We've been providing Northern Lights holidays in Sweden for a nearly a decade. Our partners in Lapland and the Arctic are born and bred there; they've grown up with the Aurora Borealis as an ever present companion. It's that knowledge and sense of place that creates a huge advantage on a Northern Lights holiday in Sweden."

Sweden

See the Northern Lights in Sweden with the Aurora Zone.

We get three main requests from our clients and they come in this order:

1 I want to see the Northern Lights
2 I want to go husky sledding
3 I want to visit the ICEHOTEL®

Swedish Lapland is the place where all three of these dreams can come true and they frequently do. For somewhere that is mountainous, remote and basically a snow covered wilderness for nearly six months of the year, there is a remarkable amount to see and do here.

Fly to Kiruna Airport and you have some great winter holiday options within just 2 hours’ drive through pristine and wonderful winter scenery.

The most popular destination of all is Abisko, a tiny settlement with only 85 permanent inhabitants but with a massive reputation for being one of THE best places in the world to see the Aurora Borealis.

The drive from Kiruna to Abisko is a wonder in itself. Kiruna is, in Lappish terms, a large mining town and the contrast between its massive bauxite mine and the virgin wilderness that surrounds it could not be more striking. Once you’re past the mine however, the combination of frozen lakes and distant mountains is quite simply irresistible especially on one of those glorious Lapland days when an ice blue sky stretches away as far as the eye can see.

So, why has a village with only 80 residents earned an almost fabled status amongst Aurora hunters? The answer is twofold: topography and meteorology.

That handy bowl of mountains surrounding the village serves a very useful purpose in that it helps to break up cloud cover and there is nothing an Aurora chaser hates more than cloud cover. Forget all that talk about the full moon; cloud is your enemy if you want to see the Northern Lights. By an amazingly happy combination of circumstances, the prevailing winds at Abisko also drive away those pesky clouds meaning that Abisko has pretty much the clearest skies in the Auroral zone.
And what do clear skies make? They make the Northern Lights more visible. Result!!

It’s little wonder therefore that Abisko has gained such a fabulous reputation but with fame comes popularity and with only two small hotels, the place fills up pretty quickly. Fortunately, the Northern Lights are visible elsewhere in the region and, it could be argued, in places where there is even less light pollution than in Abisko.

Tiny villages such as Kangos, Tarendo and Lappeasuando enjoy similar skies and all the attractions that go with a snow wilderness such as dog sledding and snowmobiling. One of the secrets to seeing the Northern Lights is to avoid the light pollution associated with human habitation. The beauty of these destinations is that they have virtually no residents (the local population is heavily outnumbered by reindeer) and are therefore blessed with the dark skies that are ideal for Aurora viewing.

Swedish Lapland has numerous activities to excite during your stay. Husky sleds and snowmobile trails criss-cross the expansive landscape, cross-country skiing is almost compulsory amongst the locals and snowshoeing, ice fishing, ice climbing and other activities are all available to ensure you see the very best of this wonderful part of the world.
Best of all though is the world famous and original ICEHOTEL®. The ICEHOTEL® is constructed every year using the ice from the Torne River. Each year, the very best snow and ice architects, sculptors and artisans gather in Jukkasjarvi to construct what is essentially a monument to snow and ice architecture. It takes ages to build and yet, when the spring thaw arrives it melts away again into the Torne.

This might mean that repeated construction costs are high at the ICEHOTEL® but it also means that each and we get designs and features that are absolutely unique from one year to the next. The bedrooms, the IceBar, the sculptures and carvings, a wedding chapel and the fabulously and lovingly created art suites change every year but they are never less than spectacular.

You can stay at the ICEHOTEL® in either cold or warm accommodation so if the thought of sleeping in a room at approximately -5°C doesn’t appeal then why not plump for the very good warm accommodation?

Swedish Lapland really does have it all: Stunning mountain scenery, the Aurora Borealis, winter activities and the amazing ICEHOTEL®. Just imagine how many bucket list items you could tick off in just one visit!