During my short trip in Swedish Lapland, I saw, felt and did things which I had never done in any of my travels before.
I have been to Nordic countries before, but always during summers, which definitely are spectacular with moderate temperatures and clear sunny days in that part of the world. I will probably write about my latest driving trip from Finland to Nordkapp, which is the northernmost point of Europe you can drive to soon; however for now let me stick to my travel to the Swedish Lapland's madness in winters!
As I mentioned in my post wherein I had once in a life time experience of staying in an Ice hotel, we landed at Kiruna airport to start our trip here, which is a gateway to the Swedish Lapland.
After visiting the Ice Hotel, we drove to a tiny town called Bjorkliden, which is famous for its ski slopes and calm, wild winters. We had just 2 days here, and as you can think of, my topmost priority was to hunt for northern lights!
Honestly, there was nothing more or less in my mind apart from the northern lights. The first thing we checked after checking-in in our hotel was the forecast for the northern lights and it showed a good kp index both days which made me very excited for sure 😊.
We reached our hotel early evening and it was already pitch dark. Mind it, we were in the northernmost part of a Nordic country, that too in winters, so the day light anyways was for just over couple of hours, that too a very grim sun light. We talked to the lady at the front desk of our hotel to see what else we can do apart from exploring the lights!
We chose following activities as per our interest, but if you have more time, you can do much more than this. There is no dearth of activities in this winter wonderland!
Exploring the longest cave system in Sweden
We booked a tour to explore the longest cave system in Sweden to start with. Our guide picked us from the hotel and the first part was a 2 kilometres of snowshoeing up to the caves. Snowshoe is the only transport unless you are on the main roads in these countries during winters. It was already snowing with high winds and I was freezing even in my snow suite which was given to us by our tour guide!
The opening of the cave, which was very tiny and covered by the snow already. Our guide opened the hole with the help of axe and roped us all and equipped us with a helmet for safety purpose.
The first part of the cave wherein we had to go down was quite interesting and really narrow. We followed our guide one by one getting down to the tunnel to reach at an opening. It was really interesting to do all this in freezing cold. We moved ahead and explored the caves for atleast a kilometre or so and then came back the same way up slowly which took us around 2 and a half hours in total. These caves are never ending and runs for various kilometres underground.
I really enjoyed the whole adventurous experience, especially the start and the end wherein we had to navigate a very narrow tunnel!
Exploring Northern lights
By the time we got back to hotel, it was around 7:00 pm, however, it already felt like very late in the night. It is difficult to get your mind set for more than 20 hours of darkness in these countries during winter.
We had our dinner in the in hotel's restaurant and started preparing for going out to explore some northern lights by ourselves. The hotel staff told us, the kp index is really nice and there are endless wild snow fields at the back of the hotel with complete darkness wherein we can go and explore the lights.
After having my dinner, I was really too lazy to wear my seven layers of clothes and go out in freezing temperatures of -32 degree Celsius, yes you heard it right, -32!!!
We were planned to visit Abisko sky center the next day, which is kind of best place to watch northern lights, hence I thought I will just chuck it for today and do it tomorrow! Anuj anyways went off with his camera and came back to the room after around 45 minutes and showed me the pictures in the camera. And, my god!!!! I quickly jumped off and got ready within minutes to go out and witness the most surreal phenomenon on the earth!
As soon as we got out and walked a bit behind the hotel in the darkness, I couldn't believe those light dancing all over the sky! I literally had tears in my eye, not believing what I was seeing. It was so unreal, out of the world, which can't be explained in words for sure.
We made many attempt to click the pictures, however with our poor photography skills, we couldn't do much 😜.
Anyways, for me I am still not a enthusiastic photographer and believe in capturing the moments in my eyes and mind more than in camera. I know, pictures are great memories to look back into the past, but I am a firm believer of enjoying the present moments more than making a lot of efforts in capturing them for the future. However, thanks to the superb technology these days, which allows to capture alot just with a click of a button.
Anyways, we literally spent more than hour in freezing cold, soaking in these northern lights dancing in the skies from all directions and came back super satisfied for a good night sleep.
Next day we booked for a visit to Abisko sky center, which is built near a lake. It is said that, near this lake due to low air pressure, skies are usually clear which gives you a better chances of viewing clear northern lights. To our luck, due to some technical reasons, the center was closed that day so we had to settle for checking them out from around the lake side. We got lucky again and witnessed a great display of lights here ☺️
Husky Ride
The next was going for a husky Ride the next day. Again we booked a tour and were taken to a husky farm where in we were allotted the carts in the sets of two which were to be pulled by like 12 husky dogs in the Swedish snow wilderness. It was amazing to see these dogs pulling us at a speed of may be 20 odd km/hr, digging their mouth in snow every now and then to quench the thirst with all the hard word they were doing!
We also played a bit with one of the husky dog who was a bit playful as compared to others and really loved the whole experience
So, this is all we did while in Swedish Lapland. I know, I am going to see these lights again soon, I just loved them so much. Probably this time, the plan would be to go and see the southern lights which are one and the same in terms of phenomena!
If you really love traveling, please do put this in one of the must dos in your priority list guys and you will have a best time of your life for sure!
Feel free to read my Ice Hotel experience in the Swedish Lapland as well and let me know in case you have any questions.
Till than, keep exploring!!!
Feel free to read my Ice Hotel experience in the Swedish Lapland as well and let me know in case you have any questions.
Till then, keep exploring!!!