Wilderness Luxury in Swedish Lapland View Full Screen Itinerary

This afternoon you will arrive in Swedish Lapland at Lulea Airport. Here a Sandgrouse Travel & Expeditions representative will be waiting with a paging board. Your driver and guide will wait with you and help make sure you have all your luggage before you depart by private car to your first hotel.

On route to Brandon Lodge you will be able to visit the UNESCO World Heritage site of Gammelstad Church Town. This town is the best preserved example of a type of town that was once widespread throughout northern Scandinavia. At its centre is the 15th Century Nederlulea Church surrounded by 424 wood built houses. Here you will enjoy a private guided tour with historian and expert. 

Brandon Lodge is only a short 30 minutes drive from Lulea Airport and as you travel out of the regions capital you will quickly find yourselves in rural Swedish farm land. The farmland starts to become interspersed with traditional pine forests as you near the wonderful Brandon Lodge. Look out for moose and red foxes on your journey which are often seen in the fields or crossing the roads at dusk - the wildlife in the area is very active during the winter months and can often be seen as they go in search of food in order to survive the cold

Check-in to your hotel, enjoy a welcome drink in the lodges main laavu (tipi style tent). This evening we have arranged for you a hot wood-fired sauna before a delicious dinner in the main cabin.

This morning, after breakfast in the main log cabin at Brandon Lodge you will be meeting your snowmobile guide who will be taking you out into pristine wilderness. Travel in convoy on your own snowmobiles across frozen lakes, through pine forests, along the banks of iced-up rivers and out to remote cabins. Enjoy a lunch in the wilderness with your guide, light a fire using natural materials such as birch logs and birch bark and enjoy a traditional and local hot lingonberry tea before heading back to the lodge for a craft beer by the stove in the lake-side cabin. 

This evening head out with your guide again, this time in search of the Northern Lights. Northern Lights sightings at Brandon Lodge are frequent however, never guaranteed. Strap on a pair of lodge's snowshoes or head to a remote cabin via snowmobile sleigh - here there is little to no light pollution and your chances of seeing the Aurora are at their highest. 

Dinner will be served back at Brandon Lodge before heading back to your private cabin in the grounds. 

This morning enjoy an exhilarating hovercraft ride across the frozen tundra at Brandon Lodge. Your host Goran who will take you for a short but entertaining 'spin' just to give you a taste of this exciting form of local transport. The hovercraft here is used to help ferry supplies and people from island to island in the winter months. This service provides vital and much needed transport for the remote communities in the area. Your guide and host Goran will tell you all about how the local people in this incredible archipelago live including many interesting stories of the local Sami reindeer herders who often drive their reindeer into the area looking for good grazing grounds. 

On returning from your exciting morning excursion you driver guide will be waiting to collect you. He will be taking you to the incredible Aurora Safari Camp - a rustic, safari inspired tented camp on the banks of frozen lake. This afternoon at Aurora Safari Camp you will be learning how to ice sculpt with a professional sculptor. Huge ice blocks are cut out of the frozen river, leave your stamp on the local land for a few weeks by creating your own masterpiece.

The evening will be spent around the campfire at the heart of the camp. Enjoy swapping stories with your fellow guests and host and savour the delicious local food. Tonight we have arranged a private sauna on the ice for you - here you will be able to relax and unwind in the quiet of the Swedish wilderness. If you are brave enough pop outside for some star-gazing before running back into the sauna to warm up! Tonight you will be sleeping in a traditional Lavvu, a Sami tent which has a log-burning stove at the centre. Throughout the night in order to keep warm you will need to stoke the fire with logs - a really authentic experience and part of the joy of Aurora Safari Camp. 

After breakfast and saying your farewells to the host and staff at Aurora Safari Camp, your private transfer will take you the world famous Treehotel in the village of Harads. This is where you will be staying tonight. Treehotel is truly unique and some of the world's most sought after hotel rooms can be found here suspended in the silent pine forests. Your hosts Kent and Britta will welcome you with a show of typical Swedish hospitality, before showing you to your room in the forest and around the Treehotel.

This evening you will be heading out locally with a guide and professional photographer to try and capture the magic of the Northern Lights on camera as a souvenir of your visit to this incredible part of the world. 

Dinner will be served earlier in the evening at Treehotel. Usually a locally sourced, traditional home cooked meal made by Britta herself. 

