There aren’t many hotels in Abisko — and that’s exactly why we love it!
You’re staying in the middle of a national park under one of the clearest aurora skies on Earth. No city glow, no chaos, just snow, mountains and open sky.

Keep reading to find your perfect Abisko hotel — we promise you an unforgettable Swedish Lapland experience!

And if you’re here for the aurora, you’ll find our best proven tips, the science, season-by-season breakdowns, and photography settings in our full Northern Lights Hub.

We’ve chased the aurora across every corner of the Arctic — Norway, Sweden, Finland, Greenland, Alaska — and Abisko is the one place where we show up relaxed. Clear skies are simply more common here. Locals from Kiruna drive to Abisko when it's cloudy. Photographers love it. And if you’re tired of stressing about forecasts, this is where you go to calm down and actually enjoy the night.

Rovaniemi is lovely.
It’s iconic.
It’s Santa’s “official” hometown.
It’s also… completely flooded from November to early January.

Families, buses, long lines, sold-out activities, €450 reindeer rides, and prices that make reindeer reconsider their life choices.

If you're dreaming of Christmas magic without the stampede, Scandinavia is full of places that feel just as magical — sometimes more.

We’ve spent winters all over the Arctic — Kiruna, Abisko, Luleå, Alta, Tromsø, Svalbard, and Finnish Lapland (outside Rovaniemi) — and there are SO many places where the Christmas vibes are strong, the Northern Lights are bright, and the prices are (slightly) less terrifying.

And if your kids are begging for Santa, we’ve included a bonus a bit further away… but definitely off the beaten path!

Here are the best Rovaniemi alternatives, and what makes each special.

Alta is the kind of Arctic destination that sneaks up on you. One minute you’re staring at a map thinking, Why go that far north?
Then you get here, step into the silence, watch a curtain of green auroras fall over the fjord, and suddenly everything makes sense.

But here’s the thing: Alta in winter is cold. Really cold.
And the magic hits even harder when you can end the night in a steamy sauna, thawing your eyelashes while the snow quietly piles up outside. If you’re brave, you can even go for a dip in the frozen water or roll in the snow. That’s our favorite thing to do, and we can’t imagine a Nordic stay without it!

So we made your life easy — here are the best hotels with sauna in Alta, all perfect bases for northern lights hunters, winter road trippers, and anyone who believes warmth is half the adventure.

Norway is where the Northern Lights feel bigger, sharper, and somehow more alive. Yes, you can see aurora all across Lapland — Sweden, Finland — but, while we love every corner of Sápmi, Norway has something the others don’t: those insane fjords and steep mountains that turn every aurora into a full-blown cinematic event.

When the sky clears (and it does, especially in Alta and Finnmark), the lights don’t just appear overhead — they spill across ridges, dance along black-water fjords, and frame themselves perfectly behind peak after peak. It’s why so many aurora photographers swear by Norway. You don’t just see the lights here. You get foregrounds that make your jaw drop.

We’ve watched the aurora across the whole Arctic — Kiruna, Abisko, Iceland’s coast, Greenland’s wild ice — and nowhere gives you scenery like Norway on a clear night. This guide breaks down exactly where to go, when to go, how the weather works, and how to make the most of the landscape that makes Norway the superstar of aurora chasers.

Alta has this calm magic to it.
No huge cruise ships.
No chaos.
No crowds fighting for a patch of darkness.

Just a dry valley, open sky, and some of the most reliable aurora weather in northern Norway.

We’ve chased the Northern Lights all over the Arctic — Svalbard, Lofoten, Swedish Lapland, Greenland, Finnish Lapland, Iceland, Churchill — but Alta remains where the sky has surprised us the most. Not once. Repeatedly.

This is the full guide to seeing the aurora in Alta: where to go, when to go, how to chase it, and how to give yourself the best possible odds.

If you want the science behind the aurora, photography settings, how colors work, or where else in the world to go, you’ll find everything neatly gathered in our Northern Lights Hub.

Now let’s get you under that green sky.

Kiruna in winter feels like stepping into its own Arctic dimension — blue-hour days that stretch forever, forests that glow with frost, and nights where the sky tears open in green. We’ve returned here many times, and every time it reminds us why Swedish Lapland hits differently: it’s calm, quiet, and somehow deeply personal.

If you’re heading north, here are the winter experiences that make Kiruna unforgettable.

Alta in winter feels like the Arctic at its most honest — long blue hours, slow mornings, and skies that come alive at night.
Alta isn’t just “another Northern Lights town” — we actually compare Alta vs. Tromsø here— It’s calmer, smaller, and beautifully authentic.

You don’t come to Svalbard for fancy hotels — you come for silence, polar light, and the shock of realizing humans aren’t the main characters here.

But when the wind howls outside and you’re sipping hot chocolate under a reindeer pelt? Comfort matters.

Kiruna holds a special place for me (Eli). That’s where my passion for the Arctic was born, back in 2007! As soon as I got off the plane, I knew it was true love at first sight. Maybe it’s the strange mix of mining town grit and Arctic wonder, or the way the Northern Lights appear right above the grocery store. Or the unpretentious authenticity, and the friendly locals.

We’ve been here seven times — long enough to watch part of the town literally move east to escape the expanding iron mine — including the church this past summer (2025). What hasn’t moved is the atmosphere: cozy cafés to warm up while watching the snow fall, locals on snowmobiles or sleds doing their grocery run, and hotels that feel built to survive winter (yes, even made of ice).

Winter in Iceland feels like a different planet. The sun barely rises, the air smells like snow and sulfur, and every drive turns into an Arctic movie scene. It’s quieter, wilder, and often cheaper than summer — fewer crowds, cheaper hotels, and the magic of the Northern Lights dancing above empty landscapes.

If you can handle icy roads and the occasional blizzard, winter rewards you with scenes so surreal they’ll make your camera battery freeze.

The northern lights don’t understand borders (and sometimes, neither do we). From the icy plains of Alaska to the wild Southern Ocean, auroras ripple across both hemispheres in glowing ovals of light.

If you’ve already dreamed your way through Iceland or Norway (see our Europe guide), here’s the global bucket list: the best places in the world to chase the aurora borealis — and even its southern twin, the aurora australis.

If there’s one thing we’ve learned from our Arctic adventures, it’s that human stubbornness knows no latitude. Where most creatures call it quits, slap on some fur, and hibernate, humans build bars, churches, and—of course — saunas. Because what’s a little darkness, ice, and bone-snapping wind when there’s beer to drink, sins to confess, and steam to sweat out?

We’ve been there, frozen that — from sipping local brews in Svalbard to sweating it out in a sauna shaped like a golden egg in Sweden. So here’s our firsthand guide to the northernmost everythings—places so absurdly remote that you’ll question why (and how) they even exist.

Cities can be nice, but as far as we’re concerned, they do not trigger strong emotions like nature does.

Sure, some monuments are real masterpieces, but we don’t think there is anything more powerful and impressive than nature.

If your favorite artist is also Mother Nature, keep reading to discover 5 top destinations all nature addicts should have on their bucket list.

For nature lovers, hiking is often the nicest and most eco-friendly way to discover a country.

From day hikes to more challenging treks, there are suitable options for everyone.

We’ve picked 5 destinations which we consider ideal for hikers of all ages and levels, but there are many others to discover!

Do you need your daily dose of nature in order to be happy? Do you dream of spending all your weekends and holidays in the wilderness? Would you enjoy seeing wild animals wandering in your backyard?

If your answers are yes, you might consider below locations to establish yourself!