Sweden is more than the fifth largest and the sixth oldest country in Europe. It is also the biggest Scandinavian nation that boasts among the lowest population densities.

Sweden is among the European countries for which citizens of certain countries will need an approved ETIAS permit to enter. The ETIAS application is an online process with successful applicants receiving the digital travel authorization by email.  The ETIAS requirements are easy to understand.

Sweden accommodation is not a problem either, for travelers wanting luxurious norms, wintry ice hotels, or everything in between.

Icehotel Jukkasjärvi

Do you want to build a snowman? Every year since 1998, this unique example of accommodation in Sweden is built anew for guests to enjoy during the winter season. The hotel melts like an accommodating snowman every summer and then rises like the legendary phoenix from the thaw. Only it does so with a great deal of help from artists from all around the world.

Jukkasjärvi is positioned 124 miles or 200 km north of the Arctic Circle. An isolated location from which to fully immerse oneself in the wonder that is the Northern Lights.

It is here that the Icehotel Jukkasjärvi rises up from the Torne river. This is an actual fact since it is built from fresh ice cut from the river every year. Guests get to chill in rooms draped with curtains but without doors, averaging indoor temperatures of 23F or -5C. Beds have coverings of reindeer hide for comfort and warmth. Communal toilets, changing rooms, and saunas are all available outside of the hotel.

For a dining experience that adds a touch of warmth, Michelin-trained head chef Alexander Meier aims to please at what is indubitably the best restaurant in Kiruna. The Icehotel Restaurant ranks in the top three restaurants in Swedish Lapland with dining experiences crafted specifically for its diners. Choose from chef’s table, ice dining, and wilderness dinner. The restaurant serves local fare such as reindeer, moose, Arctic char, and bramble berries.

Jarvzoo Wolf Hotel

Yes, a wolf hotel. Jarvzoo Wolf Hotel is positioned inside a wolf enclosure, allowing guests to veritably sleep with wolves. A unique experience, to be sure! Guests are hosted in a barn with large windows through which to enjoy the neighbors and to hear them howling up close and personal under the moon at night. Understandably, accommodation is at a premium since the hotel has a total of only five rooms. Of course, typical of Sweden accommodation this one has a sauna. There is a tavern just five 5 minutes away and guests have free entry to the zoo where they can view wolverines – of course – reindeer, brown bears, and arctic foxes.

Treehotel

Secreted thirteen to thirty-three feet (four to ten meters) off the ground in a forest of tall pine trees are a selection of unique options for accommodation in Sweden. Tree Rooms up high in a uniquely organic setting offer picturesque vistas of the Lule River below as an added feature, courtesy of Mother Nature. Treehotel is situated in the quaint village of Harads in North Sweden, with a population of only six hundred. Guests access their room via either a bridge, ramp, or mechanized stairs. All rooms are electrified, have Wi-Fi, and are fitted with underfloor heating and air conditioning. Guests will find a refrigerator, coffee maker, and water kettle as well as fresh drinking water in the rooms. Two of the rooms, the Dragonfly and The 7th Room, have the added benefit of their own showers.

The onsite Treehotel Guesthouse restaurant serves guests breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

These are the options for rooms at the Treehotel:

The UFO!

Overnight in a UFO hovering high up in the pines. A most unexpected sight in a Swedish forest! The interior is replete with room for five people, one double bed and three single beds, and the scintillating stars overhead. The UFO is also a moving room. Yes, that’s right. The way in which it is suspended allows for it to move in the trees. This is not the ideal option for unusually tall guests – you have been warned.

The GuestHouse

Welcome to a step back in time to the homely decades between 1930 and 1950! From any of the six rooms with a capacity for twelve beds, guests can be lulled into a time long gone by the gentle sounds of the Lule River nearby. The best of both worlds means the ambiance of a bygone era combined with the benefits that come with an internet connection. Some rooms have their own shower and toilet, while others have use of nearby facilities in the hallway and relax room. And there’s a fireplace!

Biosphere

How do you describe a working model of sustainability and natural tourism in the epicenter of nature? You don’t. You simply have to experience Biosphere to get an idea of how this Tree Room helps strengthen the biosphere as well as assisting with the conservation of the local birds and their natural habitat. I will say no more than that the façade of this room is home to 350 bird nests!

