Swedish Lapland
I travelled with four colleagues out to Luleå via Stockholm with SAS. On arrival in Luleå we were meet by own private driver Thomas who drove us to Pine Bay Lodge where we would be spending out first night. Pine Bay Lodge is a small hotel in the classic Swedish red cottage style. The guesthouse has a very homely feel and has eight rooms so would be ideal for a group of friends or family. We were lucky enough to get a glimpse of the northern lights and then spent the rest of the evening by the large log fire in the cosy lounge.
The next morning, we were all up early to get kitted out in out snow suits and boots, ready for a day of snowmobiling. Our guide was excellent and made sure we made the most of the experience, we even stopped for a camp fire lunch eaten in the snow half way through the day.
We then travelled into the city of Lulea to spend our second night. It’s worth spending a couple of nights in Luleå, a vibrant university and industrial city which also houses the first Facebook server outside of America. In the winter Luleå river comes to life with people enjoying a walk, ice skating, riding bikes, kick-sledding, snowshoe walking, cross country skiing, generally getting exercise and fresh air on the massive area of frozen river very close to the centre of town. A 15 minute drive up the road is the world heritage church town of Gammelstad. With its collection of church cottages, a museum and the largest medieval church in Norrland built in the fifteenth century.
We went to the Ice Music Concert in Luleå, which isn’t to be missed if you are in town on a Friday or Saturday evening in January, February or March and they are performing. A unique concert hall made from giant igloos with musicians performing on a stage made of ice and instruments made of ice! With an indoor temperature of -5 °C warm clothes are a must!
The next day we travelled to meet Lars, a Sámi who lives in the forest wilderness and is from a long line of reindeer herders. It was great to meet his reindeer and find out all about his way of life with his reindeer. The Sámi have followed their reindeer to different seasonal grazing areas for thousands of years.
After leaving the Sami village we travelled onwards by husky dog-sled across the beautiful snowy wilderness to arrive at the Aurora Safari Camp, a collection of Lavvu tents set around a central social tent with a roaring open fire outside. Each tent is kept warm with ‘in-tent’ stove fires which need to be kept stoked up throughout the night. It’s best to keep setting your alarm for every 1.5 hours, so you can keep the tent nice and cosy. The rest of our day was spent using the snow bikes, sledging and using the sauna before settling down for dinner around the large camp fire.
The next day was spent Ice-fishing and viewing some of the other accommodation options that we can offer to clients. Finally, out last night was spent in the famous Tree Hotel, a collection of designer Tree Rooms perched in the forest. A new experience of living close to nature! I slept in the Blue Cone which offered amazing views. However, you could sleep in the Birds Nest, UFO, the Mirror Cube, the Cabin, the Dragonfly, it really depends on what takes your fancy!
I can’t recommend Swedish Lapland enough, if you would like a non-commercialised winter experience that you won’t forget then this is the perfect destination.