Showing posts with label Sweden. Show all posts

The Wonders Of The Northern Lights

Our world is such a magical place and the more I explore it the more I want to see. One country I can't wait to visit is Iceland. A mystical country of beautiful scenery, magical folklore, and amazing food and drink. 

For as long as I can remember I've wanted to visit Iceland as the stunning landscapes of the countryside are just breathtaking and to see the northern lights would be a dream come true.  The northern lights have been on my bucket list for a very long time. I mean why would anyone NOT want to see the northern lights?
Thingvellir National Park, Iceland

You may have heard the term 'northern lights' before, so what exactly are they? The northern lights are a wonderful light display brought on by collisions between electrically charged particles from the sun, that enter the earth's atmosphere. It has been described as a beautiful shifting dance of lights, once seen never forgotten.

Also known as the Aurora Borealis, this ethereal sight is a prime reason why thousands of people fly north every year for their Winter break.

Northen Lights, Sweden

The northern lights can be seen at many different locations from Iceland and Norway, Greenland and Finland to Russia and even Canada. There are a number of package holidays you can go on to see the northern lights too if you want everything organised for you from Best Served.

Iceland would, of course, be my top choice. It's mild climate and relatively reliable light show make it a popular destination to see them.


Hotel Renga, Iceland

A romantic Iceland break sounds ideal for my husband and I. A short break like this one from Best Served Scandinavia covers the Blue Lagoon, the famous geothermal spa, and a stay in Hotel Renga, in southern Iceland with its luxury accommodation and outdoor hot tubs. To sit in a hot tub, looking up to the sky and seeing the amazing light show would be my perfect romantic experience.

The last full day I would love to spend it visiting the ‘Golden Circle’, which comprises the historic national park, Thingvellir, home to the first Icelandic parliament and the magnificent Gullfoss, a roaring cascade in the Hvitá river. Later that night it would be great fun to explore the bars of
Reykjavik before flying home the next day.
Gullfoss, Iceland

Another of my favourite ideas I found from Best Served is this three-night Ice Hotel break where you stay at the original Ice Hotel in Sweden. One of the most unique places to stay in the world, the Ice Hotel is a true original, built each year with snow and ice in the village of Jukkasjärvi, in northern Sweden. The hotel including the chairs, bar, and even the beds are made from snow and ice and artists are invited to create different rooms every year. 

The Ice Hotel Sweden

Combining a one night stay in a freshly-built 'Snow Room' and two nights’ in a 'Warm Room' with a choice of adventure activities would be an exciting break. The activities include reindeer encounters, dog sled rides and an epic Northern Lights hunt by snowmobile. How cool does that sound?

Inside the Ice Hotel Sweden

It would be a place to make amazing memories and hopefully, see the northern lights. Of course, as with all natural phenomena you are not guaranteed to see them, and you need the right conditions - a dark clear night, anytime from September to March.

 To make it easier to find did you know there is even an Aurora Forecast app you can download to help you? 

 Hopefully, before long my dream will come true. Have you ever seen the northern lights? Is Iceland a dream destination for you? Would you stay in an Ice Hotel?

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Travelling in Sweden: Stockholm vs Gothenburg

This is a guest post by the lovely Rhian from www.rhianwestbury.co.uk

 This Easter was my first Easter out of retail and I wanted to make the most of the time off by going away. After using the Skyscanner app to find the cheapest place with the best flights Sweden was settled on. 

The first thing people said when I mentioned I was going to Sweden was how expensive it was meant to be, but I want to put this myth to bed. As a (virtually) Londoner Sweden was not more expensive than being at home, and just like London if you looked around you could find restaurants and bars which weren’t expensive. You could easily have a tea and cake for a fiver and a pizza with beer for about 10-12 pounds so there’s no big expense.



We flew into Stockholm and spent two days there which was just enough time to do everything we wanted to do without getting bored. The city is a made up of lots of small islands joined together by bridges which was a novel concept. We walked for about half an hour and had technically been on about six different islands. We chose to stay in a hostel (we did opt for an en-suite room) which was inside an old prison which meant there was lots of quirky things about but the rooms were quite narrow.

The town was easy to navigate and we did quite a lot of walking- mostly without the need for a map. There was quite a lot to do here including an aquarium with a rainforest style front, a small zoo, beautiful architecture and a theme park (although this wasn’t open when we arrived). The best piece of advice i’d give is not use the metro, you miss out on so much if you don’t walk around.

On our third day we took a train 6 hours south to Gothenburg, and instantly we knew how much further south we were as the weather was so much warmer, and Gothenburg was beautiful! There was so much green space and parks, places you could hire bikes and segways, and generally a more relaxing atmosphere than Stockholm. Plus not even Easter Sunday would stop everything being open!



There wasn’t as much to physically see here but it was much nicer to explore, but if you do nothing else then head to the Science Museum as it is singlehandedly the best place I have ever been to. All of the games and hands on attractions are just as much made for adults as they are for kids, which kept us amused for ages, but they also have an indoor rainforest and aquarium. This was complete with monkeys and other animals which weren’t in cages,so yes you probably could’ve touched them. I almost screamed the place down when a monkey almost jumped on my shoulder though, took me by complete surprise!



All in all I had a lovely five days in Sweden; the food and drink was nice, the weather was beautiful and the staff were so friendly. Plus pretty much everyone speaks English as it’s mandatory to learn it in school until the age of 16!

Tips for Sweden

Don’t use the metro as you’ll miss a lot by being off the roads
Make ensure you go the Science Museum in Gothenburg
Book any internal travel in advance (you can say lots of money!)
Get the bus airport transfer to/from the airports as it’s a lot cheaper than a taxi
Make sure you take sunglasses, even if it isn’t warm it tends to be sunny

 Have you ever been to Sweden? Would you like to go?
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