Whether you’re travelling as a couple, a family or a larger group, a classic short break in Sweden makes for a memorable getaway. Across three to four nights, you’ll experience spectacular landscapes, Arctic adventure and plenty of aurora hunting.
You can browse and book one of the tours above. Or go bespoke, adjusting our short breaks to create your ideal trip. Take your pick from awe-inspiring destinations, like Lulea, Kiruna and Abisko — and adapt a tour to suit your budget and interests.
Our short breaks to Sweden are between three nights and four nights long. Most are based across a long weekend, departing on Friday and returning home on Monday or Tuesday.
If you want a longer northern lights holiday in Sweden, take a look at our exclusive aurora holidays and Abisko northern lights holidays.
You can also book northern lights mini breaks in our other Nordic destinations:
The northern lights are visible in Swedish Lapland any time from September to March.
In September and October, the landscape blazes with golden autumn colours. From November to March, this northerly region of Sweden is snowy and cold.
Our winter breaks — including our New Year and February half-term holidays — are popular with travellers keen to see the aurora borealis. That’s because, during long winter nights, you have a much better chance of seeing the northern lights.
If you’re unsure when to book your weekend break in Sweden, just get in touch with the Aurora Nights team. We can recommend the best month to visit.
That all depends on the kind of weekend break you’re looking for.
Sweden offers outdoor adventure, stunning natural landscapes, traditional Sámi culture and — of course — the aurora borealis. We can customise any Swedish short break to include your choice of sights and activities.
Here’s a taste of what you can see and do:
It all depends on the type of accommodation you’re looking for.
You can stay in a traditional Swedish cottage, a log cabin with a hot tub or a glass-roof tipi with panoramic views.
For something truly out of the ordinary, there’s the Aurora Sky Station atop Mount Nuolja, the inimitable Icehotel and the unique treetop rooms at the Treehotel.
There’s a huge and varied selection of accommodation to choose from in Sweden. So we’re confident of finding exactly the right stay for your weekend break.
Yes, you can. On our Sweden city breaks, you’ll use Kiruna and Lulea as a base for exciting Arctic adventures.
The university city of Lulea sits on the north-eastern coast of Sweden, surrounded by lakes and evergreen forests. It forms part of the Lulea archipelago, a collection of over 1,000 islands, which are connected by ice roads in winter.
You can also enjoy a Swedish city break in Kiruna, 200km north of the Arctic Circle. Kiruna is home to Sweden’s tallest mountain and acts as a gateway to Abisko National Park — one of the best places in the world to see the northern lights.
If Stockholm is on your wishlist, talk to us about planning a longer northern lights holiday to Sweden. On a longer trip, there’s time to explore Sweden’s capital city before travelling north in search of the northern lights.
Our Sweden mini breaks include the following as standard:
Please note that flights are not included in our northern lights holiday packages. But if you’d like advice on the best airports and airlines to use when travelling to Swedish Lapland from the UK or US, just let us know. We’ll be happy to help.
During winter, temperatures in Swedish Lapland don’t rise above freezing. So in cities like Kiruna and Lulea — and certainly in the Arctic countryside — people dress for warmth and comfort.
We provide warm Arctic outerwear for the duration of your trip. This includes a snow jacket, thermal overalls, snow boots and Arctic gloves.
We recommend that you bring thermals, lots of layers, a warm hat, gloves and thick socks. You’ll also need to bring a winter coat for travel to and from the airport.
Read more: What to wear on a northern lights trip
When you book a northern lights trip with Aurora Nights, you can count on:
Whether you book a classic short break, an exclusive aurora holiday to Sweden or an Abisko northern lights holiday, it’s sure to be a trip you’ll remember forever.
Choose one of the tours above and make an enquiry. We can then customise your tour to perfectly meet your requirements.
Can’t see a tour you like? Then just get in touch with the Aurora Nights team and we’ll be happy to build your Sweden trip from scratch.
We enjoyed both the hotels that were arranged by weekend a la Carte Aurora nights. The Porsmork trip was very enjoyable, both guides were fantastic and informative.
The Northern Light hunt trip out of Reykjavik with Superjeep was an adventure and we got to see the lights, worth braving the cold at -6.
We had a fantastic 4 nights that included glaciers, waterfalls, geysers, the aurora borealis and more! Lovely hotels, especially Hotel Ranga. We filled every moment and felt thoroughly invigorated on our return.
We had five fantastic days in beautiful Iceland, as we had never been before Aurora Nights helped with everything and made the holiday so easy and stress free. We stayed at Hotel Ranga which was amazing, we very much enjoyed the tours and the guides were brilliant, very knowledgable and friendly. We will certainly be returning to Iceland and wouldn’t hesitate to book through Aurora Nights again, special thanks to Abigail as her experience and reccommendations made the trip even better.
We had the most fabulous time and everything worked like clockwork. The guides were extremely knowledgeable and extremely competent. The food was excellent and the experiences, especially Husky Homes, were brilliant. We saw the aurora lights at the mountain top in Abisko where the photography tour will be an enduring memory of a wonderful time. I would very much recommend Weekend a la Carte as a proficient tour operator.
