One of our personal favourites and a holiday that sells out every year. This 4-night New Year break is perfect if you are looking for a high-impact new year experience in a region famous for seeing the Northern Lights.
Back to Exclusive Northern Lights holidays in Sweden
Traditional Lapland New Year & Magical Aurora Chase
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!
Location
Sweden
Duration
4 Nights
Available dates
Dec - Jan
Price per person (excl. flights)
from £2,000
Overview
Highlights
- Fabulous ‘ Home away from Home’ 7 Bed Lodge in excellent Northern Lights location
- Drive your own Sled Dog Team in pristine river valley setting
- Sami Introduction day with reindeer sledges and 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
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
A note on flights
While flights are not included in the holiday price, our team will happily provide a quote and arrange them for you. Simply ask one of our Travel Experts for details of the available options.
Day by Day Itinerary
Day 1
Fly to Kiruna. Transfer to Exclusive Máttaráhkká Northern Lights Lodge. Welcome Dinner
On arrival, you will be met and transferred to the exclusive 7 room Máttaráhkká Northern Lights Lodge run by Andreas Mikko. There, 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.
Day 2
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 female 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 almost promise that you will enjoy the arctic nature peacefully.
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 a time.
This evening, enjoy a leisurely dinner or alternatively choose the private Hot tub and Sauna evening at the lodge. This special addition includes an hour private use of the rooftop aurora hot tub.
Day 3
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. 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 below the magical Northern Lights.
Day 4
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 the 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 programmes and is still the best.
Return to the lodge to relax.
Day 5
Your 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.
Where You'll Stay
Máttaráhkká Northern Lights Lodge
We are proud to offer this small intimate lodge, run by one of our long standing partners, Andreas Mikko.
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.
Enquire Now
Please fill out the enquiry form below to receive a quote for this package.
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Reviews
See what our clients say
A well organised trip which was tailored to our specific requests. The arrangements all ran perfectly and any queries prior to the holiday were handled very quickly and professionally. The standard of accommodation and organised tours was very high. I would use this company again and recommend them.
Iain Baxter
This vacation has without without doubt, has been the best experience we have ever had. The organisation from the minute we landed in Kiruna until we departed at the close of our trip was second to none. The transition between hotels was always seamless and punctual. Everywhere we stayed was beautifully clean and the meals were top quality. Every driver was polite, entertaining and very knowledgeable, furnishing us with invaluable information about Sweden and the activities in which we were to participate. The snowmobiling was wonderful giving access via our guide, to stunning panoramic views of the mountain whilst viewing reindeer in their natural habitat.
Our guide demonstrated how to use the snowmobile safely he was pleasant and informative. When visiting the reindeer on the Sami reservation; we found the brother and sister team who hosted lovely. Again they were so hospitable and helpful and feeding the reindeer up close was a wonderful experience.
They provided additional activities for us to try and we were treated to a traditional Sami lunch in their hut. They provided us with invaluable information appertaining to their culture and caring for their reindeer. The reindeer were in superb condition and happy in their environment. Similarly, when out with the dog sleds the experience was magical. Two hours of beautiful scenery, and frozen lakes, finishing with a one-on-one experience massaging the dogs. Magic! We were so impressed with the care that was placed upon ensuring the dogs were comfortable, well-nourished and so loved by their owners/handlers.
Now to the photographic experience. A large group of us were treated to a demonstration of how to operate some serious camera equipment with tripod. Each of us was loaned the camera and given assistance setting up the camera on a frozen lake in preparation for the appearance of the Northern Lights. We were taken to this lake on large wooden sleighs pulled by a snowmobile. We cannot speak too highly of the two young men who accompanied us on this experience. They could not do enough for us. They were there to offer assistance with our cameras throughout the two-plus hours we were on this beautiful lake.
They advised where to position the camera and when the Lights appeared, what a performance. We had a two-hour display of this most breathtaking phenomenon. We were so fortunate to be able to experience this once-in-a-lifetime occurrence for which we are so grateful. We will never forget this memorable holiday and cannot thank you and everyone who assisted in making a lifetime dream come true. Karen & Andrew Adamson
Andy Adamson
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.
John Kirby
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.
David Rogers
Hotel Ranga was perfect, with amazing food. It is in the middle of nowhere, very quiet and with the weather being bad there wasn’t the possibility of leaving the hotel in the evening so mightn’t suit all for that reason. Super Jeep tour we thoroughly enjoyed with 2 lovely guides.
Hotel Borg was in the perfect location. For us, one night in Reykjavik would be ample.
Blue Lagoon was a wonderful experience only heightened by the appearance of the northern lights on our walk home from dinner. All in all we had the best holiday and we plan to return to Iceland hopefully sooner rather than later.
Lisa McAleer
A fantastic short break which fulfilled all expectations. Well organised with a polished delivery, we could not have asked for more. The accommodation was perfect for us and the guides knowledgeable and helpful. Every day was packed with adventure, each lasting longer than scheduled but we were never rushed; the guides took pride in showing and explaining their beautiful country. We would certainly use Weekend a la carte again and recommend them to others.
Carol Mumford
Brilliant short break. Hotel Ranga was lovely, excellent food. Managed to see the Northern Lights as well! Iceland on the whole was quite expensive but a lovely place to visit, the people were very friendly.
Linda Palmer
Dear Abigail, We have safely returned from Iceland and we wanted to say a huge and sincere thank you for all the plans that you put into place to make this one of the most memorable holidays we have ever had. It was simply beautiful each and every day. The cabin was idyllic and so cosy and warm. The tour guides were so knowledgeable and friendly and the scenery was breathtaking. All the arrangements worked so well and we will remember the trip for a long time to come.
Thank you once again.
Gillian Griffiths