After a delicous home-cooked breakfast at the Treehotel your local driver guide collect you. This morning you will only be travelling a short 15 minutes to the extremely private and exclusive Logger's Lodge. 

Logger's Lodge is an exclusive-use cabin built and inspired by traditional logger's cabins from the area, the cabin itself is set in a truly remote forest location away from any urbanisation. Here guests can enjoy the tranquility of the boreal forest, the dark star-studded skies and of course the cabin's romantic fascilities. 

This afternoon whilst settling into your new surroundings why not borrow some snowshoes and take a walk through the local forest, or be bold and head out on a forest trail with some Nordic skis. 

This evening you can enjoy total privacy and the solitude of your remote forest location. Take advantage of the traditional wood-fired sauna before sitting out in the jacuzzi hot-tub under the stars, if you are lucky the Northern Lights will dance across the dark sky above your heads. 

Today you will have a full day tour with your host and experience something totally unique. You will visit Lars Eriksson together his family who have lived in remote Flakaberg as Sami’s for seven generations. You will be able to actually get up close and personal with his reindeer and Lars will tell you stories about his native lifestyle and the sami people. This will give true insight in to the Sami culture and a better understanding of this ancient and sacred way of life here in the northern forests. 

In Lars' cabin you’ll be served a lunch made by his lovely wife Anette. Lunch will be a traditional and delicious meal. 

On the way back you will be visiting northern Europes largest rapid. Even in extreme cold, the water does not freeze here. To get there, your guide will drive along a small gravel road through the forest, which gives you good chances to spot reindeers. At Storforsen itself, you walk an easy 2 km nature trail on wodden walkways, which takes you upstream close to the rapids. This part is made on your own and in your own pace. Your guide will meet you up and take you to the warming fire.

On returning to Logger's Lodge, a 3 course dinner will be waiting for you. After dinner, depending on the conditions the northern lights may be visiable for you to enjoy so make sure you have your camera battery charging during dinner. 

Together with your guide you will commence the journey north to Icehotel in Jukkasjarvi. 

Travelling through the area with your own personal guide, you will be given the opportunity to learn about the Swedish Lapland region as a whole and the arctic way of life here. Your guide will drive you along the historical and beautiful Lule River Valley. Using expert local knowledge they will stop at points of interest along the route such as Porjus, Jokkmmokk and the Arctic Circle.

You will be able to hear stories from your guide along the way explaining your surroundings, the natural environment and the local area. You will be served hot and cold drinks and snacks during the day before arriving early in the afternoon at the world famous, Icehotel. 

Having check-in to your room and freshened up you will be able to enjoy an evening dinner in the Icehotel restaurant before some cocktails and drinks in the IceBar! 

This morning, after breakfast you will be preparing to meet your very own team of Alaskan huskies. You will meet your team of dogs, greeting them individually and learning their names before being briefed by a professional dog musher on how to drive your team of dogs through the tundra. In this part of Sweden the terrain offers easy going dog mushing, however a general level of reasonable fitness is helpful as on some inclines the dogs require a little help (push). 

Today you will be embarking on a true Swedish Lapland adventure, heading out into the wilderness along trails and tracks that the dogs know and love very much. Before you set off the dog teams will be so enthusiastic they will be howling and barking, however as soon as you start an erie silence will take over. The ultimate destination today is of course, a remote log cabin where you will spend the evening overnighting in the wilds. 

Along the route today, keep and eye out for wildlife, and nature. The huskies travel silently through the forest giving you a much greater chance to see moose, fox and some exciting birdlife. In this part of Sweden it is possible to even see bears, lynx and wolverines however sightings of these most special animals are extremely rare as they are incredibly elusive animals. 

On arrival at the remote cabin, enjoy a traditional Swedish sauna before dinner, and retiring for a well earned sleep. 

Today you will wake up at the remote wilderness cabin, ahead of you is another exciting day of dog sledding back to the world famous Icehotel. On the journey back to camp you will stop for a wilderness lunch in the pristine Lapland forests. Your guide will build a fire and you will be able to enjoy snacks and hot tea whilst soaking up this beautiful natural environment. 

On arrival back at Icehotel check back into your room for a final night in this most unique of hotels. Enjoy dinner in the Icehotel restaurant before retiring to your comfortable, Scandinavian inspired room. 

Today after a final breakfast at the stunning Icehotel, you will be transferred by hotel transfer vehicle back to the local airport in Kiruna. Here you will end your Swedish itinerary and board your plane departing Swedish Lapland.