Åre

Nice & spontaneous! I wanted to see Åre, while the mountains were still covered in snow, so I booked myself a little weekender…

Day 1 Uppsala -> Åre

I took an overnighter from Uppsala and arrived around 9:00 in the morning. As lucky as I was, a snowstorm greeted me the moment I left the train and allowed my to have a fantastic view of 5m. Since the temperature was quite a bit above 0°C, the snowflakes on my jacket formed into little rivers and I felt drenched after only 10min. I haven’t really planned anything anyways so I headed straight into the next coffee shop.

After 2h, the snowfall finally faded out so I decided to head out and take a bus to Duved, and then further on to Storlien. I planned to do a little hiking in the Fjällen, which quickly changed after I couldn’t be bothered by the constant wind whip in my face. Storlien is mostly known as a nice skiing area during winter season or for short hikes in the summertime. Another plus point is the distance to Norway - it’s only 2km away from the border!

In the beginning of May however, literally EVERYTHING is closed. No hotels, bars, cafés or even people. It felt like a ghosttown! I walked around a bit and then spent the rest of the time reading ‘Fanny&Alexander’ while waiting for the train. 3h later the Norrtåg finally arrived and took me to a more lively place called Undersåker. My accomodation for the night was by STF, but a special version due to the coorperation with Swedens ‘Asthma&Allergiförbundet”.

The house was sooo beautiful, very spacious and came with a fully equipped kitchen, lounge room and even a sauna! The landlady proudly presented their hypoallergic products, available in every room, and even handed me a morning robe! I felt sooo grateful for this cozy stay after last night and can definitely recommend this place. STF offers nationwide hostels and mountain cabins, but this one is by far the fanciest I’ve seen so far! The rest of the evening was mostly spent in the sauna and I cuddled up in the comfy bed before 24:00.

Day 2

I slept in until 10 and felt amazing compered to yesterday!

I headed back to Åre and was planning to do a little hiking around Totthummeln, which is supposed to take approximately 1h. On the way up I passed the ‘Åre torget’ which has a lot of (primarily) skiing/outdoor shops, restaurants and even a practice area for biking!

I only went up to ‘Fjällgården Hotell’ due to the slushy ice, but the view was nevertheless fantastic.

My next stop was a restaurant called ‘crêperie&logi’, where I had an amazing bacon-chicken crèpe - can totally recommend that dish! In the afternoon I went back to Duved, took a nice promenade in the area, before jumping on the train back to Stocki.

Åre, thanks for having me!

My thoughts/tips:

• Maybe pick a better month than I did. It was an awkward timing since the winter season closed a few weeks ago and the summer season hasn’t started yet. Apart from the beautiful view, there was only slushiness everywhere.

• Though it wasn’t packed with adventures, I still really enjoyed my little getaway :)

Until next time!
Love, Karin