This December I took a trip to Sweden’s winter wonderland to visit Jamtland county.
Jamtland offers everything you would expect from a winter in Sweden. Beautiful landscape, good food, skiing and other winter adventures.
How to visit Jamtland County?
To start our visit in Jamtland we took a flight to Åre Östersund Airport . From Berlin there are direct flights with Easyjet. The best to go around is to rent a car directly at the airport from which you can start your Sweden itinerary.
Jamtland is Sweden’s winter wonderland
I already took a trip to Sweden a few years ago. I went to Smaland, in Southern Sweden in summer but I had never think to go to Swedenin the winter. When my friend Chloe asked me to join her on this trip to Jamtland I was a bit sceptical. Indeed I was a bit afraid of how the winter would be like : dark, cold and very uncomfortable but this trip proved wrong. It is cold of course, but not THAT cold. The coldest we got was -7 degrees. Totally bearable if you have the right clothing. It was dark yes, but also not dark all day long. We were there in the darkest weeks on the year but the sun started to shine at around 9am and night started at around 3pm. Not much different than what we have here in Berlin.
Also winter in Sweden are pretty dry so the cold does not get to your bones and therefore it is not uncomfortable. I actually ended up loving the winter in Jamtland but would love to go back to Sweden in the winter sometimes soon!
Now back to our destination. Jamtland is THE ultimate winter destination in Sweden. It is absolutely beautiful. The road and trees are covered with snow, the lakes and waterfalls are frozen. The perfect conditions for winter adventures and god knows how Swedish know how to do winter.
Below some of the winter activities we did while in Jamtland
Winter activities in Jamtland
Biathlon in Ostersund
We started our first winter activity in Ostersund. Ostersund is famous worldwide to all biathlon fans as it hosted the Biathlon’s World championship in 2008 and 2019. The opportunity for us to try this sport! For those who don’t know, biathlon combines cross-country skiing and rifle shooting. Even if it will not become my favorite sport, it was quite fun to do. I tried cross country skiing in Austria before (I am absolutely not talented) but it was my first time trying riffle shooting. I was quite good at it and this was definitely my favorite part of this sport.
Biathlon is one of the things to do in Ostersund. It can be done at the Östersund Ski Stadium, it costs SEK 450 /person in a group of 3-6 persons.
Moose safari at the Moose Garden
If one animal is famous in Sweden it is the moose. While it is a wild animal and there are more moose in Sweden than in any other countries, it is still difficult to find them in the wilderness. If you would like to see a moose, you might want to visit the Moose Garden. It was created in 1997 by the Häggmarkt family who rescued two moose calves whose mum died in an accident. Indeed, moose calves can’t survived in the wilderness alone so he tammed them and created the moose garden where people can visit the moose, feed them and go on a walk with them. Super cool to be able to see those animals from so close.
Reindeer safari at Ullis and Rudolph
Reindeer also are famous animals in Sweden. Ulli, whose initial job is to train animals, combined this with her love for reindeers to create Ulli’s and Rudolph. You can visit her ranch to see the reindeers from very close. She will show some tricks that she teached her reindeers and you can go on a walk with her and Rudolph (one of the Reindeer). Fika in the wilderness included! It was very fun and perfect if you have children.
Dog sledging
As you can see there are a lot of activities involving animals in Sweden. One of the most famous one is probably dog sledging. In Are we took a tour with Are Nature adventure. It was really fun. I even self drove the sledge!! Something I will never forget! To finish the tour we cooked in the wilderness some typical Swedish food. Also so magical.
Drive a Snow Squad or snowmobile
Also organized by Are Nature Adventure we drove a snow squad through the Swedish wilderness. I drove a quad before but driving a quad in the snow is a bit more challenging. It was a lot of fun though and you can even spot some animals during your journey. It is also possible to drive a snowmobile. But I have heard it is a bit more difficult than a quad. I will do it next time though as it seems everyone in Sweden has a snowmobile. The ultimate Swedish experience!
Skiing in Are
Are is THE coolest ski resort in Sweden as well as the largest ski resort in Scandinavia. Don’t miss my Are guide for more informations!
Are you convinced Jamtland is Sweden’s ultimate winter wonderland? You should visit Jamtland on your own if not! I can absolutely say that this trip made me love winter again!
*This trip was organized by Adventure Sweden. All opinions remain my own.