Our clients come from all over the world
Traditional Lapland New Year & Magical Aurora Chase
Break Available:
Price Per Person: £1850
One of our personal favourites and a break that sells out every year. This break is perfect if you are looking for a high-impact new year experience in a region famed for northern lights.
Máttaráhkká Northern Lights Lodge combines a desire to make sure you get to see the northern lights with traditional Sami Heritage. These fuse together to create a special energy and as the lodge only has 7 rooms this break offers a real ‘home away from home’ experience.
We have included a range of the best Arctic experiences with guides we have worked with for well over a decade. This is bound to be a New Year break you will remember for a very long time!
Highlights
- Fabulous ‘ Home away from Home’ 7 Bed Lodge in excellent aurora location
- Drive your own Sled Dog Team in pristine river valley setting
- Sami Introduction day with reindeer sledges & lunch cooked on an open fire in a Tepee
- Wilderness Snowmobile Adventure on private trails with views of Sweden’s tallest mountain
- Northern lights Snowmobile safari to search for the northern lights and toast in the new year
- Visit the original ICEHOTEL
Day 1 - 29 December 2023
Fly to Kiruna. Transfer to Exclusive Máttaráhkká Northern Lights Lodge. Welcome Dinner
Day 1 - 29 December 2023
Fly to Kiruna. Transfer to Exclusive Máttaráhkká Northern Lights Lodge. Welcome Dinner
On arrival, you will be met by and transferred to the exclusive 7 room Máttaráhkká Northern Lights Lodge run by Andreas Mikko where you will have a briefing on your New Year Northern Lights holiday and be kitted out with your arctic clothing.
Settle in and after dinner relax by the fire in the lodge and enjoy a drink from the bar.
Meals included: Dinner
Day 2 - 30 December 2023
Husky Safari with Ylva Forssén.
Day 2 - 30 December 2023
Husky Safari with Ylva Forssén.
Enjoy a full hot and cold buffet breakfast in the hotel / lodge prior to collection for your day time Husky Safari.
Ylva Forssén is one of a select group of accomplished ‘lady’ husky guides, who runs a lovely kennel in one of our favourite valleys near Kiruna. She has a very unique relationship with her dogs and it is always a privilege to spend time with her.
Your journey from the lodge to the kennel follows a scenic road that leads to Kebnekaise, Sweden’s highest mountain. During the car ride there are great opportunities to see moose, as this is their wintering ground. Once you arrive at the kennels get acquainted with the dogs and receive detailed instructions about how to drive a team. Harness the dogs and feel their excitement as you attach the sled. Head out into the frozen river valley where you will have opportunities to take turns in driving the team whilst making stops to take photos. The location is outside the major tourist areas and we can promise that you will enjoy pristine arctic nature alone.
You will be out for around 2 hours before heading back to base for a warming lunch in the family home.
Over the years we have had many requests for guests to stay longer at the Kennels, interact with the dogs and do another trip out into the magnificent countryside. If you would like to make a day of it please see the option of extending below.
To make it more exclusive we only take a maximum of 8 guests at the time.
This evening enjoy a leisurely dinner or alternatively chose the private Hot tub and Sauna evening at the lodge. This special addition includes an hour private use of the rooftop Aurora hot tub.
Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner
A la Carte Optional Extras
- Dinner, Hot Tub and Northern Lights
- Extend Your Husky Sledding Experience
A la Carte Optional Extras
Dinner, Hot Tub and Northern Lights
A wonderfully relaxing evening hopefully seeing the Northern Lights at Mattarahkka Sami Lodge. After an excellent 3-course Lappish dinner spend time in the roof-top hot tub from where you can relax and enjoy the star filled night sky and with a little luck even see the Northern Lights dancing above you. Although the temperature outside is below zero, you will be really warm in the hot tub. If the 35-40 degree Celsius water isn´t enough enjoy a warm sauna in the special relaxation zone.
You get a 1 hour private use of the hot tub.
Price per person: £95 includes: sauna, hot tub , towel, robe and slippers
Extend Your Husky Sledding Experience
Many of our clients return from their holiday and feedback to us that they would like to have spent more time with Ylva and her dogs. So we have arranged for you to have this opportunity.
After your morning tour and lunch in the family home embark upon an afternoon husky sled adventure in this magical part of Swedish Lapland. This will also allow you to get to know the dogs better and build a rapport with these incredible animals. You will also be able to witness at closer quarters the special relationship Ylva has with the dogs. If you have been to a husky kennel before you will know just how calm and unique Husky Home is!
This certainly make the most of this day of your holiday and will leave you with a host of memories.
Cost £ 120 per person
Includes: Your own sled dog team for 2 people. Return transfer to your lodge /hotel
Day 3 - 31 December 2023
Snowmobiling wilderness Trails. Visit the Original ICEHOTEL. Dinner and Snowmobile Aurora Chase
Day 3 - 31 December 2023
Snowmobiling wilderness Trails. Visit the Original ICEHOTEL. Dinner and Snowmobile Aurora Chase
After breakfast Mikko, your snowmobile guide, will meet and transfer you to Máttárahkká Northern Lights Lodge for your adventure along one of his private snowmobile trails. The beauty of being based at Máttárahkká is that you can snowmobile straight from the front door!
Explore forests and frozen lakes where the chances of seeing reindeer and moose in their natural habitat are good. Continue your excursion up to Mount Eatnamvárri a real vantage point from where you have spectacular views in front of you. Miles and miles of untouched wilderness stretch out before you on one side of the mountain and on the other side, Kiruna nestles between the Loussavaara and Kirunavaara mountains.