We did the aurora nights break and had a great time overall. Everything related to flights, hire car, and hotels ran smoothly. There were a few issues largely relating to the weather and driving conditions (we travelled in mid March), but what we did manage to do was amazing.
The blue lagoon was easy to access from the airport and was a brilliant experience. We booked the standard package and it came with a free drink and face mask. Facilities were clean and organised with free toiletries in the shower rooms, which helps if you’ve gone there straight from the airport.
The drive to Hotel Ranga afterwards was long but fine (check out the road on google streetview to know what to expect). The hotel and staff were great. We were limited to one option as vegetarians on the bar and a la carte menus, but the food was lovely and if you are a meat eater you will see options of unusual dishes like puffin and reindeer.
Our northern lights super jeep trip was cancelled on both nights due to a poor forecast, but we were lucky enough to get an aurora wake up call from Hotel Ranga the first night. We couldn’t use the hottubs as there are only a few and they were always taken in the limited time we spent at the hotel, so don’t go expecting to get lots of time in one and you won’t be disappointed. View them as an add on if you can time it right. We were travelling with an 11 year old, so we didn’t stay up really late. If you are a couple you probably have a better chance of getting one later on.
The glacier/volcano super jeep trip was outstanding. Our driver, Íbí was excellent. She went above and beyond and gave us such an awesome experience. We were also super lucky with the weather the first two days and had great views across Iceland.
The ice cave tour was also incredible and the guides running it were excellent. The group size was much bigger than expected (especially after the more exclusive volcano super jeep tour), but it was broken down into smaller groups that were managed well, with plenty of time factored in for photographs. There were several unexplained delays getting to the cave during the tour that meant we weren’t able to ‘mini tour’ the rest of the South Coast afterwards, so if you plan to do the ice cave don’t overplan for the afternoon as you may not have much time. Not a huge disappointment for us as we got to experience the cave, but I imagine someone who planned a full itinerary afterwards might be frustrated by the estamiated timings not always being right and subject to change with the weather (which was wicked that day).
Driving around Reykjavik was a horrible experience as we arrived around rush hour and weren’t prepared for all the traffic, having only experienced quiet roads along the south coast. It was difficult finding a parking space, so be prepared to drive around a little when you arrive. If you haven’t driven on the right before and are not a confident driver this could leave you feeling stressed. Again, check out the roads into Reykjavik on Google maps to get a sense of what awaits if you aren’t used to self-driving.
We didn’t get to tour the golden circle because of road conditions/ice/road closures, so we spent the day in Reykjavik instead. This turned out okay for us as we did some of the attractions (Lava Centre and Fly Over Iceland – both hughly recommended), but it ended up being an extra expense and we missed out on the golden attractions. Again, not a big issue if you are aware this could happen. The weather is so changeable that having a plan B is a good approach.
Weekend a la Carte sent us a text warning us about the bad weather conditions, which we’d already seen on the Safe Iceland app, but we were grateful for anyway. It was good to know they were looking out for us!
All in all, a remarkable trip, with some unique experiences. If you book this in the knowledge that nature will have her own way, and you may not see everything you want (especially in winter), you will have a great time. Ranga is definitely the best place to maximise your chances of seeing the lights.
Overall very good. Staff excellent and helpful. Accomodation basic but was what we expected. Tour guides very good (nature walks, snow mobiles, dog sleighs). Sky station disappointing as we never got to go up due to the weather and this seem to be a recurring feature.The alternative walk at night and meal was a let down as a result.Overall would recommend to others.
Thank you for arranging a fabulous holiday, we had a really enjoyable time and would love to return in the future. Hotel Ranga is a lovely place to stay and the owner greeted guests in the restaurant, which was an unexpected welcoming touch. We didn’t see the Northern Lights due to the weather and the trip to the Eyjafjallajokull glacier and volcano was substituted by an excursion to Thorsmork, also due to the weather, which we thoroughly enjoyed; the brochure description doesn’t do it justice. We found Iceland and the people there really charismatic. Although the wind and snow cut short the amount of travelling we could do, we still covered a reasonable amount of what we wanted to see and our appetites are whetted for a return, perhaps in Spring or Summer. We found a couple of great places to eat near the Hotel in Reykjavik. Messin does tasty fish dishes and the Icelandic Street Food restaurant was excellent, offering simple but hearty soups with refills included in the price – great value.
My daughter and I had an amazing time on our trip, we didn’t want it to end! Everything went according to plan, each excursion was well organized and everyone involved with each activity, as well as everyone at the lodge was kind, friendly, positive and happy, which makes such a difference to your whole experience. The food at The Abisko Mountain Lodge was also incredibly good. Our room was large, comfortable and well-furnished. The bathroom too was also spacious and well-equipped. The outdoor clothing provided was of very good quality which kept us warm, and the staff members are happy to change items if they are not quite the right size for you. This is my second trip with Weekend a la carte and I’m sure there will be more as I have complete trust in them. I highly recommend Aurora Nights, it was fabulous.
Book with Aurora Nights, the Northern Lights holiday experts. We will personally plan your bucket-list Northern Lights adventure holiday to Swedish Lapland, Iceland, Norway and Finland.
