A Week of Northern Light Chasing in Luxury in Scandinavia

What’s the trick to increasing your odds to see the Northern Lights? Travel as far North as possible and spend as much time as possible in the North. Even though the Northern Lights are present every night in the winter months, you need the right conditions (no clouds, clear sky, cold temperatures, specific solar wind speed, etc) to see them. Ideally, you want at least a week north of the Arctic Circle (66.6° N) to give yourself the best odds of seeing them. Additionally, make sure to download an app that sends you notifications when there may be Northern Lights outside. The absolute ideal time to visit is the last two weeks of February and the first week of March, preferably two weeks after the full moon so it will be as dark as possible.

On day one, take a transfer to Helsinki airport to catch your midday flight to Kittilä airport. Once you land, your private transfer will be waiting for you to whisk you away to your hotel. After your quick transfer through the snowy roads, you’ll arrive at your hotel to check into your glass igloo. The glass-roofed Levin Iglut offers guests luxurious accommodations that are elevated above the surrounding landscape, which allows for great views of the surrounding area and the northern skies. It’s 10 kilometers away from the nearest city, meaning that it is dark enough for prime Northern Lights viewing. Each spacious and luxuriously equipped Suite Igloo has a kitchenette, a private terrace with an outdoor jacuzzi, a complimentary minibar, and a lounge area. Suite Igloos have the best unobstructed view of the valley and the northern sky.

After check-in, you will pick up your snow clothes, relax in the comfort of your igloo and private igloo, and enjoy a delicious three course dinner. Check the Northern Lights forecast before you go to bed and set an alarm for any time that may be good for optimal Northern Lights viewing.

After breakfast, you’ll be picked up by your driver to be taken on a wilderness snowmobile safari! Experience a crisp, frosty winter day by driving through a snow-covered forest with your trusty snowmobile. You'll first receive driving instructions and safety rules from your guide and then you are all set for an adventure through the wilderness! This experience introduces you to the unforgettable Lappish nature as you ride through snowy forests and across frozen lakes. You will then head south and ride around Kätkä fell towards the old wilderness lodge of Hanhipirtti. There, you will enjoy a tasty lunch of local specialities and warm berry juice. Once you are ready, you will ride back to Levi from the northern side of Kätkä fell. Through the snowmobile safari, you will cover roughly 45 km over about four hours.

When you return to your igloo, warm up by the fire, or enjoy a nice sauna or jacuzzi before your three-course dinner. It’s time to get bundled up! You are going to head back out into the cold again. You’ll be headed out on an Aurora chase activity with a well-educated professional photographer. The Northern Lights are on offer almost every evening during the winter but the issue that causes most visitors not to see them is clouds or storms obscuring their view. Using the local forecasts, your guide will take you to the best possible spots in the local area that has the optimal odds for witnessing the Northern Lights. Should you be graced with witnessing the Aurora Borealis, you are in luck! Not only is it a natural phenomenon that will blow you away, but your guide is also an experienced professional photographer that will help you capture it in all its glory. After you are done for the evening, your guide will drop you off back at your hotel so you can get some sleep.

After breakfast, your driver will pick you up for your private husky safari and farm visit. Ready, set, mush: this husky ride is packed with excitement and thrills! It's time to meet the friendly husky dogs that are eager to take you through wonderful winter landscapes. Before departing on the safari, you'll be given instructions on how to control your sled. Enjoy the thrill of driving your own husky team as you head out on the beautiful winter trails. Warm up along the way with a warm drink and an opportunity to take photos. Once back at the kennel, you get to enjoy hot berry juice by an open fire and chat away with the musher about these amazing northern animals. You can also stop by to meet the puppies who aren’t quite grown enough to run with the adult dogs yet, which is one of my favorite stops.

You’ll have the afternoon free to relax today. Enjoy some relaxing time in your jacuzzi or take out some snowshoes to explore the surrounding winter wonderland. When evening falls, enjoy another three-course dinner and keep an eye on the skies in case the Northern Lights appear again.

After dinner, it’s time for another exciting activity! Get prepared with some layers and bundle up before you head out with your driver. Tonight, you will go to a private secret spot in the forest, where a cut is made into a frozen river and dip yourself into a frozen lake under the auroras! This guided floating is totally safe as you will wear a high-quality rescue suit that will help you float, cover your whole body and keep you dry. As you will wear your own clothing under the flotation rescue suit, you will not get very cold, even in the open zero-degree water. If the weather is clear, you can see beautiful stars and maybe even the magnificent Northern Lights. This activity ended up being my favorite activity of our entire trip. Although it sounds strange, it’s incredibly relaxing, especially as the snow falls on you under the moonlight.

After breakfast and checking out of your igloo, you’ll meet your driver for your private transfer to your next hotel. Your approximate transfer time is just shy of four hours. To break up the drive, you can stop at an old lumberjacks mansion, which is set beside a frozen lake. You can enjoy their saunas or, if you want a more active adventure, go for a snowmobile ride on the frozen lake. They’ll prepare a delicious traditional lunch for you before sending you on your way for the rest of your drive.

