Luleå • Sweden

5 Days on budget in Lapland during Winter !

Moose center • Dog sledding • Northern light • Typical Swedish village •
Ice skating on frozen sea

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🌟 GOOD TO KNOW BEFORE GOING 🌟

Traveling in Lapland during winter can be a little bit inconvenient, as you might know days are really short, meaning you’ll be able to enjoy daylight only for a few hours, make them count ! Plus you get that really weird “constant tiredness” due to the dark… which is really weird when you’re not used to it.

Sweden can be a pretty expensive country to visit, make sure to plan enough money to enjoy it the most (depending on your expectations).

💰 TIPS FOR SMALL BUDGET💰

We usually choose to stay in hostels (which provide a kitchen). That way we can buy food at the supermarket and cook instead of having to go to the restaurant everyday. 

Use public transport ! Depending on the country you’re visiting it can be adventurous (in a good or a bad way) but this is the cheapest way to travel ! Only 3,35€ to go from the airport to the city center (2020 prices).

Don’t be afraid of going where locals go ! Tourist places are usually more expensive… don’t be afraid to eat, stroll, shop…, where locals go.

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Day 01 • First steps

We arrived around 5pm at Luleå airport, we took the public transport to reach the city center where our hostel was located. It cost only 3,35€ (2020 prices). First steps to enjoy the most our stay :

1. Find our hostel 🏠 • Sometimes that can be quite an adventure itself ! We stayed at the City sleep, even though it was easy to find, the self check-in wasn’t that obvious. Be sure to have data on your smartphone, so you can receive the code number to enter the building.

2. Get some food 🍕 • Also an adventure while traveling ! In order to balance our traveling budget, we usually choose to cook our own food. Mainly the reason why we stay in hostels, they provide a kitchen ! Plus going to the supermarket is also a way to discover how locals live.

3. Get some rest 💤 • Having a good night of sleep is essential to enjoy the most city/country you’re about to visit.

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Day 02 • Ice skating

Since we didn’t plan that much, except for the dog sledding adventure and the Northern light tour, we went to the city tourist office seeking information about what to do in this beautiful city. A very nice lady told us about ice skating on the frozen sea and that it was possible to rent ice skates and even swedish sleds. So we went to Äventyrsbutiken Hägglunds to find some equipment. Both the lady from the tourist office and the guy from the renting place told us it was totally safe, that everyday a guy from the city was checking the ice level. It was wonderful to ice skate in this winter wonderland landscape.

❄️ FUN FACT ❄️

In the harbor when it’s very cold during winter, a whole part of the sea freezes, making it possible to ice skate on it. They even have “iced roads”,Yes, they drive cars on ice, on a frozen sea… taking shortcuts, faster than going by the bridges.

🙈 BY THE WAY 🙈

Going to the tourist office was a great idea. Indeed, while speaking with a lady we realized that our flight back was too early for public transport, so we were able to book a taxi with her.

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Day 03 • Dog sledding

Going on an adventure in Lapland obviously means having a dog sledding ride. 🐕

To do so we choose to book a tour with Bothnia Sleddog Adventures. We chose to do the “2h Drive your own sledge tour”, which seemed perfect to enjoy some daylight time (since days are short we wanted to be able to see some landscape while riding). They were super convenient since they picked us up from our hostel around 9:30am. After about a 20 minutes drive, we arrived at a classic house with a lot of dogs around (obviously). They own about 60 dogs and puppies 😍. Our group was about 9 persons (the 3 of us included), which is really great to enjoy this kind of adventure. The environment was pretty relaxed too, before going on the sledges we had time to pet dogs and get ready (it was possible to borrow warm equipements, which I hardly recommend). It was time to get safety information and driving advice and HERE WE GO !

This experience is by far my favorite one ! I mean the landscape, the dogs, the speed (yes it goes fast and can be furious too, but I’ll come to that part… 😅), anyway the nature, the cold… everything is combined to enjoy the best of lapland. Plus the staff was really kind and friendly, taking time to explain how it work, checking on us, seeing if we’re doing all right, even if we had an accident 😬 (told you ! It can be furious) 

🐕 Story time 🐕

The sledge lost its balance in a turn, luckily the sledge and the dogs stayed on the path, but my friend and I were on the sledge and we flew away ending up in a ditch. Once again, luckily nobody was hurt.🍀 The staff waited for us, making sure everyone was alright, I was so worried that we might have hurt some dogs, but they seemed perfectly fine and ready to run again.

