Sami Culture: A Respectful Visitor's Guide

You’ll meet Sámi culture in the north as a living culture, not a museum piece. Here’s who the Sámi are, how to find Sámi-run hosts, the photo and dress etiquette, and how to tell genuine handicraft from imitations.

When you need this

You’re heading to Swedish Lapland, Jämtland or northern Dalarna and want to meet Sámi culture without being the tourist everyone sighs about. You’re choosing a reindeer visit or a guided trip and want it to be Sámi-run, you see people in a Sámi dress at a market and wonder whether you may take photos, or you want to take home a knife or bracelet that’s genuinely Sámi-made.

Who the Sámi are

The Sámi have lived since time immemorial in Sápmi, their homeland, which today stretches across four countries: Sweden, Norway, Finland and Russia’s Kola Peninsula. In Sweden it runs from Idre in northern Dalarna northward.

Their status in Sweden has three layers:

Sametinget stresses that the minority label must never be used to sidestep Sámi Indigenous status.

Sweden also has a Sámi Parliament, Sametinget, which is both an elected Sámi parliament and a state agency. Its main task under the law is to look after questions of Sámi culture in Sweden, and it administers reindeer herding. Elections are held every four years, on the third Sunday in May.

Nobody counts the Sámi officially, because Sweden has no ethnic census. Sametinget’s estimates:

Reindeer herding is a living Sámi livelihood and, in Sametinget’s words, an irreplaceable cultural inheritance. But Sweden has 4,677 reindeer owners against an estimated 20,000–40,000 Sámi, so most Sámi don’t own reindeer. Sámi culture also means language, duodji (handicraft), art, fishing, hunting, gathering and small-scale farming, and modern ways of practising all of them, tourism included. The rules around herds are in our guide to reindeer in Sweden.

Sápmi and the Sámi languages

Sámi is one of Sweden’s five national minority languages by law, and five Sámi languages are spoken in Sweden: South, Ume, Pite, Lule and North Sámi. Sametinget estimates that 40–45% of Sámi speak a Sámi language.

In the Sámi administrative area, 27 municipalities from Kiruna in the north to Älvdalen in Dalarna, plus Umeå, Sundsvall, Örnsköldsvik and Stockholm, Sámi speakers may use Sámi with the municipality and certain authorities, and have a right to preschool and elderly care wholly or largely in Sámi.

A word or two goes a long way. Bures! means hello in North Sámi, the most widely spoken, though the local language may differ. On the question you may be too shy to ask: say Sámi for the people and Sápmi for their homeland. Avoid “Lapp” for a person; it’s an outdated outsider’s name. “Lapland” is still the name of a Swedish province and tourism region, which is why you’ll see it on every brochure. More on Sweden’s languages in do Swedes speak English?

Choosing Sámi-run experiences

Sámi culture was sold to tourists by outsiders for a long time. The Sámi Parliament in Finland, which has written the most detailed visitor code in Sápmi, describes the result: a primitivised image, imitation dress and invented “traditions” that offend and objectify the Sámi community. Its definition is simple. Sámi tourism is tourism where the providers come from within the Sámi community and the stories rest on accurate information.

How to choose:

• Ask the host directly who owns the business and how they’re connected to the local Sámi family or sameby (a reindeer-herding community with an area and a board, not a village).
• Listen for their own words. Sámi guidance asks visitors to let the Sámi introduce themselves, not to arrive with a picture of a mystical people stuck in the past.
• Treat quality seals as one sign, not a register. Visit Sweden tells visitors to look for the Sápmi Experience seal, a quality label introduced by VisitSápmi, the tourism organisation of the Sámi national association SSR, with applications reviewed by Sametinget and SSR. We couldn’t confirm who runs it today (its website didn’t respond on 2026-09-25).
• Meet reindeer through a Sámi-run host, where herders decide how close you get. Outside a visit, keep your distance: frightening or harassing reindeer is fineable in Sweden, even by negligence.

Photos, dress and private life

Photographing people in public in Sweden is generally not a legal question, so this is about respect, and the Sámi have written down what they ask.

Photos. A person wearing a Sámi dress who isn’t working in tourism must not be photographed without consent. Weddings, funerals, confirmations and other church ceremonies need specific permission. Don’t photograph children, and don’t treat anyone as a prop. Hosts working in tourism have chosen to present their culture, but still ask before a close-up portrait. More on photography law in general: photography rules in Sweden.

The gákti. The Sámi dress, gákti in North Sámi and kolt in Swedish, is an ethnic marker and, in Sametinget’s words, very personal: it shows who the wearer is and where they come from, with cuts that vary by region, gender and in some areas age and marital status. Today it’s worn above all on special occasions. Sámi guidance names fake “Sámi costumes” in tourism as cultural appropriation and is blunt: private persons don’t wear the Sámi dress for tourists. So admire it, ask about it, but don’t rent or buy an imitation to wear.

Homes and yards. Enter homes, yards and the reindeer fences near houses only as an invited guest. What looks like wilderness to a visitor is someone’s home and workplace.

Sámi National Day, 6 February, marks the first Sámi congress, held in Trondheim in 1917. It’s a flag day, and many municipalities in the Sámi areas fly the Sámi and Swedish flags side by side.