Access to the room from the forest floor is via a suspended bridge sloping skywards to the top of the trees. Its pragmatic interior speaks for itself, adding to the relatively small space with access to a roof terrace that brings guests that much closer to the treetop canopy. The Biosphere offers a shower, sauna, tap water, and a 360-degree view of the forest it calls home.

The Bird’s Nest

Ever happened upon a crow’s nest you did not expect to find high up in the branches of a tree? This is exactly what this room was created to mimic, blending in with its natural surroundings as unobtrusively as a bird’s nest would. The Birds Nest allows guests the opportunity to be at one with nature, delve into introspection and steal some me-time while living in a bird’s nest in a treetop, hidden from view of all.

Get into the room through a hatch in the floor by way of a ladder. When the hatch is closed, you’re in a bird’s nest away from the world outside, but with a view outwards to write home about.

The Mirrorcube

Really just a cube of 13 x 13 x 13 feet, enclosed with mirror walls that reflect while simultaneously blending with the surroundings. The room has a growing tree trunk in it. From the outside, the illusion is of a room made up entirely of glass from floor to ceiling. This is just an illusion, though, as it has light plywood walls, three sides of which have windows as does the ceiling. A see-through ceiling is perfect in a mirror cube room. What about a balcony hidden behind the mirror facade that no one can see, which allows guests to step outside of the cube without anyone knowing?

The Mirrorcube has a double bed, a seating area, and a toilet. What more could a couple staying over in a mirror house want?

The Cabin

The Cabin must be where romance comes to recharge. Shaped like a capsule, it overlooks the impressive Lule River valley. The Cabin intentionally creates a platform on a steep slope, affording a view that is simply indescribable. What is also a great feature is the remarkable entrance to the accommodation. A long bridge leads to a door that for all intent and purpose seems to however in nothingness. The door leads to stairs which lead down to a seating area and a balcony. The large windowed room hangs slightly askew beneath the deck and houses a bed in its center with seating at the windows for the ultimate view up, down, and all around.

The Blue Cone

The Blue Cone is bright red. We just have to get that out there, said and done, from the outset. Why? So many plausible reasons. As a neighbor to the Mirrorcube, the absolutely beautiful hue of red provides the perfect contrast that much is true. Built as a traditional wooden structure, the Blue Cone features three pillars that lend height and lightness to the unique accommodation. Being on sloped ground just heightens the effect of being so high up. Behind the double bed is a reflective mirror that reflects the view. The sleeping loft has an additional two single beds.

The Dragonfly

Of the hotels in Sweden, the Dragonfly offers views over the Lule River Valley from one bedroom and from the other a relaxing outlook of the forest with its accompanying calming susurration. This is the second to biggest room, suitable therefore for small conferences for as many as six conferees. It is however foremost a delightful option for Sweden accommodation. The wooden construction that is the Dragonfly boasts two bedrooms with a total of four beds, sufficiently roomy for a family, two couples, or four friends.

The accommodation is accessed via a ramp of 16 and a half yards or 15 meters which leads to the small patio outside the door. The view from the shower and the bathroom per se demands acknowledgment as it affords a noteworthy vantage point of the Lule River and the tall pines that abut it.

The 7^th Room

The seventh and newest room in the stable of the Treehotel has remarkable vantage points from the stairs that take one up the many storeys to the room. The views do not come to an end once inside the room! The panoramic windows look out over the Lule River valley.

From top to bottom, the room has a few surprises. A temperature-controlled fireplace ensures automatic ignition on cool winter nights when the room falls below a certain temperature. For those out to get the best look at the Northern Lights, consider the views from the skylight windows in the bedrooms that look up to the night sky. The terrace in the middle of the room takes the form of a net floor through which a live pine tree can be seen dead center. Beyond the tree, breathtaking views continue a total of 33 feet or 10 meters down to the immense expanse that is the Lule River Valley. Immense sliding doors face onto the net terrace from the lounge and the two bedrooms.

The interior features Scandinavian wood throughout the two bedrooms housing two beds each. The lounge offers an extra bed and the eco-friendly bathroom has a shower, incinerating toilet, and a sustainable Rukkamoinika water system.

Sala Silvermine Underground Hotel

Is anyone up for overnighting 170 yards underground? That’s an underground ‘hotel’ room at a depth of 155 meters… This accommodation in Sweden understandably offers minimal home comforts, among them a comfy bed, two chairs, and a lamp.

