Pine Bay Lodge Retreat

Arrive in Luleå in Swedish Lapland and transfer to Pine Bay Lodge. Check in for four nights and collect your winter clothing for the rest of your stay. Pine Bay Lodge is a small hotel in the classic Swedish red cottage style, located on the coastal edge of the Luleå archipelago. In the evening, enjoy a three-course welcome dinner in the hotel’s restaurant. (D)

• Hotel Description

After breakfast, experience a unique and exciting way of exploring Luleå’s frozen archipelago on-board a hovercraft. This is the only place in Swedish Lapland where hovercrafting is available. This 2.5-hour tour will include a journey across the ice- and snow-covered Bothnian Bay, between the islands. There is free time to walk on the ice, enjoy a spot of lunch and keep your eyes open for an odd seal or two popping up.  In the evening, enjoy a three-course dinner before heading back out to look for the northern lights by snow mobile. Relax in the sleigh, covered by warm blankets as you are pulled along by the snow mobile. The guide will share Arctic stories with you and make a fire so you can enjoy a coffee and warm cake. (B,L,D)

• Hotel Description

Today, explore the islands of the beautiful Lulea archipelago. Do as the locals do and travel across the pack ice on snowmobile trails and learn about the nature and local history. Your guide will make regular stops for photos and hot drinks and you will be treated to lunch cooked over an open fire. If conditions are right, it is possible to reach the idyllic fishing village of Brändöskär, dating back to the 17th Century. In the evening, enjoy a three-course dinner in the lodge before heading out on a northern lights snowshoe walk. Learn how to photograph the aurora and how to track signs of wildlife in the snow, then relax by an open fire with local cake and coffee. (B,L,D)

• Hotel Description

After breakfast, drive to the nearby kennel to meet the team of energetic husky dogs that will take you on an exhilarating dogsledding adventure. After instructions from your guide of how to mush your dogs, take control of your husky team and drive them along a forest and lake trail watching the snowy scenery pass you by. Stop to learn about the life of a husky musher in the frozen north from your guide. Return to the lodge for lunch in the restaurant. In the evening head out on to ice for a candlelit dinning experience with a difference! Enjoy a 3-course meal with delicious wine in a beautifully lit teepee. With the sea ice under your feet and hopefully the northern lights above you, kept warm by a crackling fire, you will feel all the magic of the frozen north. (B,D)

• Hotel Description

After breakfast, transfer to the airport for your flight back to the UK via Stockholm. (B)