Ski Holidays Sweden

An unusual country for the Brits to ski but Sweden has a lot to offer as an alternative winter sports experience. With lower mountains and smaller ski resorts it may not suit the advanced skier but for beginners and intermediates it offers a truly unique experience. This is the land of the big sky and you get a feeling of vast space and open plaines that undulate for as far as the eye can see.

Being much further north than the Alps, temperatures are considerably lower and this facilitates a very long season from November to May. The latitude also means, being winter, that the daylight is restricted appreciably. For this reason the locals will favour skiing in late February, March, April and into May. To counteract this visual restriction floodlight skiing is offered from mid afternoon right into the evening.

Resorts in Sweden are not household names, in fact they are pretty much unheard of to most established skiers. The largest and most famous resort is Are (pronounced Oar-rur), and this valley floor resort has its own railway station in the centre and a quite charming square at the base of the slopes and lifts. Lodging options are smart and modest in a Scandinavian way but I love The Hotel Aregarden in the centre of the resort centre and the unique Copper Hill Mountain situated on the hill at the tree line. Are offers 91km of piste and at the neighbouring resort of Duved, just 4 minutes away by road there is a further 20km of piste. This makes this valley the best in Sweden for skiing. The airport is just 1 hour away by road.

Osterstund is the best airport to access the skiing but Stockholm can also be used for the myriad of micro resorts that surround the capital.

Are, Sweden.