Visiting Lapland in the wintertime is like a Christmas fairy tale. We recently spent a four-day trip to Swedish Lapland with Discover The World. A trip that offers traveling in a sleigh across frozen lakes, drinking ‘hot glog’ around an open fire, and of course, meeting Father Christmas himself!
Discover the World
Discover the World in Swedish Lapland
We flew from Heathrow to Lulea and then onto Overkalix by coach. The journey on the plane was about three hours and then another hour and a half by coach. The team at Discover the World then met us at the airport with a sign. We arrived at The Grand Arctic Hotel and were shown to our cabin just a short walk from the main hotel. On arrival, you will be shown to the kit room to be kitted out in all of your snow gear.
What to wear in Swedish Lapland
One of the things that made this trip so easy was how great the equipment is with Discover the World. On your trip children are provided with snowsuits, boots, balaclavas, thermal gloves, and a hat. Adults will have salopettes and thick thermal coats instead of a snowsuit.
All you will really need to pack is a winter coat and boots for your arrival (simply to go from the airport to the hotel and back).
Snowmobiling through the woods
On our first day, we were split into groups and headed out with our guide on the snowmobiles. I think this was actually the highlight of our trip. We traveled through the snowy woods and onto a frozen lake. The lake is tested before riding on it of course and we were told the ice is around 20cm thick!
The kids had so much fun running on the lake when we stopped for hot lingonberry juice and cinnamon buns. In Lapland, the sun rises at around 10am and sets at 2pm. Our guide told us that in the summer when there is 24 hours of sun you can forget the time and suddenly realise it’s 4am.
Meeting Father Christmas
Later that day we took the same snowmobile sleigh out to see the big man himself. We rode through the dark and were greeted by elves and one of Santa’s reindeer. The children had a quick chat and then left with a special little gift each.
Fun at the Grand Arctic Hotel
When we weren’t out on excursions the children were desperate to spend every minute they could sledding! The hotel had a great slope and lots of sleds to hand and even in -7 degree weather, we ended up taking off hats and jackets as we were running around so much!
Husky riding in Swedish Lapland
Unfortunately, due to personal circumstances, we were not able to attend the husky rides whilst we were there but I wanted to mention that this is very much an option on this package. We did however get to pet a bunch of beautiful huskies in the hotel! They are such great animals and so clever and well-trained.
Families at the Grand Arctic Hotel
Whilst we loved the cabin we had for our accommodation I would say for those with smaller kids a room in the hotel might be easier.
Pros of the cabin are that you have a living room, a small kitchenette, a wet room, and two bedrooms. It was also great to have the space to hang out after the kids were in bed. As we were a little away from the hotel it gave us great views of the sky and for aurora spotting. Alas, we didn’t see any on our trip.
Cons of cabin accommodation are that to use the facilities of the hotel (and head up for breakfast etc) you need to fully kit up in your snowsuits and also factor in that your kids will walk to double the walk time by playing in the snow on the way!
The Grand Arctic hotel staff and Discover the World staff were all really brilliant. Very helpful and friendly and went out of their way to accommodate requests.
We also found the food, especially as vegetarians really fantastic. The hotel used lots of local produce and we felt that we ate very well and with great variety.
Overkalix Swedish Lapland
On our last morning, we walked fifteen minutes into Overkalix town. We felt it was important to see some of the local shops and architecture. The houses in Swedish Lapland are so beautiful and colourful. We also visited the local supermarket to pick up some Swedish snacks!
How to Book with Discover the world
You can book a trip to Swedish Lapland through Discover the World here. This was a press trip, all words and thoughts are my own.
We also decided to book hotels at Heathrow on either side of our flights as we were traveling with young children and wanted to split the travel down as much as possible. That being said the flight times really really reasonable and we could have done each in a day. We booked this Hilton here which was a one-stop tube stop to Heathrow Terminal two.
I would also recommend booking travel insurance here. We picked up our base layers here.
If you enjoyed this post check out our other travel posts :
Our trip with Discover the World
Brownsea Island
Hereford for a weekend