Swedish Lapland puts you under the northern lights with wilderness camps far from town light, the clearer inland skies around Abisko and a hotel carved out of river ice near Kiruna. When I first wrote about it in 2020, the draw was a brand-new hot air balloon flight into the aurora near Gunnarsbyn, and while that flight doesn't seem to be offered anymore, the camp behind it is still running and the rest of the region makes a great winter trip with the guys.
Seeing the northern lights is something a lot of guys want to do, and that includes me. I've seen my share of photos and videos, but the first time I saw them for real was on a road trip through North Dakota, and it was pure magic. They can also be incredibly elusive. Going farther north brings the aurora closer to overhead, and spending more nights there gives you more chances for clear skies, which is what makes Swedish Lapland worth the flight. In 2020, Off the Map Travel announced Aurora in the Sky, a tethered hot air balloon that would rise about 130 feet above the frozen landscape near Gunnarsbyn so guests could hunt for the aurora from the air. It came from Jonas Gejke and Fredrik Broman, the founders of Aurora Safari Camp, working with balloon pilot Andrew Peart, and the first flights were planned for the winter of 2020 into 2021. Tour of the John Wayne Birthplace and Museum in Winterset, Iowa - celebrating 40 years of operation in 2022. 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Aurora Safari Camp sits on the Råne River near Gunnarsbyn, about an hour from Luleå Airport by private transfer, and in winter the last stretch can be by snowmobile across the ice. You sleep in lavvu-style tents with a Lapland design, and meals are cooked over an open fire. With no town nearby, the sky above camp stays dark all night. Winter stays can include husky sledding through the forest, a private northern lights photography session and a wood-fired sauna followed by a cold plunge in the river, which is a pretty good way to pass a cloudy night with the guys. Why we picked it: a screen big and bright enough to double as a photo frame, a titanium and sapphire build that came through a month of daily wear without a scratch, and battery life that still runs weeks between charges. Promoted by FlowAds Stays at the camp are fully customized through Off the Map Travel, so you can pair it with other stops in the region. Abisko, in the far northwest corner of Sweden near the Norwegian border, is famous among aurora chasers because the surrounding mountains tend to keep it drier and clearer than the coast nearby. On a clear night you can ride an open chairlift up Mount Nuolja to the Aurora Sky Station, which sits well above the valley and its light. Abisko National Park makes a good daytime base for snowshoeing and winter hiking, and the overnight train from Stockholm stops right in town. Our Abisko northern lights page shows the best months and hours, along with tonight's live aurora maps. The Icehotel in Jukkasjärvi, a short drive from Kiruna, is rebuilt every winter from ice cut out of the Torne River, with art suites carved by different artists each year. Plan on one night in a cold room and a warm room for the rest of the stay. Kiruna's airport is the usual gateway to the Icehotel and Abisko, and our Kiruna northern lights page covers the timing for that part of Lapland. Near the village of Harads, the Treehotel puts its rooms up in the trees, and Arctic Bath floats on the Lule River with a sauna and a cold plunge. Either one makes a comfortable last stop after a few cold nights at a camp, and Off the Map Travel books both along with Aurora Safari Camp. Their longest Swedish Lapland trip strings it all together, taking the sleeper train from Stockholm to Abisko and moving on to the Icehotel, Aurora Safari Camp and the Treehotel over nine nights. It's priced at roughly 20,000 to 30,000 British pounds per person before flights, so most groups will want to build a shorter version around one or two stops. The aurora season in Swedish Lapland runs from September into early April, when the nights are dark enough. Pick one or two bases rather than racing across the region, and give yourself several nights in each one, since a single storm front can take out a night or two. I monitor the aurora reports regularly during the winter, but a forecast only tells you what might happen. You could have a great solar wave hurtling at the Earth, and if your spot happens to have tons of clouds, that's game over. So plan days you'll enjoy either way, like husky sledding, snowmobiling or a long session in the sauna. Our Iceland northern lights trip guide covers the other big option on this side of the Atlantic. In a way, chasing the aurora is a lot like fishing. You plan, prepare, research and stake out a good spot, and sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. It's the nights when it works really well that make you want to keep coming back. If you go, give yourself several nights at a camp like Aurora Safari Camp or in Abisko, check the cloud forecast each afternoon, and keep the camera ready on a tripod by the door. Promoted by FlowAds
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