A Trip to Åre

We found a funky hike

We just returned from a wonderful trip to the ski town of Åre. The girls were on Höstlov, or Fall Break. It’s also called “Reading Break”. Probably because November can be a pretty dismal month weather wise, so there is nothing really to do but read… It was pretty eventful since it was our first real trip away from the Stockholm area since we have moved to Sweden. We stayed at the fantastic Holiday Club. While there was no snow or skiing yet, we had a fantastic time exploring the town and hiking. The resort was also packed with family friendly fun: bowling, a huge pool and waterslide, mini golf and a spa for the adults.

We took the train for 7.5hrs. The train stop actually connected directly to the hotel! Here we are at Stockholm Central Station at 7:00am for our departure:

Train travel is a far superior and more civilized way to travel. We will look for train travel whenever we can in the future.

Here’s our hotel:

It was pretty grey and foggy the whole time we were there actually. But we didn’t let that stop us. We spent hours in the pool. Most of it was inside, but you could go outside too if you wanted. Here it is with a spectacular sunset:

The girls went to the kids club and got face painting (the adults went to the bar):

The town was super cute with really nice shops and restaurants:

We went to the Åre Chokladfabrik (Chocolate Factory) and had some fantastic hot chocolate:

They had a game for the kids to see if they could find the four “chocolate trolls” hidden around the property. Here’s one called Hilda:

They were successful of course. Candy is a great motivator. The girls got a bag of chocolate each for discovering all four trolls.

After a long day of chocolate, we burned off some energy bowling. Yours truly:

We also went on a lovely hiking trail called Trollstigen. It had lots of kid friendly sites to see: painted rocks and toadstools, tree art, a mining camp. Our youngest Cinnamon Stick said, “We found a funky hike!” Lots of fun, and it kept the girls entertained for the whole of the hike!

One of our favorite lunch spots was a crepe restaurant. Apparently they have one in Stockholm too. We will be visiting that one as well I’m sure:

We just left, but we can’t wait to return!

To be continued…