Here is a lovely break to Stockholm and then heading to Abisko followed by Kiruna for some northern lights viewing. Forget trips that take you on a coach from Stockholm, you need to be miles away from light pollution and Abisko is one of the best places to see them with the Aurora viewing station too and you will have 2 nights in Abisko. Not only that you also have another 2 nights in Kiruna which is another good place to bet some sightings. There are also plenty of tourist activities and numerous winter like activities such as dog sledding etc and you still stand a good chance of Aurora viewings. Allowing 4 nights in Swedish Lapland country is ideal as there are so many activities to keep you occupied.
9th November
You'll fly from Manchester to Stockholm arriving just after lunch. You will stay overnight in Stockholm at the Skanstills Hostel. This place has private bathrooms but you can save a bit of money if you choose to have shared bathrooms. I've included private bathrooms here.
10th November
I'm a big fan of overnight trains in Europe and the Swedish/Scandinavian ones are my favourite! This is a long journey but the cabins are lovely, you have your own sink and an attendant manages each carriage and you have access to a toilet and shower which are clean and well maintained. Take some nice snacks and some wine and you have a really enjoyable journey which is good value when you consider you also have your nights accommodation and transportation too. I also slept as well on these trains as I do at home which is an experience I've never had on other overnight trains! Keep an eye out for the Northern Lights as you may be lucky!
11th-13th November
Arriving in Abisko you are only a short walk from your accommodation. I've chosen the Abisko Guesthouse as it has favourable reviews and although rooms have shared bathrooms this is unbelievably common in Swedish Lapland and in my experience shared bathrooms were always clean and well maintained and rooms with private bathrooms are considerabley more so save your cash for winter activities instead.
13-15th November
On 13th November you'll catch the train for the short journey to Kiruna. It is just 1 hour 27 minutes. In Kiruna, you will stay at the SpiS Hotels. Again rooms have shared bathrooms but this place has good reviews and you are centrally located.
On 15th November you will fly back from Kiruna to Manchester.
****Breakdown***
9th November book one way flight from Manchester to Stockholm with SAS Airlines direct for 2 £104.08
Book 1 night 9th November at the Skanstulls Hostel book on Expedia £60.24 use code SUMMER2016
Heat added as very well thought out / planned and full details included. The only thing that would worry me is the number of parts of the trip that need to be booked separately - if one of the hotels etc was fully booked then you'd need to find an alternative, probably at a much higher cost.
rachelandgromit to MrSpooniverse
24 Jul 16#3
I normally do it all at the same time, sometimes I have about 10 tabs open at once booking it all together! I've just done my Japan itinerary and I had about 13 tabs open all at once, the hotels are all free cancellation I think, so if you sort these first and then your flights (you can always cancel your hotels and rebook).
custommade07
24 Jul 16#4
Hot hot hot. Abisko has been on my to-do list for years and years. Every year it seems to get more popular so I better act on it. This trip looks fantastic, and the night train looks much better than many other European night trains! Defo gonna be looking into this one!
rachelandgromit to custommade07
24 Jul 16#5
Yes I really do recommend the night trains. The Swedish ones come up with the Venice to Vienna ones as my top rated. You can save money by sharing a cabin bur we paid extra for the two of us. We took some food and a bottle of wine and it was lovely. Wandering up and down the cabin in your pj's and we saw the lights from the chain too. When accommodation is so expensive the trains are actually good value.
Dogeared
24 Jul 16#6
How much extra did you pay to have the cabin to yourselves? Agree, it's a great idea to travel overnight on the train.
rachelandgromit to Dogeared
24 Jul 161#7
It is the same price as the screen shot, works out at £200, that's for a private cabin. It may be cheaper to fly to Kiruna and then add transfers to Abisko but when you allow transport to and from airports and a night accommodation costs and time it's actually more cost effective using the train;
Maxii
18 Dec 16#8
I need help to do something like this. Want to take my 5 kids next Christmas season so best get doing my homework now!!!
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Opening post
9th November
You'll fly from Manchester to Stockholm arriving just after lunch. You will stay overnight in Stockholm at the Skanstills Hostel. This place has private bathrooms but you can save a bit of money if you choose to have shared bathrooms. I've included private bathrooms here.
10th November
I'm a big fan of overnight trains in Europe and the Swedish/Scandinavian ones are my favourite! This is a long journey but the cabins are lovely, you have your own sink and an attendant manages each carriage and you have access to a toilet and shower which are clean and well maintained. Take some nice snacks and some wine and you have a really enjoyable journey which is good value when you consider you also have your nights accommodation and transportation too. I also slept as well on these trains as I do at home which is an experience I've never had on other overnight trains! Keep an eye out for the Northern Lights as you may be lucky!
11th-13th November
Arriving in Abisko you are only a short walk from your accommodation. I've chosen the Abisko Guesthouse as it has favourable reviews and although rooms have shared bathrooms this is unbelievably common in Swedish Lapland and in my experience shared bathrooms were always clean and well maintained and rooms with private bathrooms are considerabley more so save your cash for winter activities instead.
13-15th November
On 13th November you'll catch the train for the short journey to Kiruna. It is just 1 hour 27 minutes. In Kiruna, you will stay at the SpiS Hotels. Again rooms have shared bathrooms but this place has good reviews and you are centrally located.
On 15th November you will fly back from Kiruna to Manchester.
****Breakdown***
9th November book one way flight from Manchester to Stockholm with SAS Airlines direct for 2 £104.08
Book 1 night 9th November at the Skanstulls Hostel book on Expedia £60.24 use code SUMMER2016
Book train to Abisko for 2 adults in a private cabin on 10th November 2271sek/£200 http://www.sj.se/en/home.html
Book 2 nights 11-13 November at Abisko Guesthouse £104.06
Book 2 adults on train from Abisko to Kiruna 118sek/£10.40 book at http://www.sj.se/en/home.html
Book 2 nights 13-15th November at the SpiS hotell £98.22 book at Expedia use code SUMMER2016
Book flight home from Kiruna to Manchester direct with SAS airlines on 15th November £133.09 for 2 adults
Total £710.09/£355.04pp
*Don't forget Nectar points at Expedia*
8 comments