The rare treat of the northern lights being visible across the UK in 2024 certainly fuelled appetites for Arctic experiences.
Uncomfortably hot weather in southern Europe also drove travellers to seek more northerly options over summer. Naturally, demand for Scandinavia is riding high.
Sunvil is among operators offering year-round holidays to Sweden, Norway, Finland and Denmark, and the operator offers personalised agency training.
Sales and marketing manager Rachel Jelley says: “Summer 2024 has produced a significant increase in the number of travellers booked to the region, which we believe has been driven by a rising popularity in nature-focused and active breaks, cool-cations and favourable exchange rates, especially against the Norwegian Krone.”
“Longer, more complex trips, combining multiple destinations and/or countries, have seen the greatest spike in demand”
She adds: “Longer, more complex trips, combining multiple destinations and/or countries, have seen the greatest spike in demand, in particular combinations of the Scandinavian capitals, and coastal voyages combined with land-based itineraries.”
With Sunvil’s summer 2025 Scandinavia sales tracking ahead of 2024 and Norway seeing the largest increase, Jelley advises early booking, particularly for the country’s fjords.
“With new hotel openings and a continued thirst for innovation in the tourism sector, we believe the Nordic region on the whole is a destination to watch,” she adds.
Black Tomato’s sales director Sunil Metcalfe agrees a desire for cooler climates is helping Scandinavia to trend.
He adds: “There’s a simplicity and elegance that appeals broadly, and countries can easily be combined for a twin-centre trip.”
Iceland is the operator’s Nordic bestseller but there’s now a “huge increase in appetite” for Finland, Norway, Sweden and Denmark.
Among special properties, Metcalfe highlights Aurora Lodge in Norway’s Lyngen Alps for its Atlantic-view sauna, and northern lights and whale watching possibilities. Also Amot in the fjords, “a superb, relatively new exclusive-use spot [with] glamorous interiors reminiscent of a British country estate yet very Nordic”.
He also notes Scandinavian luxury may differ to what some high-end travellers might have in mind, particularly in Iceland where five-star hotel design is more minimal and “the focus is very much on the details and experience”.
However, he adds there are plenty of ways to up the ante: “There are incredible luxury properties and experiences across the board, with amazing ways to see things by boat and helicopter.”
We look at ten interesting ways to tempt clients to discover the best of the region in 2025.
1. Bear witness
Searching for polar bears needn’t mean heading to Churchill, Canada. Abercrombie & Kent has an Arctic Cruise Adventure (£19,105pp for 14 nights) between Norway and Iceland aimed at such wildlife sightings.
Onboard chartered vessel Le Lyrial, which has butler service with every suite, passengers cruise the Greenland Sea, Denmark Strait and Westfjords.
The voyage begins in the Svalbard archipelago, where excursions may include the Ny-Alesund polar research station, the Austfonna ice cliffs or bear hangout Monacobreen glacier.
The rarely visited bird colony on Jan Mayen Island is followed by Zodiac tours looking for arctic foxes and visiting communities in Greenland. The cruise ends in Iceland with whale watching and a visit to the remote Westfjords.
2. Designer label
Scandinavia’s world-renowned design has a new showcase in Gothenburg, a permanent exhibition called Design Stories opened at the city’s Rohsska Museum of Design and Craft in November, highlighting sleek and influential examples of Nordic workmanship over the last 150 years that go way beyond Ikea.
Gothenburg, on Sweden’s West coast, has transformed over the past decade into a cultural hub, believes Sunvil, with the operator recommending a stay at the Clarion Hotel Post, which has been converted from a heritage post office.
3. Ring the changes
Lord of the Rings fans could rush to catch a major stage version of the epic tale. In Tampere, Finland’s sauna capital, under two hours from Helsinki, the well-loved story is being performed with Philharmonic orchestra accompaniment.
Over a four-hour performance with two intervals, actors portray the famous quest to deliver the One Ring to Mordor with the help of circus skills and an array of impressive moving sets. In Finnish but with subtitles available, the script stays faithful to JRR Tolkien’s original text. The show runs until 11 January at Tampere Hall, handily situated in the same complex as the Moomin Museum, which features original artwork by their creator, Tove Jansson.
4. Green cuisine
Some of Denmark’s highest awarded restaurants are also leading the way on sustainability.
In Copenhagen, three Michelin-starred Noma (which will revert to innovative pop-ups next year) also has a Green Michelin Star, as do two Michelin-starred Alchemist and Kadeau, which also has a green-awarded single-starred restaurant at Bornholm.
Beyond the capital, Frederikshoj at Aarhus and Henne Kirkeby Kro at Henne both have two stars plus a green star. Intimate seven-table TRI among the white sandy dunes near Agger is among one-starred restaurants with green stars. There are currently 31 Michelin-ranked restaurants across Denmark.
5. Hide and seek
Guests can sleep almost at one with nature at the Invisible Forest Lodge, a new option near Lapland’s capital Rovaniemi.
Constructed with timber and one-way, mirrored floor-to ceiling glass, its 13 standalone suites reflect the surrounding trees. Each has a kitchenette, private sauna and hot tub, while a restaurant is about to open onsite.
Other designer forest accommodation available at Rovaniemi includes the pod-like Arctic Treehouse suites, some of which interconnect for families. Meanwhile, in Sweden, the Treehotel at Lulea has spaceship-like cabins set high in the trees; all options are featured by Regent.
6. Whale of a time
A once-in-a-lifetime chance to paddle board with humpback whales beneath the midnight sun is being offered by Black Tomato in north Iceland (from £7,750pp). On a special evening between June and August clients are kitted out with drysuits and transferred to a bay favoured by migrating pods of humpbacks.
7. Life is Art
A major new gallery will open in Trondheim, Norway in February. Housed in a former post office building, PoMo will display modern and contemporary art over three floors.
As part of its inclusive ethos, 60% of its acquisitions budget will go towards buying work from female artists.
Suggest teaming it with a stay at the heritage Britannia hotel, which has undergone a major refurbishment in recent years and is located just opposite the gallery.
The Leading Hotels of the World member boasts Michelin-starred restaurant Speilsalen, while a room service package featuring Krug champagne, caviar, cheese and charcuterie is among pre-bookable upgrades.
8. New arrivals
A hotel funded by an Olympic gold medal winning ski jumper is new in Helsinki. Hotel Maria opened at the end of last year with 117 rooms in a former army officers’ barracks. Spa and wellness are an emphasis, with some of the 38 suites even available with their own saunas or steam rooms.
With a contemporary, sustainability-conscious design, including a bent birch wood atrium, Solos Sokos Hotel Pier 4 was new this autumn on the South Harbour. Many suites face the waterfront, and there are also views to the nearby islands from the rooftop garden and bar.
