Right to access in the Nordic countries

The right to access in Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden allows people – foreigners as well as locals – to hike and camp more or less freely in the woods and in the mountains, regardless of land ownership. Although the Nordic countries are not cheap destinations overall, outdoor life does not need to cost much (and even those mostly visiting cities can sometimes avoid paying for accommodation). In Denmark, with a higher population density, you do not have the same rights, see primitive camping in Denmark for some details. Also in Åland the right is limited. There is a right to access also in some other European countries, though this is usually much more restricted.

With camping equipment (suited for the season) you can avoid expenses for indoor accommodation, or even campsites, most nights – enjoying breathtaking sceneries, eating wild berries, swimming in lakes you have for yourselves, and listening to sounds of birds and the wind (or to the deep silence of Nordic nature).

Obviously this right is not a free for all: there are rules and limitations that you should keep in mind, to make life easier for everybody and preserve the landscapes (and these rights) for the next generation. For organized events or commercial activity the rules may be somewhat stricter than for individual hikers. The right to access may of course be limited in national parks and the like.

The foremost rule is that you should be respectful and don't cause harm or trouble. When visiting protected areas, if you want to stray away from marked trails, camp wild or bring a dog, check the local rules. Also, expect that taking souvenirs, such as stones or insects, may be regulated. Follow leave-no-trace principles where you don't have reason to believe that is unnecessary.

Understand

The right to access, the freedom to roam or "Every Man's Right" (allemansrätten/allemannsretten/almannaréttur/jokamiehenoikeus) has traditions from the time when it was of fundamental importance for countryside people not owning land, and the commons important also for landowning farmers. In the early 20th century recreation outdoors was realized to be important for city dwellers, and the right became commonly understood to apply also for strangers.

Although the right to access has a long tradition, it is not well defined. It is mostly based on tradition, on the "what is not forbidden is allowed" principle, and the lack of a right for landowners to restrict these freedoms. In the last decades formalizing the right has been discussed, but usually proposals for new explicit law have been found problematic and status quo sufficient.

In Norway there is the "outdoors law", Friluftsloven, defining the right to access in some detail. Land in Norway, including wilderness, is mostly privately owned. Right of access means that hikers and campers are guests on somebody's private land. The crucial distinction in Norway is between utmark (where the right applies) and innmark. Innmark includes farmland, private gardens, church yards, car parks etc., utmark is everything else. If in doubt visitors are advised to regard an area as innmark. In Sweden the right is recognized by the law, but not defined. In Finland some of the freedoms are recognized in the law, but the concept is not defined.

As the right to access is based on allowing what is not forbidden, it does not give permission to break any laws or regulations. It also does not allow harming nature, causing damage or disturbing people. The right does not apply to any event or activity that would cause non-negligible disturbance or damage. In some cases the landowner or local authorities may impose restrictions if there is a large number of hikers and campers that together and over time cause disturbances or damage the land.

The right to access does not apply in natural parks and nature reserves. Often some similar rights are explicitly granted, and services may partly compensate for the rest. In nature reserves and especially popular parts of national parks you may have to follow marked trails, camping and making fires may likewise be restricted, and collecting anything, or disturbing the soil, may be forbidden.

Pets may not roam freely. Dogs mostly need to be on a leash, and in some areas they are forbidden altogether. They are especially problematic in the reindeer husbandry areas, where they can split herds, and in spring separate calves from their mothers.

Don't disturb wildlife. Some wildlife, such as elks and terns, can be aggressive in protecting their young, while other species can be very sensitive to disturbance; see animal ethics. Keep your distance and use binoculars and long lenses. The vegetation can be fragile, so try keeping to trails and paths where available. When photographing rare plants, don't step on their family.

Walk and pass

In these countries, you have the right to walk or ski across uncultivated lands. That means you can walk if there aren't any farmlands and you are not crossing people's yards and gardens, or disturbing their livestock. For farmland, you may cross fields using existing paths and when they are covered with snow (and risk no damage). In Iceland all cultivated or enclosed areas are exempted and always require landowner's permission (using roads through them is allowed, though). Also in Norway the rights are severely restricted in enclosed pastures near the farms – go for the wilderness instead.

