A Birthday Beneath the Northern Lights in Swedish Lapland

Your Swedish Lapland adventure begins as you arrive at Luleå Airport, where your private driver will be waiting to welcome you north. From here, travel for around 30 to 40 minutes through a winter landscape of snow covered pine forest towards the coast and Brändön Lodge.

Set on an island overlooking the frozen Luleå archipelago, the lodge immediately introduces you to the scale and stillness of an Arctic winter. During the coldest months, the sea surrounding the islands freezes, transforming the archipelago into a vast white landscape stretching away from the lodge.

Settle into your private two bedroom cabin, which will be your home for the next three nights. There is time to unpack, get comfortable and collect the warm winter clothing provided during your stay before heading outside for your first look around.

Take a gentle walk around the lodge and down towards the frozen coastline, where the surrounding forest meets the open expanse of the Gulf of Bothnia. There is no need to rush into the adventure. Your first afternoon is deliberately relaxed, giving you time to adjust to the Arctic surroundings and simply enjoy being somewhere very different from home.

As evening arrives, return to the main lodge for a three course dinner prepared using ingredients and flavours from the region. Afterwards, step back outside into the darkness. Brändön Lodge sits away from the brighter lights of the city, making it a wonderful place to watch the night sky.

If conditions are right, your first evening in Swedish Lapland could also bring your first sighting of the Northern Lights. You can watch from the shoreline or simply step onto the porch of your cabin and look upwards before turning in for the night.

Begin your birthday in Swedish Lapland with breakfast in the main lodge before getting ready for a full morning out in the winter landscape.

Today you will experience one of the most exhilarating ways to travel through the Arctic as you head out on a four hour forest and ice snowmobile tour. Meet your local nature guide at Brändön Lodge for a safety briefing and introduction to the snowmobiles before setting off along established trails.

Each member of your party has their own snowmobile, provided each driver holds a valid driving licence, giving you the freedom to experience the journey from the driving seat. Follow your guide between snow covered pine forests, across frozen lakes and onto the sea ice of the Luleå archipelago.

There will be stops along the way, giving you time to take in the surroundings while your guide shares stories about life, nature and culture in northern Sweden. Lunch is enjoyed outdoors during the experience, accompanied by something warm to drink before continuing across the winter landscape.

Return to Brändön Lodge for a slower afternoon in your cabin before your private hot tub and sauna session beside the coast. Warm up in the traditional sauna before stepping outside to the wood fired hot tub beneath the Arctic sky.

The birthday celebrations continue this evening with a private Aurora Hideaway Dinner on the frozen Gulf of Bothnia. A short snowmobile journey takes you from the lodge to a small heated cabin standing out on the sea ice.

Inside, candles, reindeer pelts and the warmth of the stove create an intimate setting for the evening. Begin with a welcome drink and warming soup before stepping outside between courses to look for the Northern Lights and experience the silence of the frozen sea.

Return inside for a main course prepared over the fire, followed by dessert and coffee or tea. It is a wonderfully unusual place to celebrate, surrounded by Swedish Lapland rather than a traditional restaurant.

After yesterday’s snowmobile adventure and birthday celebrations, today gives you the chance to explore the landscape at your own pace.

Start with breakfast at Brändön Lodge before collecting your fatbikes for three hours of self guided exploration. Designed with wide tyres that provide greater stability on snow and packed ice, fatbikes are particularly well suited to the winter terrain surrounding the lodge.

Head out from the property and choose your own route through the snowy coastal landscape. Depending on conditions, you can explore the tracks around the forest and venture onto areas of the frozen sea, experiencing the archipelago from a very different perspective.

Without a guide setting the pace, the morning can be as energetic or as leisurely as you choose. Stop to take photographs, enjoy the huge Arctic views or simply take a moment to appreciate how quiet the landscape becomes once you move away from the lodge.

After your ride, return to the main restaurant for an included lunch and a chance to warm up.

The remainder of the afternoon has intentionally been left free. Spend time together back at your cabin, relax in the main lodge with a coffee beside the fireplace or head outside again for another walk along the frozen coastline.

Later, enjoy one hour of private sauna access. After several days in the cold, the heat of a traditional Nordic sauna is a welcome contrast and an important part of winter life in this part of the world.

This evening, return to the restaurant for another three course dinner. Afterwards, there are no scheduled activities, leaving you free to enjoy a quiet final night at Brändön Lodge.

Keep checking the sky as the evening grows darker. If the Northern Lights appear, you are only moments away from the open shoreline, or you can simply step outside your cabin and watch the sky above the frozen archipelago.

Enjoy one final breakfast overlooking the winter landscape at Brändön Lodge before checking out and beginning the journey towards Harads and Treehotel.

Rather than travelling directly between the two properties, today becomes an experience in its own right. Your private driver guide will collect you from the lodge in a premium vehicle for an excursion to Storforsen.

The journey takes you deeper into Swedish Lapland through forests and snow covered countryside, with your guide sharing stories about the region along the way. On arrival, explore Storforsen, known for its immense unrestricted rapids and the dramatic contrast created during winter when ice, snow and fast flowing water meet.

Follow the wooden walkways beside frozen brooks and viewpoints overlooking the rushing water. There is plenty of time for photographs and to experience the power of the landscape before your guide and chef prepare lunch outdoors.

