The Northern Lights and well beyond: Discover Arctic Sweden’s magical family activities

Arctic Sweden family holidays far north in Lapland offer adventure and excitement aplenty, as well as the chance to spot the Northern Lights, as Harriet Mallinson found out.

Kids can learn about empathy from reindeers in Arctic Sweden

Get up close to reindeers and their herders in Arctic Sweden

Santa Claus might be overdoing it with his squad of nine reindeer, it turns out.

Just one of the horned animals is strong enough to pull a family sled. And I’m sure our gang, post a three-course Christmas feast, weighs more than a pile of wrapped LEGO and Jellycats. ‘Frozen’ sidekick, Sven the reindeer, though? Actually quite life-like…

I get this all from the reindeer’s mouth. Kind of. A Swedish Sami reindeer herder has just informed us that he really does chat away and give them voices, just like his counterpart Kristoff in the hit Disney film. I stare into the large brown eyes of one quadruped as its owner tells us about his herd: how they’re the best animals on the planet to adapt to a cold climate, how much they poo (a lot) and that children can learn a surprising amount of empathy from them.

So far, so Lapland, but in this northern corner of Arctic Sweden – coastal Luleå to be precise – there’s far more than just festive lore to discover when you’ve got the kids in tow, especially when travelling with a northern lights holiday specialist like The Aurora Zone.

READ MORE: Best places in Europe to see Northern Lights with kids this year

Huskies dashing through snow in Arctic Sweden

Seek out local wildlife (but maybe not so close to the bears)

Wildlife meets extend to huskies as well, and we’re lucky enough to visit when a litter of only-just-opening-their-eyes puppies are ready to be cuddled and cooed over. Although normally you’ll find the adults dashing through snow before a sled, giving the reindeer a run for their money. Top tip: pop on a snood to cover your nose, the toilet-on-the-go hounds can be alarmingly smelly.

There are also bears – hopefully only from a distance – and moose, both of which can be spotted with ease and safety on a guided safari (check out activity operator Hide & See which also does hiking tours, if you’re raising young trekkers).

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Ice-fishing can be fun and rewarding – as long as you have patience

Give ice fishing a go on the frozen lakes of Arctic Sweden

There’s fish aplenty, too: Arctic char, bass, perch and pike, which miraculously survive under the meter-thick ice over the winter and can be yours for the taking on an ice fishing excursion.

However, you’ll need patience. It takes several rounds of wrestling with a hand drill to burrow down into the white stuff, before plopping in my maggot-tipped line then staring into the hole for face-freezing aeons waiting for a fish to show any interest.

When we do finally catch one, our guide-turned-chef deftly prepares it, right there and then on the icy lake, in a smoking tin. A disembowelled sack of fish eggs provokes a chorus of squeamish shrieks; even more so when I brave tasting some of the oozing white dots. Disappointingly (and to my secret relief) they taste of very little. Thankfully the salty, juniper-infused perch is lip-smackingly tender and eagerly guzzled by our hungry troupe.

Learning the ways of the wild, Arctic Sweden

Learn all about wilderness skills in the real wild

To learn the art of fire-starting ourselves, we join a wilderness skills outing, strapping on snowshoes and ploughing into the pine forest under a bright blue sky. Our London lungs heave gratefully in the hyper-pure air as we navigate past blueberries, wild rosemary and moss-adorned boulders, rising up through the snow like muffins in a baking tray.

The trees here may well end up as timber for Sweden’s famed furniture production, but we get a head start on ready-to-go birch as we’re taught to split logs with a knife, assemble them like Jenga and spark the bark alight.

On pops a little kettle and within no time we’re wholesomely sipping on hot lingonberry juice and curiously nibbling on bits of spruce – one way to dispose of your Christmas tree. It’s not the only nod towards the circle of life: I spy a blue IKEA bag poking out from the freeze as we head back. Is this…rewilding?

READ MORE: Fun and fairy tale moments from our family kayaking trip in Sweden

The Northern Lights are fickle even in Lapland

Maybe, just maybe, you’ll see the Aurora Borealis

Let’s not beat around the snow-encrusted bush, though. If you’re visiting Arctic Sweden in early spring or late autumn, it’s not just fish and sparks you’re hoping to catch – it’s the northern lights.

They’re famously fickle, but if you spot them on your family holiday, you’ll feel like you’ve won the lottery and been sprinkled with fairy dust all in one go.

Not to sound like I’ve been smugly plucked off a Scandi postcard, but I’m zipping across a frozen lake on a snowmobile on-route to my hotel when the Aurora first illuminates the skies on my penultimate night. I’m practically hopping with excitement as I drink in the celestial showstopper, and I’m inebriated by the end of the night.

It’s like an invisible artist has swooshed a green highlighter right across the inky black heavens. They’re faint at first – like nervous children performing their first play – before they gain confidence and swell, shimmer and slither above us, like luminous glowing piano keys pressed by the Almighty. They dance, they prance, like giddy reindeer racing across the dark; the contrails from Santa‘s sleigh daubing a swoop of lurid colour before dissolving before our eyes. “It’s crazy, I still get butterflies,” the hotel receptionist says.

READ MORE: The best destinations for holidays with children of every age, and stage

Swedish Lapland iconic Treehouse Hotel has a Mirrorcube room

Arctic Sweden gives you a pick of unique places to stay

Meanwhile, if it’s celebrity magic that does it for you, stars have flocked to this region in the sled-load. Lily Collins, Justin Bieber, Kate Moss and Richard Curtis are just a few of the big names who have stayed in Swedish Lapland’s iconic Treehouse Hotel, for instance.

Here rooms are suspended 4-10m above the ground between the treetops. There’s the Bird’s Nest which…looks like one; a UFO – ditto; and the much-photographed Mirrorcube, which almost doesn’t look like one, its reflectiveness is so cleverly camouflaged.

Over in the luxury hotel, Arctic Retreat, staff tell me that Daniel Radcliffe (“terrific fellow) and Vicky Mclure (“she was lovely”) are among the celebs who have kipped in the three traditional log cabins that make up the exclusive property. You feel well and truly away from it all here on this forested Lapland peninsula – thundering rapids the nighttime soundtrack – making it perfect for stargazing (of the celestial variety).

“We sell sizzle not sausage,” shares Graeme, the retreat’s owner, around the campfire as the Northern Lights undulate above us – although the team can’t always guarantee a light display, even in Lapland.

“You’re very lucky,” he adds, nodding at the green hues swimming in the skies over our heads. Santa may not make it down my chimney this Christmas (shh, don’t tell the little ones) but I’ve already had my gift.

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