A new flight route has just made the Swedish mountains much more accessible for UK skiers

Eight Alaskan huskies, their barks loud and tails wagging, are chomping at the bit to get running and pull my sled through the deep snow.

Sol (meaning sun in Swedish) and Jake are directly in front of me, jostling for position as we take off at quite a pace through mountain birch trees covered in a thick layer of white, expertly navigating turns, gentle slopes and faster downhills, in Stöten, central Sweden.

I’m deep in the Sälenfjällen – the Sälen mountains – in Dalarna County, close to the Norwegian border, where winters are cold (it’s minus 14 degrees, but the minus 30s aren’t unheard of) and the snow doesn’t stop falling during our short jaunt across to this lesser-known ski region.

The landscape of Sälen evokes undulating hills rather than steep, jagged mountains of the French and Swiss Alps that many British skiers might be used to, with the highest peak here – Granfjället – only reaching 948 metres. When you’re this far north though, you don’t need altitudes close to 3,000 metres to get enough snow.

A new flight route from TUI, alongside Crystal Ski Holiday’s new package has made accessing this winter landscape from the UK easy, with flights scheduled from London Gatwick to the small Scandinavian Mountain Airport once a week, taking just two hours. Many ski breaks in the famous Alps require a long transfer up winding mountain roads, but after around 30 minutes (and no stomach-churning hairpin turns in sight) we pull into Sälens Högfjällshotell, a four-star hotel with ski-in, ski-out access.

The airport itself, owned by a co-op of the nearby ski resorts, opened in 2019 to make this inland mountain region accessible to international visitors, but it still feels somewhat undiscovered to British and Irish tourists – most of its international visitors are from Denmark, Norway and the Netherlands.

This side of the border there is currently 187 slopes but a SkiStar lift pass also gives you access to skiing in Trysil in Norway (although you’ll have to take your skis off and get into car) where the terrain is quite different.

“The ski area is higher, it’s one mountain, but the nature is more beautiful here, where there is a chain of mountains,” Niklas Funk, sales and marketing for the airport and a ski instructor, says of the Swedish side.

Originally the four-star Sälens Högfjällshotell was built in 1937 as a place “for the rich and famous to party and breathe fresh air”, says the hotel’s COO Martin Sahlberg. There is a certain grandeur to the place – the Norwegian royal family even stayed while hiding out during World War Two, the food is top-notch and the wine cellar is famously impressive – recently nominated for the best wine list in Sweden.

An in-hotel ski hire shop minimises the bother ski holidays invariably come with, and two beginner slopes serviced by T-bar lifts lead directly to the hotel. It’s possible to access the wider ski area Lindvallen and Hundfjället from here too, via half an hour of connecting button and chairlifts, or the quick, regular and free ‘ski bus’.

Reaching the highest points by chair lift, the views are surprisingly flat for a ski region; it has own kind of beauty though, the curvature of the hills awash with untouched snow, small trees construed into alien-like shapes, weighed down by a thick white layer – with authentic wooden mountain huts dotted in the distance, for open fires and hot chocolates.

It’s so cold that ice has started to form around my snood and my toes are entirely numb, but families are out in full force to ski. In fact, these wide – and mostly very quiet – runs make an excellent learning environment for children, beginners and up to intermediates. It’s home to Northern Europe’s biggest ski school, SkiStar, with around 200 English-speaking instructors and particularly affordable group and private tuition.

While there is slightly more challenging skiing at Tandådalen (10 minutes by road from our hotel), the few black runs aren’t the equivalent of black-graded slopes of France, for example. Although one nicknamed ‘The Wall’ does boast a steep 45% gradient and hosts a yearly challenge where participants run up and ski down.

Dog sledding at Peak Points in Tandådalen is just one way to feel immersed in nature here – one afternoon our group also explores the area via snowmobile. You need a drivers licence to be put in charge of one of these (pretty hefty) machines, but I’m unconvinced my ability to drive a car on roads is any advantage for this, as I try and get a hang of the jolty acceleration and heavy turns.

Once I’ve mastered a smoother ride though, the ride gives a whole different perspective of the region, off the main ski slopes and deeper into the wilderness. As the sun dips, the white-grey sky gives way to muted pinks and purples, while most are huddled inside for après-ski.

We park up at the oldest mountain cafe in Sälen Storfjällsgraven, which is only accessible via snowmobile, cross country skiing or, in summer, hiking. Built in the 1930s, timber had to be dragged up by horses at the time, and today it still doesn’t have electricity or running water.

Owner Leonard explains they cook on gas and open fire as we curl cold fingers around warm mugs and dig into waffles with cloudberry jam (just as the Swiss serve fondue on the mountain, for the Swedish it’s waffles). Leonard has spent years lovingly restoring the original building and kept its charm, of course, only warmed up by a roaring open fire.

For something less rustic, but just as encapsulating of rural Sweden in winter, we eat dinner at Gammelgården, wood-panelled in traditional floor to ceiling style, candlelit and staff in customary Dalarna dress, and tuck into a five-course game menu (hunting is big in this region), including moose tartare with chive mayo. But if you’re craving less refined food, this area also has the world’s only ski-through McDonald’s.

Being ‘cosy’ – aka, embracing ‘mysig’ – isn’t just physically necessary in these temperatures, it’s basically a cultural mindset, similar to the Danish ‘hygge’. And half an hour’s drive across the Norwegian border, we find cosiness in the most romantic of settings at Trysil Hestesenter. Here, visitors can take a horse-drawn sleigh through primeval forest, reaching a large snow-covered tipi tent, lanterns lighting the way – and if you’re very lucky, the Northern Lights peeking through the trees on a clearer night.

Husband and wife, Svein and Gry Eriksen, welcome us into the small opening; inside several candlelit tables and a wooden bar surround an open fire. They’re the fourth generation of their family to live out here and for 19 years they’ve been serving up hearty homemade meals. We’re welcomed with blueberry soup (berries are key to this region’s cuisine), moose stew and mash (a secret family recipe), followed by apple cake and homemade ice cream.

“Sometimes people propose here,” Svein notes, with one on the cards for the following week. And it’s no surprise; in this quiet pocket of the mountains, the sounds of only the jingle of bells and the horse trotting back under the stars, snowflakes still landing on my eyelashes, it’s easy to get swept up in the magic of it all.

How to book

Crystal Ski Holidays (crystalski.co.uk, 020 8610 3123) offers a bed & breakfast holiday staying at the Sälens Högfjällshotell from £819 per person when booked online. Based on two adults sharing a Superior Twin Room, including flights from London Gatwick to Scandinavian Mountains Airport, transfers and 20kg hold luggage per person.