Buying genuine Sámi handicraft

Plenty of “Lapland” souvenirs have nothing to do with Sámi makers. Two labels tell you what you’re buying:

Both are certification trademarks owned by the Sámi people and managed by the Saami Council. Sámi Duodji dates from the 1980s and was relaunched in December 2022 together with the new Sámi Made mark, so older guides only mention one. Only Sámi craftspeople can get the Sámi Duodji mark; in Sweden applications go to the Sámi handicraft foundation, which examines each product before it issues labels. Buying directly from the maker, at a market or a workshop, is the other reliable route. The Jokkmokk winter market in early February is the big annual chance; see our Jokkmokk winter market guide.

Where to learn: museums

A museum visit before you meet a Sámi host gives you the context to ask better questions.

• Ájtte, Jokkmokk. The Swedish mountain and Sámi museum (Svenskt Fjäll- och Samemuseum) calls itself the main museum for Sámi culture in Sweden. Kyrkogatan 3. It extends its hours in the winter-market week.
• Gaaltije, Östersund. A Sámi museum with a shop at Köpmangatan 58 (entrance from Tullparken), telling Sámi history from a Sámi perspective.
• Nordiska museet, Stockholm. Many guides still send you to its Sápmi exhibition, but that closed at the end of February 2022. Since February 2024 Sámi cultural history runs as a thread through the permanent Nordbor exhibition, with about 300 Sámi objects. In 2026 the government gave the museum SEK 400,000 to prepare the return of Sámi collections to Sápmi, together with Ájtte.

Getting north and where to base yourself: Swedish Lapland.

Mistakes to avoid

• Treating the Sámi as a people of the past; they have a parliament, five languages in Sweden and modern businesses.
• Assuming every Sámi herds reindeer, or that only Sámi may own them (anyone may; herding is reserved for sameby members).
• Calling a sameby a village.
• Trying on a gákti for a photo.
• Buying a “Sámi” souvenir without a label or a maker to ask.
• Photographing children, ceremonies or private yards without permission.
• Walking into a reindeer herd or corral for a picture.

Practical information

FAQ

Is it Sami or Sámi, and is “Lapp” okay?

Both Sami and Sámi are used in English; the Saami Council, the Sámi Parliament of Finland and Visit Sweden write Sámi, and the homeland is Sápmi. Avoid “Lapp” for a person: it is an outdated outsider’s name. “Lapland” is still the name of a Swedish province and tourism region, which is why you will see it everywhere on signs and brochures.

How many Sámi live in Sweden?

No one knows exactly, because Sweden does not register ethnicity. Sametinget estimates about 20,000–40,000 Sámi in Sweden and 80,000–100,000 across Sápmi, which spans Sweden, Norway, Finland and Russia’s Kola Peninsula. Norway has the largest Sámi population. Only 4,677 people own reindeer in Sweden, so most Sámi make their living in other ways.

Can I take photos of Sámi people?

Ask first. Sámi Parliament guidance says a person wearing a Sámi dress who is not working in tourism must not be photographed without consent, and weddings, funerals and other church ceremonies need specific permission. Do not photograph children or private homes. Hosts in tourism usually welcome photos during a visit, but asking is still the respectful default.

Can tourists wear a Sámi dress (gákti)?

No, not as a costume. The gákti is a personal ethnic marker that shows who the wearer is and where their family comes from. Sámi guidance lists fake “Sámi costumes” in tourism as cultural appropriation, and private persons do not dress up for tourists. Admire it, ask about it, but do not rent or buy an imitation to wear.

How do I know a souvenir is genuine Sámi handicraft?

Look for the Sámi Duodji label, which guarantees traditional handicraft made by a Sámi craftsperson, or the Sámi Made label for other products made by Sámi people or Sámi-owned firms. Both are trademarks owned by the Sámi people and managed by the Saami Council. Buying directly from the maker, for example at a market, is another reliable route.

How do I find Sámi-owned tourism?

Ask the host directly who owns the business and how they are connected to the local Sámi community. Sámi guidance defines Sámi tourism as services provided from within the Sámi community. Visit Sweden also points to the Sápmi Experience quality seal, but we could not confirm who runs it today, so treat it as one sign among several.

Where can I learn about Sámi culture in Sweden?

Start at Ájtte in Jokkmokk, the Swedish mountain and Sámi museum and the main museum for Sámi culture in Sweden, or Gaaltije in Östersund, a Sámi museum that tells history from a Sámi perspective. In Stockholm, Nordiska museet’s Nordbor exhibition weaves Sámi history through its story. The Jokkmokk winter market in early February is the big annual meeting place.

Related guides

• Reindeer in Sweden — who owns them, and how to behave near a herd
• The Jokkmokk winter market — the big Sámi meeting place every February
• Swedish Lapland — getting north and where to base yourself
• Do Swedes speak English? — Sweden’s languages, Sámi included
• Swedish etiquette — the everyday manners that apply everywhere else

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Facts verified 2026-09-25. Sources: Sametinget (sametinget.se, minoritet.se, samer.se), Riksdagen (Sametingslagen, the minorities act, Regeringsformen, Rennäringslagen), the Saami Council, the Sámi Parliament of Finland, Ájtte, Gaaltije, Regeringen and Visit Sweden — full register in this topic’s source file. Found something outdated? Tell us and we’ll fix it.