Check into ICEHOTEL. This hotel is an engineering marvel and a site to see. This ice hotel has been in place since 1989 and is hand-sculpted out of massive ice blocks from the adjacent river each year. It's a must-visit for anyone seeking an Arctic adventure. Every winter, skilled artists, architects and engineers gather in the tiny town of Jukkasjäarvi to craft a new incarnation of this frozen marvel. All the artwork in ICEHOTEL is original and protected under the Copyright Act and reborn annually with a fresh design, ensuring that every visit offers a unique and unforgettable experience. But the real magic happens when you spend a night here. Picture yourself in a room where everything, from the decor to the beds, is meticulously sculpted from ice. The art suites are each uniquely designed by artists from around the globe, who compete for a chance to design one of the suites. Out of 120–150 proposals, only 30 artists are accepted each year, so it’s a true honor for an artist to design your suite. The cold suites are the best option to stay in because they have a private sauna and warm bathroom attached to your suite (as opposed to the regular rooms, which share a communal bathroom and sauna, which is not attached and calls for braving the outside elements to get to).

I had the privilege of staying here last year, and it was beyond anything I could have imagined.

Cold rooms too scary? Don’t worry, they have warm rooms too. Typically, guests spend one night in the ice rooms and the rest of their nights in the warm rooms. After check-in, you’ll attend an orientation to learn about the cold rooms and how everything works.

Once you are all settled in, your driver will pick you up for a short transfer over to the Aurora Spa. In the award-winning Aurora Spa, you can move between inside and outside, between heat and cold, between snow and water, between darkness and light. Sit indoors and look out over the winter-white expanses through the panoramic windows or feel the polar winter as you sit in the deliciously warm water of the outdoor pool. If you're lucky, you'll also see a colorful Aurora dancing outside. Enjoy an aromatic coffee scrub, a juniper salt and lemon foot bath or an iron pellet massage. Exfoliate with a body scrub of newly-sprouted birch leaves and finish off with a soothing body oil of pine-scented canola oil. Weave these in at your own pace while relaxing in the various pools, unwinding in the sauna bath or enjoying a glass of wine or a smoothie in the relaxation area. All products are made from natural raw ingredients based on ancient Swedish, Sami and Torne Valley Finnish medicinal knowledge and are completely free of preservatives.

After you are done relaxing in the spa, return to the ICEHOTEL for dinner. The food at ICEHOTEL is some of the best in the region, so you are in for a real treat. Tonight, enjoy a five-course Ice Dinner, served on ice from the Torne river. This bespoke ice menu is served in the classic ICEHOTEL Restaurant with carefully selected local ingredients offering an amuse-bouche and four courses featuring modern cruises and an optional wine pairing.

After your dinner, retreat to your ice suite for a sauna and to enjoy your night on ice.

After a yummy breakfast, get suited up and ready for your day outside. Today, you will be partaking in an ancient Sámi tradition and handling your own reindeer on a sled ride along a 10 km-long trail through the vast and gorgeous winter landscape of Sámi. This is an amazing hands-on eco adventure for outdoor enthusiasts that look for a truly traditional Sámi activity.

The Sámi reindeer sledding guide from the local indigenous tribe will offer detailed instruction on handling and driving the sleds before you are ready to embark on a trip of your lifetime. You will each drive your own sled and reindeer through the snow-covered forest landscape and over frozen marshes and rivers. At the halfway point, you will take a break where the guide will prepare a traditional and tasty lunch over the crackling outdoor fire. This is a great time to have personal conversations with your guide about the Sámi culture, traditions and lifestyle, as the reindeer are one of Sámi society's most important cultural carriers and resources. After the break, you will continue the reindeer sledding back to your starting point.

When you get back, you’ll transfer your belongings to a warm room at ICEHOTEL. Enjoy a relaxing afternoon in the sauna to warm back up before you head back outside again. Bundle up because tonight, you’ll be headed on an adventure to experience the unique and beautiful landscape of the Abisko National Park. Abisko National Park is, debatably, one of the best spots in the world to view the Northern Lights. Because of the way the mountains are situated, the mountains tend to protect from clouds and create a “blue hole” even when the rest of the surrounding areas are cloudy. After a one-and-a-half-hour trip by car, enjoy a three-course dinner in the Abisko village, while your guide will tell you about the stories from the local area, Sámi culture and how the magical Aurora is steeped in Sámi mythology.

After dinner, head out into the night and start hunting for the elusive Northern Lights, which will hopefully dance above you in the sky. The guides are educated photo guides, so, if you bring your camera, they can help you to take great photos. You’ll be dropped off back at your hotel before midnight.

After a delicious breakfast and checking out of the hotel, you’ll meet your driver for your private transfer to your next hotel. Your approximate transfer time is three-and-a-half hours without stops but we definitely recommend making a stop along the way at Jockfall Rapids to enjoy lunch at your leisure along the way.

