Making my way to the northernmost city in Sweden by train

I really enjoy traveling (in case you couldn't already tell). And while it's tempting to take a 2 hour flight to get from A to B, I like to take the slower route and get to my destination by train. This definitely involves more planning, time and unfortunately often also money. But, you will be rewarded with nice views on your way and slowly seeing the landscape changing.

Now, how does one get from Switzerland to the northernmost city in Sweden (around 3000 km of distance)? It actually is easier than expected and involves changing the train only twice. First you make your way to Hamburg, either with one of the many trains that leaves during the day or with a night train. Once arrived in Hamburg, there is a direct night train every day offered by SJ, the Swedish railway services, arriving in Stockholm the next morning around 10:00. And lastly, there is a direct night train from Stockholm leaving to Kiruna. 

I decided to take advantage of my last months as a 27-year old and bought an Interrail Youth Pass. Using that, I only have to pay for the additional reservation fees that vary on the type of seat I am selecting. I made my way to Hamburg during the day and planned enough time to change, as the Deutsche Bahn is notoriously known to be late. Unfortunately, the SJ is not much more reliable, as the train arrived one hour late in Hamburg and almost with two hours delay in Stockholm. But as I was in no hurry, I did not mind arriving a bit later.

The great thing about not getting somewhere directly with a flight is that you can spend some time in the places you are passing by. So I decided to stay a night in Stockholm and do some sightseeing and check out the local food. While February might not be the best month to visit Stockholm, I felt that at least the places were not crowded with tourists.

On the last leg of the journey, I took the night train from Stockholm to Kiruna. The challenge with traveling that far up north by train in winter, is, that it is not uncommon that the rails get damaged. And as Sweden is not that densely populated the further north you get, it can take hours until someone can come and fix it. This happened also on our trip and we were stuck for about two hours. But as I was comfortably in my bed with some downloaded tv series on my iPad, I didn't mind the delay at all.

Finally, I arrived in Kiruna with around three hours of delay. Kiruna is a popular spot to visit in Sweden in winter, as there is a high chance of seeing the northern lights and there is the option to do many winter activities. I was also quite "lucky" with the temperatures, people told me that it's not uncommon to have temperatures around -30 to -40°C during February and while I was there, the temperatures were around -8 to 0°.

But the main reason I made my way this far north, was actually a yoga retreat. In the past, I have booked another yoga retreat in Norway with Vivian (the lovely instructor) and when I received the information that she offers a retreat in Kiruna, I seized the opportunity. Yoga retreat does not mean that you are spending your whole day with Yoga. In our case, we did some winter activities during the day and after getting home and dinner relaxed our bodies with some yoga exercises and meditation.

For day one and directly after my arrival, we tried out cross-country skiing. I have skied since I was small but it was my first time trying out the cross-country form. Kai (Vivian's partner) had some experience and therefore taught us the classic way of doing it. It took some time getting used to it but, to my surprise, I liked it a lot. "Normal" skiing is filled with too much adrenaline for my taste and cross-country felt more chilled, giving an opportunity to enjoy the landscape. We were even lucky enough to see a reindeer.

Day two was a packed day, we rode snowmobiles and visited a reindeer farm and the first ice hotel. I've never driven a snowmobile before and it was more fun than I expected it to be. 

The reindeers in the farm were extremely tame, you could even feed them. 

If you had asked me before if I would stay in an ice hotel that always has a temperature of -5°C, I would have immediately said yes. But after visiting it, while the sculptures are impressive, I prefer to be comfortable and warm. :D

For day three, I was able to a dog sledge ride. I'm not a big dog person but the dogs were super cute and really excited to run. About halfway we stopped for a short lunch break and enjoyed the views.

Day four already meant going back. As my night train would only leave in the evening, I decided to take advantage of my Interrail pass and made my way to another northern Swedish city: Luleå. 

I was really impressed with the thick layers of ice and the cute town center but not sure it would be enough to come back.

This time the night ride went a bit smoother and we arrived back in Stockholm with only around one hour of delay at 10 in the morning. As I would take another night train back to Hamburg in the evening on the same day, I decided to book a hotel room for the day, to have the possibility to take a shower and enjoy some private space. There are showers in the night trains but I haven't dared yet to try them.

In Stockholm I did some last shopping and enjoyed one more time a Semla, which is an extremely delicious pastry that is typically eaten in the time between Christmas and Eastern.

Finally, I took my last night train to Hamburg where I stayed for a couple of additional days with a close friend. Once more I took advantage of my Interrail pass, with day trips to Berlin and Osnabrück. And lastly, I made my way back to Switzerland.

Overall, it would have been definitely much easier to just take a flight to Stockholm and from there another one to Kiruna. But actually experiencing the distance and seeing the scenery slowly change really made the journey feel part of the trip. I also really like to make stops in between and taking some time to explore some new (and old) cities.