Swedish Polar Express & Tree Hotel

A week in Sweden taking in the beautiful city of Stockholm, Arctic landscapes and winter activities and combining two stunning unusual places to sleep!  The Ice Hotel at Jukkasjarvi and the Tree Hotel at Harads. Travel by train through the night to Lulea and by day to Kiruna.

This holiday can be tailored to suit and prices vary depending on the days of the week and the flights and train timetables.  This tour operates from December to March and days can be added in if you want to spend longer in the Arctic taking advantage of the numerous activities available here.

Summary Itinerary

Day 1 Fly from London to Stockholm, overnight and explore the city.

Day 2 Almost a full day in Stockholm to explore before departing early evening by overnight train across the Arctic Circle into Swedish Lapland. 2 berth sleeper compartment reserved.

Day 3 Met on arrival at the train station in Luleå. Your transfer is approximately 1 hour long and an adventure in itself, beginning with a short tour of the city of Luleå after which you will pass through the World Heritage Gammelstad Church Village. Your guide will introduce you to a wide range of interesting places along the Luleå river valley and convey information about the region, its people and its history. Arrive Harads and check-in at Britta’s Pensjonat for your overnight in your tree room at the Treehotel.  Dinner and breakfast are taken at Britta’s Pensjonat.

Day 4 Lazy morning with time for a sauna in the nearby Tree Sauna before transferring to your hotel in Luleå city centre. Remainder of day free to explore Luleå.

Day 5 Departure from Luleå by rail continuing your journey northwards further into Swedish Lapland. Afternoon arrival in Kiruna. Met on arrival and transferred to Jukkasjärvi and the Icehotel. Afternoon and evening free with the opportunity to try and exciting outdoor activity before collecting your thermal sleeping bag for a night spent in the Icehotel.

Day 6 A nice hot morning sauna is followed by a hearty breakfast. Remainder of the day free for optional excursions/activities.

Day 7 Transfer to Kiruna Airport for your return flight to the UK.

The Tree Hotel is a completely unique and stylish accommodation option, a total of 24 rooms have been planned for the forest area around Harads. There are five unique treerooms, built in 2010 and designed by some of Scandinavia’s leading architects. More rooms will be completed in 2012. In addition to the five tree rooms there is also a tree sauna for up to twelve people, situated among the centuries-old pines. They all have a WC and wash basin (with showers in the Tree Sauna nearby). Current rooms are the Birds Nest, Cabin, Blue Cone, UFO and Mirrorcube. There is a supplement for the Mirror Cube room.

The Ice Hotel at Jukkasjärvi was the first hotel of its kind and is therefore perhaps the most extensive of all ice hotel projects. The hotel is built of ice and snow with designs inspired by the local nature i.e. Jukkasjärvi, the River Torne, the cold Arctic climate and The Northern Lights. The Ice Hotel has several different ‘room’ categories; a snow room which is simple but spacious accommodation where you sleep in thermal sleeping bags on reindeer skins on a bed built of snow and ice or an Ice Room With additional furniture made from ice and unique artwork decorating the room. Those not on a buget may also choose to stay in an Art Suite with ice art in the shape of fantastic design and wonderful sculptures. Standard, of course, is the Ice Bar and lounge where you can mingle with other guests sipping colourful cocktails from glasses made of ice, however you may also choose the warmer option i.e. to sit in the warm building connected to the Ice Hotel around a crackling fire until it is time for bed. A hot drink, breakfast and sauna are included the following morning.

Prices from £1636 per person (depending on day of the week departure supplements may apply).

There are so many activities you can enjoy both from Lulea and Jukkasjarvi that you may want to extend your time here.  Ask me for a full list of optional excursions including dog sledding, reindeer sleigh rides, meeting the Sami people, Northern Lights, snow mobiles, cross country skiing, even overnight sleep outs in the wilderness.  Get in touch to tailor make your own Polar Express trip to Sweden!

Feedback and comments from clients who did this itinerary over 10 days in January 2013:

The tree hotel was fantastic, we loved it and stayed in the Mirror Cube.  We would have liked two nights there it was so amazing and went too quickly.  When we woke up there were 12 reindeer asleep below the cube!  It was so private and peaceful, the couple that ran the hotel were very friendly and their house was like being in your grandma’s (in a good way) – so very friendly and homely.  We absolutely loved it, it was outstanding.  The sauna was very nice and we had it to ourselves.

The snowmobile trip was fantastic, Love who took us on the trip was a very good guide and made sure that we had great value for money.  Cooking on an open fire in the forest in the snow was something else. As was drilling 80cm to ice fish.  I would definitely recommend his trips a true professional.

The hovercraft trip was very good too, Anders was friendly and took us out on the archipaelgo to the pack ice.  The day was clear so we could see all around.  He then took us for lunch in the forest again on an open fire where Thomas (our transfer) was cooking our lunch.  The food on both days was exceptional, in fact probably the best food we had the whole holiday.  Fish soup on the hovercraft trip and salmon stir fry on the snowmobiles.

The Ice Hotel was amazing an absolute must although I would not sleep on ice again (once is definitely enough).  We did manage to see the Northern Lights from the viewing platform on top of the ice hotel which finished the holiday really well.  The sculturing in the ice hotel was truly amazing.  The warm rooms were basis and the ice hotel as a whole is fairly commercialised, however, we still loved it and are so glad we visited.  The Absolutely Ice Bar is a must, drinking from glasses made of ice is something else.  I am not sure how people manage to get married in the ice church though at -5 degrees!  The food in the restaurant was expensive but good quality and the service was exceptional.

Lulea was not as commercial as Stockholm or Kiruna.  What amazed us was that on both the hovercraft and the snowmobile trips it was only the two of us which was fantasic. The standard of all three tips we did was far superior to anything we had done before on any other holidays.  We had some great trips in Australia but these were better. Stockholm is a very beautiful city.  I think it would probably be better to visit in the summer as the boat trips in particular were not operating due to the frozen water. The husky trip was also very good, there were two couples on this, ourselves and one other.  The experience was tranquil and very enjoyable.  Again a great guide and a great day.

The overnight sleeper train was very comfortable, a lot better than I expected.  The standard of trains is far superior to what we have in this country. Overall I would recommend Sweden to anybody it is a great country which is not too commercialised.  Definitely a place to visit in our opinion. Food and alcohol was expensive but we were expecting this.