Jockfall Rapids is regarded as one of the best Baltic Salmon fishing locations in Europe, where the mighty Baltic Salmon of Swedish Lapland arrive at a salmon ladder that makes it easier for the salmon to climb to their spawning grounds. It’s not unusual to reel in salmon of up to 20 kilograms. It is an experience to watch the salmon rise up the salmon ladder. There is also a webcam installed in the salmon ladder so you can watch the salmon progress by television from the restaurant. In the restaurant, you can enjoy a good meal while watching the salmon migration. In the winter, you can learn how to icefish or do typical Nordic activities like snowshoe walking, fat bike cycling and kick sled rides. It’s a great spot to break up the drive!

Check into Arctic Bath, one of the most fantastic hotels in all of Scandinavia. Arctic Bath is an oasis of wellness and design, floating on a river in the heart of Swedish Lapland. I stayed here and it remains in my top five hotels in the world of all time. It is absolutely amazing — serene and quiet with fantastic food, gorgeous surroundings and an amazing spa. The architecture seamlessly integrates with the surrounding nature and is influenced by the timber-floating era. The Land Cabins are elevated on poles on land while the Water Cabins float on the nearby river and are connected by walkways.

You’ll have your afternoon at leisure after check-in. I definitely recommend spending your time at the spa. The spa at Arctic Bath takes wellness far beyond massage and facial territory. With constant nods to the spectacular surrounding landscape, spa rituals make use of all-natural ingredients, such as a wild lavender scrub, the ancient art of Gua Sha, or a classic Svensk Arktisk Massage, which uses organic oils, healing stones and traditional jojk music as a soothing soundtrack. All hotel guests have access to the spa facilities, which include outdoor jacuzzis with views over the river, a sauna and steam room and the infamous ladder in the center of the floating hotel that leads directly into the frozen river.

After you’ve spent the afternoon in the spa, it’s time to get ready for an incredible meal. With the minimalist presentation and maximum flavor focus, the five-course set meals at Arctic Bath are the kind you will want to photograph. Harnessing the bounty (and beauty) of nature, each plate looks like a just-foraged masterpiece. Signature dishes are modern takes on the traditions and techniques of the Northern territories, putting innovative spins on recipes handed down through generations. Immersed in Norrbotten, the Arctic Bath chefs possess a profound understanding of its culinary heritage. The dishes are based on local ingredients while using traditional northern cuisine with a modern twist. Each dinner offers a set menu that rotates each evening. Local products used at Arctic Bath include dairy products, local honey, wild meats, fish, fresh herbs, and berries from the surrounding nature in Norrbotten. All the meat and fish served at the hotel comes from the wild, so there are no traces of pesticides or antibiotics. The meals here were my favorite of the entire trip.

Breakfasts are just as incredible as dinner and you’ll feast on breads, charcuterie and cheeses from nearby Jokkmokk and Vuollerim and smoothies made from locally foraged fruits and berries.

After breakfast, you will be picked up by the local moose whisperer for your moose safari by car. During this tour, you might have the opportunity to snap photos of the king of the forest, the moose, while on a car drive through the forest. Enjoy a fika in the wild with a warm drink and homemade treats. Your guide is very knowledgeable with 30 years of experience and will be able to teach you about moose behavior and their significance in Swedish culture. He is of Sami heritage and his family has lived and worked in the local Sami community for generations. When he was a teenager in the early 1980s, his father taught him how to call mooses and foxes. Over the years, he has tried new approaches and also has learned to call deer and bears. What intrigues him is the interaction you experience with animals in the wild by learning to read their behavior. He will demonstrate all these interactions for you throughout this experience.

After you are done observing moose in the wild, stop by a moose and reindeer park to meet some of the adorable furry creatures up close. These tame moose and reindeer are very friendly and love to be pet and fed snacks. They especially love apples, bananas, and carrots. This will allow you to get up close with ‘The King of The Forest,’ feed the moose by hand, and get some amazing photos.

After you’ve had your fill of adorable fuzzy animals, head to the Gammelstad Church Town. This UNESCO World Heritage Site is one of the best preserved examples of a church village available, a unique kind of village formerly found throughout northern Scandinavia in the early 15th century.

After you return to your hotel, you can relax with a craft cocktail (I loved the Cloudberry Sours) by the fire before you enjoy another amazing arctic culinary experience.

After another delicious breakfast, your driver will take you to meet Anna in Jokkmokk, a young Sámi woman. Brought up with reindeer herding and still living a traditional life, Anna has a vast amount of local knowledge to share with you. In the lávvu (tent house), you will sit around the fireplace and listen to stories and joik (traditional Sámi singing). You will also be served a three-course meal prepared over an open fire, with locally produced ingredients. The camp is situated just outside of Jokkmokk, close to the Arctic circle. Once you cross the circle, you will have a fabulous, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to get close to beautiful reindeer while feeding them. There will be plenty of time for questions and stories. A visit to this wonderful part of the country means that you get a unique opportunity to take part in an ancient culture, listen to the stories, and learn about the Arctic way of life.

When you return, you’ll enjoy an afternoon at leisure. Enjoy the spa facilities or a spa treatment or take the hotels kicksleds out for a spin to explore on the frozen river before enjoying your final arctic culinary dinner experience.

After a final delicious breakfast, you’ll be driven to Lulea airport to begin your journey home or onward to your next destination. Reach out to me to get a completely customized itinerary for your time in Scandinavia.