One thing you are assured of when deciding on a silver mine for accommodation is total silence. Guests will also likely have the entire establishment to themselves but they can communicate with the staff member on duty via intercom radio at any time during their stay.

Stf Kolarbyn Eco Lodge

Of all the hotels in Sweden and options of accommodation in Sweden, this would absolutely be the most primitive of the country’s eco-lodges. Trees, moose, and beavers are about the extent of what guests might get to see here. Guests should expect the accommodation to be lacking in room service, electricity, and showers. Stf Kolarbyn Eco Lodge is no more than a wooden shack with a fireplace, accommodating two sleeping places both of which are covered with sheep skin. For meals, there is wood to be chopped into firewood for the fire, over which hot drinks can be brewed and food prepared. The minimal storage shed is a source of food, though. A getaway to be sure, from everything that smacks of comfort and convenience.

Loggers Lodge

As expected, this Sweden accommodation is to be found dead in the center of a remote forest. The spirit of Swedish Lapland is definitely alive and well and ready to offer an experience right here. The running river laps the shores under the magic of a star-filled sky, made all the more magical by the lack of any artificial light to be seen anywhere nearby. The closest town can be found nine miles away (that is 15 kilometers). As such, this is the place to take in the Northern Lights as it dances up high on a clear night.

Back in time, this lodge was the source of the timber shipped down the Lule River. What is now a feature of the Logger Lodge and a centerpiece and heart of the room, the newly renovated massive fireplace was originally where all the cooking was done. Local artifacts decorate the lodge, from the woven rugs to the reindeer skins. Furnishings that give the lodge a cozy, homely feel include authentically Swedish design classics like the two Lamino chairs with sheepskin coverings.

Sandhamn Seglarhotell

When sailing is the passion, the Yacht Hotel or Sandhamn Seglarhotell in the poshest of Stockholm archipelago’s summer getaways speaks for the region’s historic leanings. Dominating a lustrous harbor, this renovated 19th-century luxury pad combines a traditional exterior with a nautical interior. Its deep red façade is prevalent under a pitched roof that features a lookout tower reminiscent of a grand scale of rural archipelago architecture.

As a signature piece of the hotels in Sweden, this four-star establishment is perfect for the sailing sect, especially with the newly added wings that pay homage to the legacy that is Sandön’s pleasure sailing.

Hotel Isbolaget

Another harbor establishment, this converted icehouse in Donsö harbor is definitely a bustling hub for both the islanders and its tourists. Its restaurant is known for its crayfish, lobsters, and oysters, which are the best in the world. Situated in the center of the Gothenburg Archipelago on the southwest corner of Donsö harbor, the hotel looks out over the yachts and fishing boats to the nearby adjacent island of  Styrsö.  Donsö is a small island hosting a pizzeria and a scattering of shops, that has access to Styrsö by a nearby bridge.

A converted 19th-century icehouse, Hotel Isbolaget boasts an unpretentious exterior of grey-rendered concrete walls punctuated with prevalent windows that bathe the interior in sunlight. The interior is all about comfort and coziness, complete with easy sofas, high ceilings, wide staircases of light pine, and an outside seating area for those summery days.

Stallmästaregården

In its heyday, this was Sweden’s very first inn, going back to the 17^th century, which once hosted Queen Kristina. Nowadays Stallmästaregården has been reinvented into a classic boutique hotel in Stockholm. It is ensconced between the calm bay that is Brunnsviken, surrounded by forest and fields, and the central neighborhoods of Vasastan and Norrmalm replete with restaurants and shops aplenty.

The hotel gives the impression of a cozy home with the lobby inviting guests with its open fire and snug leather sofas and armchairs. The onsite restaurant is furnished in dark, heavy pieces under Tom Dixon Void Suspension lamps, its timelessness completed by an unusual round bar.

When readying yourself for some time in this remarkable country, remember that the Swedish krona is still the currency in use rather than the Euro. Don’t forget to enjoy a cuppa Joe while here. The Swedes are of the world’s top coffee drinkers, taking coffee breaks referred to as “fika.” Fika is an important part of the culture, partaken of twice a day and combining conversation with coffee and cake.

Travel safe and Varsågod.