Traveling To Lapland During The Pandemic

Midnight sun as seen from Abisko National Park

Last week, Mike and I took the night train from Stockholm to Abisko Turist Station leaving Stockholm Central around 6pm and arriving in Abisko at 11am the following day. We had previously taken a night train from Beijing to Xian a few years ago during our trip to China and we had a lot of fun so we were really looking forward to this trip.

YouTube 📺

Night Train to Abisko

Strangely, the route is operated by the Norwegian company VY. We paid about 5300 SEK on this return trip (for one adult and one pensioner) having 3 beds available for us. There are two other choices: a seat can cost 890 SEK one way which is the cheapest while there is also a sharing for 6 passengers in a couchette compartment where you have to make your own bed and includes blanket, pillowcase and sheet for about 1024 SEK one way.

Corridor

There is a maximum of 39 passengers in this carriage with 2 toilets and a shower room.

Our sleeping car compartment, 2nd class 👍

We did not use the middle bed since we were only two. I had to say the bed was really comfortable.

Pillow and towels

The thing we appreciated most aside from the comfortable beds was having our own sink. Three bottles of water were also offered as well as three hand towels.

Above the hand sink is a small cabinet with 4 paper cups.

Coat hangers

Table

Power outlet, light control as well as earphone socket. There is also a safety belt so I did not have to worry falling from the top 😉

VY magazine

There was some sort of kiosk on the train where you can order a hot meal for dinner and some sandwiches for breakfast.

The "Reindeer stew with chanterelles, mashed potatoes and lingonberries" was delicious 😋

Toilet

Shower

A stop in Kiruna Station. Kiruna is famous for its vast iron ore mine. Kiruna is actually relocating it´s city center by 1.8 miles to the east to avoid a sinkhole and risk of collapse.

The iron ore line operates from Kiruna to Narvik in Norway for its European customers while the one from Kiruna to Luleå caters to the Baltics.

STF Abisko Turiststation Accommodation

During our stay last week, the hotel has yet to re-open for the season so we stayed in one of their lovely cabins instead.

Abisko Turiststation exterior

Entrance

Lobby seating area. Opposite the lobby is the reception.

One of several seating areas

Activity board

Fjällboden is the hotels souvenir shop which also sells food and clothes and where you can rent equipment. There is also a sauna for guests.

There is wifi in the reception as well as in the Youth Hostel Keron. Even though our cabin was located a bit far from the hostel, I was still able to connect using my laptop 👍

Outdoor seating

Hotel Rooms

Typical hotel room

Cabin

Each cabin is about 60 sq meters in size and can accommodate a maximum of 6 guests.

Cabin 205

Cabins 205 (left) and 206 (right)

Porch

Living room

Dining room

A fully equipped kitchen

Oven

Bathroom

Shower

Cabinet with cleaning materials

Mirror beside the bathroom

Map of King´s Trail beside the stairs

On the upper floor, you´d find two bedrooms.

The main bedroom

From the bedroom (and the living room below), we had fantastic view of Lake Torneträsk 👍

The other room has bunk beds good for 4 guests and has view of the main street.

Abisko National Park

Having arrived 10 days before the hotel officially opened its doors to tourists, we were not able to take the chair lift to the Aurora Sky Station. Otherwise, we were pretty much happy with what we were able to see during our 3 night stay in the Abisko National Park. Below are some photos from our stay.

Aurora Sky Station

A distant view of the famous Lapporten

Of course, the midnight sun is not to be missed when visiting Lapland during summer as the sun (almost) never goes down as contrary to what happens during winter where it´s (almost) always dark and you get the chance to witness the Northern Lights or Aurora Borealis the way we did during our trip to Iceland a few years ago.

Lake Torneträsk

Canyon

Abisko National Park

Border Defence Museum (closed during our visit)

In this mountain hut (the annex), the first woman to win the Nobel Prize in Literature, Selma Lagerlöf stayed overnight to gather facts for her celebrated book, "The Wonderful Adventures of Nils".