If there are fences, you should look for gates and follow paths, even if there is no apparent farmland (there might be animals, such as sheep or cattle in the area, so always close any gates you open). Also, if there are newly planted trees in an area, you cannot walk through. Other than that, you can pretty much go wherever you like, except specifically protected areas (nature reserves, military areas etc.).

Most reindeer are semi-domesticated and more or less all the wilderness in the reindeer husbandry area is their pasture. That doesn't make the wilderness innmark, but you should not disturb the animals (as you shouldn't if they were wild), and you should take care not to damage fences and to close any gate you open. In some areas in Norway there are wild mountain reindeer; in Finland south of the reindeer husbandry area there are wild forest reindeer.

The right to access does not apply to motor vehicles, and may be restricted for bikes and horses (depending on country). For these latter, using roads is usually no problem, but keep to existing pathways or check local regulations. Off-roading with motor vehicles usually requires landowner permission, and also some private roads are off limits. When parking, make sure you don't block small roads or forestry exits – many small roads are primarily used by heavy forestry equipment, in addition to local berry pickers.

Boat

Camp and picnick

Campfires

Campfire are allowed in some circumstances, but rules differ between the countries.

At least do not to cut down any trees and do not risk wildfire, i.e. do not harm the natural environment or economical values. Build the campfire in such a way that the fire cannot spread and do not make open fire when wildfires are likely (in practice or according to official warnings, in Finland broadcast with most weather forecasts, in Sweden you have to check locally). Keep enough water on hand to extinguish the fire if it starts spreading or when you are done. When you leave, make sure the remnants are cool, below as well as above the surface. Do not make the fire on smooth cliffs, which will crack, or peat, which is hard to extinguish reliably and can smoulder below the surface invisibly for days only to cause a major wildfire later. Leave no trace, unless there is an established fireplace, which you could mend as needed.

In Finland you always need landowner permission, but that permission is granted to the public in large areas of state owned land in the north. In Iceland fire is permitted outside protected areas where there is no risk for wildfire or other damage (but firewood is scarce). In Norway they are forbidden in the summer (generally 15 April to 15 September, subject to decisions by local authorities), unless the fire is totally safe, such as at built campfire places in suitable conditions. In Sweden campfires are allowed as long as you are careful enough and there is no local (permanent or temporary) prohibition. Make sure you recognize conditions where wildfires can be lit by a spark or fire easily gets out of control.

Note that being allowed to make a fire does not mean you can chop trees for firewood. Also leave aesthetically or ecologically valuable dead logs alone. Use twigs on the ground and similar instead.

In national parks, recreational areas and similar, there are often campfire sites with firewood provided for free (or included in fees for accommodation). If the fireplace is by an open wilderness hut or the like, do not take the firewood from indoors (other than possibly a little to get the fire going), but from the woodshed. If there is little wood in the shed, do not use it, but find the place from which to replenish or give up, leaving the wood for emergencies. If only some of the wood is chopped, make more to replace what you use.

In any case, do not make excessively big campfires, but use firewood sparingly.

Live off the land

Fish

As a general principle, rod fishing is allowed in the ocean (including the Baltic Sea), but prohibited, or very restricted, in freshwater. In Finland there is no difference between the sea and fresh water: there fishing with rod without reel and without artificial bait (and ice fishing with a jig) is included in the right to access in the sea and in most fresh waters, with streaming water with salmonoids being the main exception (see Finland#Outdoor life). In Norway using living bait or fish as bait is prohibited when using the right to fish in the ocean. In Sweden the biggest lakes are treated like the sea. Mjøsa lake in Norway is generally treated like fjords with some local rules about fishing nets.

There are minimum sizes and other regulations, varying by country and sometimes locally. Check these separately.

The right to access does not include net-fishing or other large-scale equipment. Nets and traps are still often used also in recreational fishing. Most landowners in the countryside own a share of the waters, so if you have a local host you may be able to join such a fishing expedition. You may need to pay a national fee also for this.

A fishing permit for local freshwaters (and general lure and reel fishing in Finland) can usually be purchased easily. Ask e.g. at the tourist agency, or in Finland, any local R-Kioski, which sells the permits.

