WORDS: JESS COLE, OLIVER SMITH. PHOTOGRAPHS: BERTHIER EMMANUEL/HEMIS.FR/SUPERSTOCK, ANDREAS WÄLITALO
HAVE DINNER BENEATH THE NORTHERN LIGHTS
Lapland is a place where the world conducts its business on two skis – from cross-country skiing and skidoos to Father Christmas and his sleigh. A notable first in these parts, however, is the Aurora Hideaway – a tiny private restaurant that looks like a garden shed mounted on two skis, meaning it can be conveniently towed to beautiful, remote locations in the wilderness of northern Sweden. Diners take a chauffeur-driven snowmobile journey through the forests and frozen lakes near Luleå to arrive at this wilderness eatery. They’ll then taste Lapland-sourced dishes, like foraged mushroom soup, reindeer steak and blueberry, all prepared over a roaring campfire. All being well, the food arrives with a side order of aurora borealis lighting up the skies above your table.
• Off the Map Travel offers Aurora Hideaway dining as part of four-night itineraries, also incorporating snowmobile journeys and hovercraft tours; £1,399 for four nights; offthemap.travel
PHOTOGRAPHS: CANADASTOCK/SHUTTERSTOCK, SAS ASTRO, STEVE ROWLEY, COLIN RUSSELL, SAFARTICA.COM
FLY TO THE HOME OF SANTA CLAUS
This winter it’s even easier to get to Lapland, with new direct flights from Gatwick to Kittilä and Ivalo, operated by BA and Finnair from 12 December to 31 March 2018 (from £174; finnair.com). That means you can set up a northern lights watch from a private luxury glass igloo (from £475 per night; leviniglut.net); or – inevitably – take the kids to Santa Claus Village to meet the big man himself and spend the night next door to him.
• From £90 per night; santaclausvillage.info
HAVE A CHRISTMAS MEAL IN A SALT MINE
Nothing says ‘winter’ like twinkly, glühwein-sploshed Bavaria, but for an added dose of festive magic, bypass the big Christmas markets of Germany’s cities and make a beeline for Alpine Berchtesgaden. Once infamous as the location of Hitler’s holiday home (no longer: it was blown up in 1952, and today there’s a Documentation Centre in its stead) this enchanting small town is now known for far happier reasons. Its Christmas market sways to the lilting strains of a brass ensemble and the clatter of horse-drawn carriages. Visitors can slurp locally brewed Christmas beer and, when hunger strikes, forego the bratwurst stalls, and book dinner in a more unlikely spot, deep inside a stilloperational salt mine.
Dinner at the salt mine £85pp; salzbergwerk.de
TAKE A MIDWINTER DIP
Spending extended periods of time in Finnish lakes in midwinter is generally not advisable, commonly leading to blue lips, hypothermia and frostbite. Not so at Lake Ylläsjärvi, where the new ice floating experience sees swimmers donning insulated rescue suits designed to keep them warm and cosy in sub-brass-monkey temperatures. After squeezing into said suits, up to 90 minutes are spent lying face up in a frozen lake, listening to the glug of cold water and the creaking of the ice, and studying starry skies for the faintest flash of the aurora borealis.
• From £76; safartica.com
MAKE IT A MERRY WASSAILING 2018