,

Liperi Liperi ( sv, Libelits) is a municipality of Finland. It is located in the North Karelia region. Liperi is a community of () with the growth rate of 83 newcomers in 11 months in 2007. The population density is . The municipality covers an area ...

Image:Kuopio, Finland from Puijo tower.jpg,

Kuopio Kuopio (, ) is a Finnish city and municipality located in the region of Northern Savonia. It has a population of , which makes it the most populous municipality in Finland. Along with Joensuu, Kuopio is one of the major urban, economic, and c ...

Image:Cathedral of Valaam.jpg, Valaam Monastery, Russia Image:Petrozavodsk 15.JPG,

Petrozavodsk Petrozavodsk (russian: Петрозаводск, p=pʲɪtrəzɐˈvotsk; Karelian language, Karelian, Veps language, Vepsian and fi, Petroskoi) is the capital city of the Republic of Karelia, Russia, which stretches along the western shore of Lake ...

, Russia Image:Kizhi churches.jpg, Kizhi, Russia

References

External links

Blue Highway in Sweden (English)

Finnish Travel Routes (English, Russian, Swedish, Finnish)
{Dead link, date=June 2019 , bot=InternetArchiveBot , fix-attempted=yes
Blue Highway in Finland (Finnish)

Blue Highway in Russian
National Tourist Routes in Norway Roads in Finland Roads in Russia Roads in Sweden Petrozavodsk Joensuu Kuopio Lapua Mo i Rana Siilinjärvi Umeå Vaasa Russian tourist routes

Sights

The Development of the Blue Highway

Gallery

See also

References

External links