A fire is lit at one of the forest fireplaces and your meal is cooked over the open flames, turning lunch into another part of the day’s Arctic experience.

Afterwards, continue through the forest towards Harads and Treehotel.

On arrival, you will be welcomed personally before checking into the extraordinary 7th Room. Suspended around ten metres above the forest floor, the room has two bedrooms, a central living area and expansive windows looking north across the snowy Lule River Valley. Local snacks and drinks will be waiting in your room, and your luggage is taken care of while you settle in.

Warm winter clothing is available for your stay, and a personal host is available during your arrival evening.

Later, enjoy your sauna booking and outdoor hot tub before dinner at the Treehotel Guesthouse restaurant. Then climb back into the treetops for your first night in the 7th Room, where the windows, skylights and outdoor net terrace give you several places from which to watch for the Northern Lights.

Wake above the snowy forest and begin your first full day at Treehotel with breakfast in the main Guesthouse restaurant.

This morning brings one of Swedish Lapland’s classic winter experiences. A private transfer takes you from Treehotel to a nearby husky kennel, where an eager team of dogs is waiting.

Settle into your sled while a professional musher takes control of the team and leads you away from the kennel into the surrounding landscape. Travelling by dog sled creates a very different feeling from yesterday’s road journey or the snowmobiles earlier in the trip. Once the dogs find their rhythm, the experience becomes remarkably peaceful as the sled glides between snow covered trees and across frozen waterways.

Your private dog sledding experience lasts around three hours in total. During the journey, stop in the forest for a traditional fika with warm coffee or tea and cookies before climbing back onto the sled for the return journey.

A private transfer then takes you back to Treehotel, where lunch is included.

The afternoon is yours to enjoy at a much slower pace. Take an unguided walk through the surrounding pine forest, spend time looking across the winter landscape from the 7th Room or simply enjoy the novelty of having your own treetop retreat high above the snow.

Food becomes the focus this evening with Treehotel’s Gastronomic Tasting Experience.

Led by Head Chef Linus Lejon, the menu takes inspiration from the changing seasons and ingredients found across northern Sweden. Wild herbs, berries and locally produced ingredients are used to create a multi course dining experience of between seven and seventeen courses.

Over approximately three hours, settle in for a celebration of Swedish Lapland through food, with each course offering another interpretation of the region.

After dinner, return to the 7th Room for another quiet evening amongst the trees. With north facing windows and skylights above the beds, you can continue watching the Arctic sky without having to travel anywhere at all.

Your final full day in Swedish Lapland takes you away from the main trails and into a quieter part of the winter forest.

Following breakfast at the Treehotel Guesthouse, meet your private guide and prepare for a three hour snowshoe and ice fishing experience.

Traditional snowshoes make it possible to travel through deeper snow that would otherwise be difficult to cross on foot. Follow your guide between the trees and towards a secluded frozen lake, taking time to enjoy the stillness of the forest along the way.

Once you reach the fishing location, your guide will introduce you to one of the Arctic’s traditional winter pastimes. Learn how to drill through the thick lake ice before lowering your line into the cold water beneath. Your guide will share the techniques used for catching local freshwater fish and help you understand a little more about how people have spent time outdoors during the long northern winters.

The experience is as much about being in the landscape as it is about fishing.

A fire is prepared in the wilderness and you can warm up with hot drinks, home baked pastries and local delicacies before enjoying lunch cooked over the open flames.

Return to Treehotel during the afternoon and enjoy some unscheduled time in the 7th Room. Look out across the snow covered forest, take another walk around the property or simply enjoy a few quiet hours indoors.

Later, head to the Forest Spa for two hours of shared sauna and outdoor hot tub access. Surrounded by the trees, it is a fitting way to slow down after several active days outdoors. Towels, bathrobes, light snacks and toiletries are included.

Your final dinner is a three course meal at the Treehotel Guesthouse.

Afterwards, return to the treetops for one last Arctic evening. Look through the skylights above the beds, head onto the outdoor net terrace or watch through the north facing windows to see whether the Northern Lights make a final appearance.

Wake for the final time amongst the pine trees of Swedish Lapland, with the winter forest spread out beneath the windows of the 7th Room.

There is no organised activity this morning, allowing the final part of the journey to remain unhurried. Head down to the Treehotel Guesthouse for breakfast and enjoy one last morning surrounded by the snowy landscape that has been home for the past three nights.

Over the course of the week, you have travelled across a frozen archipelago by snowmobile and fatbike, celebrated a birthday on the sea ice, visited the winter rapids of Storforsen, travelled through the forest behind a team of huskies and headed out on snowshoes to try traditional ice fishing.

Treehotel has provided a very different final chapter, with your accommodation suspended amongst the pines and evenings spent looking out across a landscape that becomes especially peaceful after dark.

After breakfast, return to the 7th Room to finish packing and take a final look from the windows or outdoor net terrace before checking out.

Your private premium transfer will then collect you for the journey back towards Luleå Airport. The drive takes approximately one and a half hours, carrying you through the forests and winter scenery of Swedish Lapland one last time.

On arrival at the airport, continue with your onward flight to Stockholm and your journey home.

The trip may be coming to an end, but it has been designed around the kind of experiences that make a birthday feel genuinely different. Rather than one single celebration, you have had a full week of Arctic landscapes, memorable meals, family time, outdoor adventures and dark winter nights spent watching for the Northern Lights.