Sweden is the largest country in Scandinavia and spans different climates. The country has beautiful nature, fascinating landscapes and adventurous wildernesses. In addition to the many lakes and large forests, Sweden also has cities with a lot of history and culture, such as Stockholm and Gothenburg. Swedish Lapland, in the far north of Sweden, is mainly characterized by the cold, snowy mountains and beautiful nature.
We visited Swedish Lapland in November, and traveled to Lulea, Kiruna and Harads in 9 days.
In this blog we have made an overview of the costs we incurred during our tour of Swedish Lapland. Keep in mind that these prices may not be the same anymore at this moment. This overview is therefore mainly an indication of what a round trip through Swedish Lapland could cost. We have divided the costs into the following cost items; transport, overnight stays, sights, food and drinks, and other costs.
In Sweden, payments are made in Swedish Krona, abbreviated as SEK. In this article, all prices are in euros. We did not use Swedish Krona, but paid for everything with credit and debit cards.
Transport - airline tickets
We went to Swedish Lapland in the low season, so there were no direct flights available from the Netherlands. Therefore, we opted for flights with Lufthansa from Amsterdam to Lulea, with stops in Frankfurt and Stockholm. We paid in total €1.250 for these flights. We chose to fly business class because it is especially nice in this COVID-19 period to be able to keep more distance from other passengers. It is certainly possible to fly to Swedish Lapland for a lower budget.
We have also compensated our CO2 at Lufthansa for both the outward and return journey. For this, Lufthansa works together with Compensaid, and they ensure that your entire CO2 emissions are offset. For our flights, 5.86 trees have been planted, which offsets 977KG of CO2 emissions. The costs for this CO2 compensation were €20.
Transport - rental car
We chose to rent a car, because we were planning to travel many (long) distances. Also, we already booked the car with Hertz in advance. We went for a luxurious Volvo V40. If you are planning to visit Swedish Lapland, we definitely recommend renting a car. That way you can best discover the surroundings and beautiful nature. We paid €325 for the rental of the Volvo V40 for nine days.
Transport - other rental car costs
Our last cost item for transport is the other costs of the rental car. We have driven in total approximately 1,500 km with the rental car. This of course means that refueling is required. For this we have paid a total of €138 . In addition, we had to pay for parking in Lulea. Fortunately, parking was free at all the other places we visited. In total we have paid €23for parking.
Accommodation
We stayed in Swedish Lapland for eight nights, in three different hotels. First we stayed one night at the Elite Stadshotellet in Lulea. Later in our trip we stayed at this hotel for another two nights. A four-star hotel right in the center of Lulea. We stayed in a standard double room and the overnight stay included a good breakfast. In total we paid for these three nights €375.
We then stayed in Kiruna for four nights. Here we chose Camp Ripan as our hotel. This is a four-star hotel located on the outskirts of Kiruna. In this hotel you stay in your own chalet with its own entrance. This overnight stay also included an extensive breakfast. Camp Ripan has a very good restaurant and the Aurora spa, which has been voted the Best Unique Experience Spa in Europe. For these four nights we paid €650.
The last hotel where we stayed in Swedish Lapland was the Treehotel in Harads. The prices for this hotel are a lot higher than the prices above, but in our experience it is well worth it. For one night in The Blue Cone, a tree house of the Treehotel, you pay €780.. Curious about our experiences in the Treehotel? Here you can read everything about this special overnight stay in Swedish Lapland.
Sights
The next cost item that we discuss are the sights we have visited. In both Kiruna and Lulea we visited the cities almost for free. By this we mean; the cities are beautiful to drive or walk through and that immediately feels like visiting an attraction. We also drove the route between Kiruna and Riksgränsen; one of the most beautiful routes in Sweden. Of course we also visited a number of sights that were not free of charge.
As we described above, Camp Ripan has a very special spa; the Aurora Spa. We have spent one evening there and paid €60 including two drinks. We also visited the Icehotel in Jukkasjärvi. This is the one and only real Icehotel in the world. The hotel is completely made of ice, including the beds, the bar and the glasses. To enter the Icehotel you have to buy a ticket. This ticket gives you access to all rooms, the bar and the exhibition about the origins of the Icehotel. We have paid in total €60 for these tickets.
In Kiruna we visited Husky Dreams; a small farm in Krokvik, just outside Kiruna, with no fewer than 29 huskies. After an extensive explanation and meeting with the huskies, we left for a training with the huskies. We ended the day with a traditional Fika with Per and Jenni, the owners of Husky Dreams. For this we paid in total €150.
Food and drinks
The last cost item is food and drinks. Breakfast was included in all our hotels, so we did not incur any extra costs here. The costs vary per day for lunch and dinner. We stayed in Swedish Lapland for a total of nine days, of which we spend the first and last day mainly in airplanes. We received several meals during our flights, which meant that we did not actually incur any costs for food and drinks on these two days.
In terms of lunch, we grabbed a sandwich several times at a gas station or local supermarket. We also had an extensive lunch at the Icehotel the day we visited it. Here we got a three-course lunch including drinks. Our costs for dinner were also quite variable; once we ate at a local pizzeria, twice we ate in a local café and further we often ate in luxury restaurants. The most extensive dinner was in the Treehotel. In between we often had a cup of coffee or hot chocolate. In total on these nine days we spent €790 for food and drinks.
We found the prices for food comparable to the prices in the Netherlands. However, the prices for alcohol are a lot higher than we were used to. A regular glass of red wine easily set you back €12.
Other costs
In fact, we have hardly incurred any other costs in Sweden. As Dutch nationals, we did not need a visa for Sweden, and all other costs fall into the above categories. In Sweden they do not pay with the Euro as in large parts of Europe, but with Swedish Krona. Therefore we have incurred some exchange rate related costs. We paid for everything via our debit or credit card, and the bank charges a small exchange rate surcharge for this. For us this amounted to €20.
Total expenses for our trip through Swedish Lapland
What you spend in total for a trip through Swedish Lapland depends very much on what exactly you want to see, how luxurious you want to stay and travel, and what you want to eat. We spent €4.641 in total for two people and 9 days. With an amount of€258 per person per day we can certainly label this as a luxurious trip.
| Cost item | Total costs | Cost per person per day |
|---|---|---|
|
Transportation |
€1.756 |
€98 |
|
Accommodation |
€1.805 |
€100 |
|
Sights |
€270 |
€15 |
|
Food and drinks |
€790 |
€44 |
|
Other costs |
€20 |
€1 |
|
Total |
€4.641 |
€258 |
Is this trip through Swedish Lapland also possible with a smaller budget?
Of course it is also possible to make a nice trip through Swedish Lapland with a smaller daily budget per person. Where, in our opinion, can some money be saved? Below are some tips to make this trip cheaper:
> If you choose not to fly business class, this will save you a lot of money. Via Skyscanner you can easily compare prices for different flights.
> The overnight stays can certainly also be realized for a smaller budget. We stayed one night in the Treehotel for €780. If you skip this hotel, the average price per night per person would drop considerably. However, we thought this experience was well worth the money. Via booking.com you can easily compare the different prices per accommodation.
> You could certainly save on food and drinks as well. By not consuming alcohol in Sweden you quickly save a lot of money. In addition, you can replace the luxurious dinners with simpler meals in local cafes, for example.
