Sunvil recently hosted a group of travel agents in Swedish Lapland, including representatives from Designer Travel, Not Just Travel, Travel Counsellors, The RB Collection and Deva Travel.
The fam trip was designed to showcase the region’s unique appeal, from its pristine wilderness and rich Sami culture to its high-quality, sustainable experiences with no crowds. Activities included a snowmobile safari, hiking with huskies through snow-covered forests and meeting local hosts who were behind some truly innovative properties.
One of the agents on the trip, Ashley Phillips, director of Travel Chaps, had already experienced Finnish Lapland, and he tells TTG there’s a clear difference between the two regions.
“Finnish Lapland felt more Christmassy. It’s the sort of trip you take the kids to see the elves, the reindeer and Santa Claus. Whereas Swedish Lapland felt more grown-up, more refined, and more cultural. The Sami here are reindeer herders, not elves.”
The fam trip offered a journey of discovery into Sami culture
While the Christmas experience can veer into more commercialised territory, depending where you visit, Swedish Lapland felt more authentic, he says: “We met the Sami people. It’s their land that stretches across the four countries – Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia’s Kola Peninsula – and they’ve lived here for thousands of years. We sat in a tipi, and talked to a Sami about his history, his culture and his people, while eating traditional Sami food. At one point we were out on snowmobiles and there was a Sami herding reindeer ahead of us.”
He adds: “I’d compare the Sami people to the Maasai tribes in Kenya and Tanzania – with both there’s a real symbiosis between people, animals and nature.”
“And they’re such nice, genuine people. We went to a blacksmith’s house for fika, which was morning coffee and cake. I’ve never eaten so much cake in my life every morning but it’s become an actual thing now in my life.”
Stay in a grown-up treehouse
The fam trip programme featured one-of-a-kind hotels including Arctic Retreat, Aurora Safari Camp and Treehotel, which made a big impression on Ashley: “Treehotel was unlike anything I have ever seen – or I’m going to assume I will ever see again. To be walking through a forest and then see a giant floating mirror cube that you can stay in, it blows your mind.”
The agents check out Treehotel, a unique property consisting of eight cabins suspended above the forest floor
Far from being an Instagram-inspired concept gimmick with its original rooms suspended above ground, Ashley discovered the hotel had a really cool history and its owners worked hard to reduce its environmental impact: “There’s real heart behind it,” he says.
Despite having travelled in Norway, Finland, Sweden and Iceland, Ashley had never actually seen the Northern Lights – but this trip turned out to be the one, and they lived up to his expectations: “We’d sort of given up hope it wasn’t going to happen, and then about half-past 10 at night, while we were at Arctic Retreat, they just lit up the sky, and it blew my mind, because we saw them dancing and flashing in the air. Absolutely incredible.”
The agents experienced the region in spring-winter, one of eight seasons for the northern Arctic. The snow was about three foot deep but snow had fallen off the trees as it was warming up.
“Spring-winter is the Swedish people’s favourite time of year, because it’s still cold but not really cold. It was like one to two degrees. Around Christmas time, it can be thirty-below,” he explains.
Road testing the facilities at another one-off hotel, Arctic Bath
Ashley is also now aware of the region’s potential as a summer destination. “They showed us photos and videos [without snow] and it is beautiful, it completely changes – it becomes a bit more like the Lake District, and I’m certainly going to be recommending this now to clients who want that something a little bit different.”
“As long as you miss mosquito week,” he adds. “Ring Sunvil about the timing of that, because they’ve got an amazing relationship with the tourism board and all the hotels, and they’ll know exactly when to avoid.”
With Sunvil’s three-night package price for a stay at Treehotel in December 2026 coming in at £2,887pp, Ashley says there are ways to make the region more affordable: “You could base yourself in Lulea, a city in the heart of Swedish Lapland, and do trips and excursions from there.”
“And you’re not going to stay at somewhere like Treehotel for a week – it’s easily a one or two-night experience.”
Sami cuisine is based on local ingredients that come straight from nature
“I would book people to Swedish Lapland all day, every day,” he says. “It’s an obvious cold getaway for a client who has already visited Norway or Finland, and for the summer, it definitely has that feeling of off-the-beaten-track exclusivity.”
“There’s an ego part to a lot of people when they go on holiday, and I always play into that. ‘Oh, everyone goes to Lapland,’ a client will say. ‘Well, how about going to Swedish Lapland… and staying in a treehouse,’ I will respond.”
Ashley also thinks Swedish Lapland is perfect for a culinary adventure: “I’ve never eaten so well on a fam trip,” he reveals. “I looked forward to every meal. From a Michelin star restaurant to a café by the roadside, from reindeer meat to cloud berries, the food was next level wherever we went.”