We also had some stops to take pictures and to change the driver so everybody can have a chance to drive and then it was time to take the return path. 

After the drive we got time again to pet the dogs and thank our guide. It was also a perfect time to ask a lot of questions about life here in the lapland and how is it to manage that many dogs. Then we were invited to come inside the house to have a warm beverage and some cookies. Bonus, some puppies were being kept inside the house and we were able to play with them. 

From far this experience still remains one of the best in my life. The staff was so kind and the atmosphere so relaxed and full with good vibes. 🙌

They dropped us back at our hostel around 2pm. And after this amazing experience we decided to have a walk near the harbor on the frozen sea. 🍀 Lucky day again !! We found some kicksledge, YAY ! So obviously the grown up kids that we are, went on crazy adventure in the middle of the frozen sea while enjoying the 2:30pm sunset.
🛍 On our way back to the hostel we stopped at Lapland Heart work. This shop is a great place if you’re looking for souvenirs for yourself or to bring back with you for your family and friends. Plus most of the items are Made in Sweden 🇸🇪, which is also a great way to support local market.

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Day 04 • Moose center & Northern light

I would recommend going there using taxi services, here’s what you risk if you want to go by bus.

We had a visit booked at 11:30am at Cape wild near Luleå. To get there we took bus 14. We asked the bus driver, to be sure we were heading toward the right spot and we learnt that no buses stop at this spot during winter, so we reached the closest one. Which was 4,8 km away… Here start our trek on the side roa ! Actually this walk was pretty funny we had a lot of fun on our way to the Moose center 🦌.

We arrived a bit in advance, the guide told us that we were waiting for another group. Well the other group were actually 5 mini buses… and we ended up in a group of 30 persons… I think it’s a little bit much since the park is not that big… 

Anyway we went near the moose enclosure where the guide gave us information about those moose. We were also able to question him to get more info about moose in general, which was really interesting, But 30 persons in the small authorized area to observe the moose was definitely annoying. It was still impressive to observe those huge animals. After a short time at the moose enclosure we could go inside a small house to get more info or buy souvenirs or we could go see the reindeer area. 

My impression about that tour is mixed… I mean that was really interesting, we learnt a lot about moose, reindeer but I definitely didn’t like the large number of visitors for such a small place. 

This place seemed kind of  new, maybe it might just need to improve its organisation. 🙂

Here we go again, time to trek back to the bus stop. Walking by -12°C can be quite an adventure. We finally reach the bus stop and waited there for a good 30 min with no bus in sight… (it was supposed to be there 😭) We decided to call for a taxi, it was too cold to wait outside. 

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We still arrived at our hostel and after resting a while, it was time for our Northern light Tour 🙌

We booked a tour with Luleå Travel, the tour was actually a minibus tour, meaning we were going to move all night to hunt northern light. This was actually a good option, we visited 3 different places while seeking the northern light. We were supposed to visit 4 places but the weather was a bit windy so we skipped that one. The last spot was near a lake, some tables and benches were sitting around a big wood fire. The guide served us traditional fire coffee and gave us reindeer fur and blankets to keep us warm. 

Northern light really are magical, plus the atmosphere around that fire place was really enjoyable (even by -13°C).

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Day 05 • Authentic Swedish Village

Near Luleå stands a traditional Swedish village called Gammelstad. We took the bus (which was more reliable than the one to go to the moose center). After a 20 min ride we arrived in a really cute village. This place is now protected by UNESCO, because it’s one of the best preserved “churchtown” still standing in Sweden.

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FEED BACK

🇸🇪 My feelings… 💙

Swedish are lovely ! The family we met during our dog sledding tour and the guide from the Northern light tour were the most kind and friendly people I ever met. I was literally able to feel how much love they had to share. Their positivity during the hard winter weather was inspiring. They were so glad to share their passions and their experience and I really felt that good vibes all along.

I would have loved to rent a car, but the weather conditions can be tricky and I didn’t want to take any risks since I’m not really used to driving on icy roads. But from what I discovered here, I want to explore more ! I’m already thinking about visiting Sweden during summer to roadtrip this land while enjoying long days ! 

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