As I've mentioned before and in my profile, I lived in sweden for many years and my children were born there. Currently I'm back living in London and always pining for my old "home" and so we planned a 10 day trip back to Sweden for some xmas fun. Normally we'll fly to Stockholm and go from there as obviously it's the main entry point, but this time we were planning to go downhill skiing in Åre which is the biggest downhill resort in the country and which caters for all requirements, whether it be carving, off piste, children or whatever. I've been booking direct with these guys for the last 12 years via skistar.com and I can't recommend them enough. It's always plain, simple, organised and very good value (for Scandinavia anyway).
The thing that was different about this year was that being our children are currently 5 and 2, we didn't want to do the whole Stockholm / Åre trip which I do love, especially via train, but not with the children, as it's a long haul up north. Fortunately Norwegian.com are flying direct from London Gatwick to Trondheim currently, and although many may not have thought about it, Trondheim is only 2 hours from Åre by either road or rail. There's direct trains if you want them, but we hired a car as it was easier (again with the children) and with our 6 bags of luggage and ski stuff. The thing to bear in mind here though is that this is isn't just a winter journey, there's innumerable summer walking possibilities in the in the same area which I've written about before on this site (again accessible on the same journey plan, just travelling via Norway rather than Stockholm).
The trip itself over the border is worth the whole journey frankly as you follow an amazing river valley from Norway and then climb up over a stunning mountain pass before dropping back into the Åre lake valley. I've never travelled from this direction before, despite going there 10 or more times and it blew my mind - thoroughly recommended.
Anyway once we were there we had rented a little apartment right by the slopes which the children loved and we had all the other benefits of Åre right on our doorstep. Here's nice picture of a typical view taken when I was skiing on Christmas day.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/globalgoat/11697050156
(sorry can't get the embed link for work with Flickr)
You can't go wrong with a trip to Jämtland, get there as soon as you can, whether it be summer or winter
The thing that was different about this year was that being our children are currently 5 and 2, we didn't want to do the whole Stockholm / Åre trip which I do love, especially via train, but not with the children, as it's a long haul up north. Fortunately Norwegian.com are flying direct from London Gatwick to Trondheim currently, and although many may not have thought about it, Trondheim is only 2 hours from Åre by either road or rail. There's direct trains if you want them, but we hired a car as it was easier (again with the children) and with our 6 bags of luggage and ski stuff. The thing to bear in mind here though is that this is isn't just a winter journey, there's innumerable summer walking possibilities in the in the same area which I've written about before on this site (again accessible on the same journey plan, just travelling via Norway rather than Stockholm).
The trip itself over the border is worth the whole journey frankly as you follow an amazing river valley from Norway and then climb up over a stunning mountain pass before dropping back into the Åre lake valley. I've never travelled from this direction before, despite going there 10 or more times and it blew my mind - thoroughly recommended.
Anyway once we were there we had rented a little apartment right by the slopes which the children loved and we had all the other benefits of Åre right on our doorstep. Here's nice picture of a typical view taken when I was skiing on Christmas day.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/globalgoat/11697050156
(sorry can't get the embed link for work with Flickr)
You can't go wrong with a trip to Jämtland, get there as soon as you can, whether it be summer or winter
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