New Year Dinner
Enjoy a traditional 3 course dinner prepared with the finest local ingredients
Northern Lights Chase on snowmobiles
After Dinner Mikko or one of his guides will take you out by snowmobile through the dark arctic night to a place where there is zero light pollution. You will be surrounded by mountains that are rising like mysterious shadows towards the night sky and drive the snowmobile through the snow-covered landscape with the stars above you. We will make several stops along the way, drink hot beverages and wait for the Northern Lights to show up and dance for us in the night sky. At the top of Mt.Ednavaara you have a 360-degree view over the mountain ranges around you. Toast the New Year in the arctic wilderness and hopefully below the magical northern lights.
Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner
Day 4 - 01 January 2024
Sami Introduction day with Nils Håkan Enoksson. Visit the Original ICEHOTEL
Day 4 - 01 January 2024
Sami Introduction day with Nils Håkan Enoksson. Visit the Original ICEHOTEL
After breakfast at the lodge transfer to the Sámi village of Rávttas, 20 minutes west of the lodge to meet with Nils Håkan Enoksson. Nils Håkan can trace back his family roots several hundred years and has interesting insights into how life has changed in this period.
This experience will give you a glimpse of the traditional lifestyle of the Sámi people and affords the opportunity to get up close with Lapland’s most iconic creature – the reindeer.
During the visit you will have an opportunity to feed the reindeer and absorb the magical relationship between the Sámi and their most prized resource. Your visit includes a ride on a traditional ‘Reindeer powered sled’, the means by which the Sami people traversed the arctic for centuries.
To end the encounter Hakan will invite you into his traditional Sámi lavvu (teepee) where you will be served a traditional meal around an open fire.
Visit Original ICEHOTEL
This afternoon visit the original ICEHOTEL as well as the revolutionary ICEHOTEL 365. Admire the spectacular individual Art Suites designed by leading artists from around the world, take a cocktail in the unique ice glasses at the sculptured Ice Bar and peep into the Ice Chapel to see if a wedding ceremony is taking place! This is the original IceHotel featured in many television programs and is still the best!
Return to the lodge to relax.
Meals included: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner
Day 5 - 02 January 2024
Leisurely start and Flight Home
Day 5 - 02 January 2024
Leisurely start and Flight Home
After the New Year celebrations enjoy a leisurely start to the day and breakfast before a late morning transfer to the airport for your flight home.
Meals Included: Breakfast
Where You'll Stay
Máttaráhkká Northern Lights Lodge
Máttaráhkká Northern Lights Lodge
We are proud to offer this small intimate lodge, run by one of our long standing partners, Andreas Mikko, for exclusive use by our clients.
This 7 room intimate lodge is situated in a super location on a slight elevation with magnificent views across the arctic tundra to the Abisko alps. The emphasis at the lodge is on two elements, Sami culture and ensuring you have the best chance of seeing the northern lights.
This small intimate lodge used to be a Sami handicraft centre until the owners had the idea to turn it into an exclusive retreat. With only 7 bedrooms and an open plan lounge and dining room, the emphasis is on relaxing in a cosy environment. The rooms have a downstairs en-suite room with a staircase leading to a loft sitting room.
If you are a group of 8 or more friends or family traveling together and wish to have the lodge privately please let us know. This is a great way of celebrating a big birthday or wedding anniversary
The lodge has a fabulous sauna and a very unusual northern lights hot tub on the roof where you can star gaze or hunt for the Aurora. (This carries an extra charge).
Other benefits of a stay here mean that you can snowmobile straight from your doorstep into the Arctic wilderness.
Evenings are focused on good food, relaxation and the Northern Lights so if you are looking for a 'home away from home' experience then look no further.
Dinner, Hot Tub and Northern Lights
A wonderfully relaxing evening hopefully seeing the Northern Lights at Mattarahkka Sami Lodge. After an excellent 3-course Lappish dinner spend time in the roof-top hot tub from where you can relax and enjoy the star filled night sky and with a little luck even see the Northern Lights dancing above you. Although the temperature outside is below zero, you will be really warm in the hot tub. If the 35-40 degree Celsius water isn´t enough enjoy a warm sauna in the special relaxation zone.
You get a 1 hour private use of the hot tub.
Price per person: £95 includes: sauna, hot tub , towel, robe and slippers
Extend Your Husky Sledding Experience
Many of our clients return from their holiday and feedback to us that they would like to have spent more time with Ylva and her dogs. So we have arranged for you to have this opportunity.
After your morning tour and lunch in the family home embark upon an afternoon husky sled adventure in this magical part of Swedish Lapland. This will also allow you to get to know the dogs better and build a rapport with these incredible animals. You will also be able to witness at closer quarters the special relationship Ylva has with the dogs. If you have been to a husky kennel before you will know just how calm and unique Husky Home is!
This certainly make the most of this day of your holiday and will leave you with a host of memories.
Cost £ 120 per person
Includes: Your own sled dog team for 2 people. Return transfer to your lodge /hotel
Testimonials
What's Included?
- 4 nights Accommodation with breakfast
- Snowmobile Day Adventure in pristine wilderness with great views
- Drive Your Own Sled Dog Team in secluded River valley with wild moose in residence
- Sami Introduction day with Reindeer sled ride and lunch in tepee
- Northern Lights snowmobile Hunt to Guide’s vantage points
- Visit Original IceHotel and new IceHotel 365
- Meals as indicated
- Transfers
- Arctic Clothing Loan