Leave no trace

No matter where you go and what you do, you are still required to leave no trace of your visit. This means you shouldn't leave any trash behind (including traces of improvised toilets), and make sure your camp site is tidy and will recover quickly. Do not cut down any trees or break off any branches. Don't move stones, don't build cairns. Keep those rules in mind to ensure both the nature you enjoy and the right to access can be sustained for generations to come.

Caveats

In Finland, regardless of land ownership, all inhabitants of any dwelling, including tents, boats and other temporary accommodations have the right to domestic privacy (Finnish: kotirauha, Swedish: hemfrid) in the dwelling and its yard, and violating this right is a crime, punishable by fine or jail. Acts such as inappropriate watching or listening (such as taking a photo of people in their yard), not obeying a demand to go away, making disturbing noise, or entering by stealth or by fraud constitute violations of domestic privacy.

The right to access does not cover motorized vehicles. You can use most private roads, but you must not drive in the terrain. This is especially important in Iceland, with its fragile nature. In Norway, general driving on tractor roads (used for instance for logging) is forbidden. If you find a suitable place to park your car or motorbike (don't block the passage e.g. for logging vehicles), you can still camp like if hiking. If you are going to use a snowmobile, check the specific rules for the area (in Sweden they are generally allowed – except for most places where you would go). There are often maintained snowmobile tracks in popular locations (Finland has an extensive network of snowmobile tracks), which may be the only allowed routes, and for some you have to pay a fee. There are often exceptions for locals, so keep to the marked trails.

If you use a camping van, you should mostly use paid campsites, especially in Norway. Parking lots and rest areas are a scarce resource in the mountains and some other areas, so keeping them occupied for longer than necessary is not popular (although you will probably not hear any comments). In Northern Finland, on the other hand, population is sparse and tourists not many enough for this to be a problem, so staying the night at a rest area or leaving your van for a hike in a wilderness area is OK there. In Finland, there are public unattended lay-bys (Finnish: levähdyspaikka or levähdysalue) on major roads, but the only facilities they have are a picnic table, a trashcan and sometimes a public toilet (often less well maintained).

You will sometimes see "ei läpikulkua" and "no camping" signs. The right to access is mainly about the landowners lack of right to forbid passing through and camping on their lands, so these signs may be illegal, and may certainly be questioned by the locals. But – the signs clearly show that somebody is being inconvenienced by these actions (such signs are often found along popular tourist routes and near the grounds of big events), so you may want to comply. Usually you can just go a few hundred metres farther, make sure you're out of the way and the problem is solved. In Norway landowners have the right to ban camping and other activities in certain areas if such activities cause harm or cause problems for the landowner's use of the area. Although the signs usually have no legal bearing elsewhere in themselves, sometimes they are found in places where camping without permission is indeed forbidden, such as just behind somebody's garden. In other cases many previous visitors have caused problems by e.g. being loud, making illegal campfires and leaving garbage. Although you would not, people in the nearby houses cannot know beforehand, and you don't want to make them nervous about it.

A related issue concerns the facilities around cabins in popular hiking regions in Norway, such as Jotunheimen. Of the many who choose to camp on their own on their hikes, some have still used outhouses of paid accommodation sites – many enough to irritate those maintaining the facilities. Because of that, camping up to two kilometres from these cottages has been forbidden. The limitations are probably illegal, and many Norwegians would love to be taken to court over it. But as with the "no camping" signs, you may have some sympathy with those not wanting you to camp there, and you probably do not want to go to a Norwegian court. To comply, you have two options: either do not camp near these cabins (there is indeed enough ground to choose from elsewhere), or pay for camping by them. For other Norwegian cabins, the standard 150 m is enough, but paying and using the facilities is of course a good option also for these.

Note that in Finland, camping by infrastructure, such as open wilderness huts, lean-to shelters and campfire sites, is indeed the recommended way (and free), to spare grounds elsewhere. Here you only have to avoid private or rented cottages and those reservation huts that are not combined with an open wilderness hut. Still, keep some distance (perhaps half a stone's throw), to let also other people use the facilities without thinking they would disturb you.

The wilderness is often used as summer pasture for domestic animals such as sheep, goats, cows and even horses. In the north there are also domesticated reindeer. Visitors should not disturb animals. Wild animals should also be left in peace.