Our holiday starts at the accommodation in Kiruna. We arrive at the compact airport at Kiruna, and are met and transferred the short 15 minutes to Camp Ripan, which lies on the outskirts of the town, close to the downhill ski slopes on the hill of Luossavaara. During the winter season, the town of Kiruna sits within a snow-bound landscape of undulating countryside covered in birch and pine forest and punctuated by frozen lakes. There are views across to the peaks of the Kebnekaise range of mountains. Pretty rows of red-painted cabins and reindeer grazing in their corrals (at some times of the season) makes this an unusual type of resort.

You will quickly settle in to your cosy cabin, which has a twin/double bed, a room with a bunk bed, en-suite facilities, comfortable sitting area, tea and coffee making facilities, satellite TV and a clothes drying facility. The cabins work well for families. Larger families are accommodated over 2 cabins.

Please note that for any of the activities during this holiday, you may be part of a larger group with people who have not necessarily booked through KE. This will not affect your enjoyment of this wonderful holiday. There are a number of local activity providers that Camp Ripan work with and sometimes the order in which the itinerary follows can change.

On arrival, you will be given a programme with the timings of all the activities included in your KE holiday. Dinner is taken in the main building, where there is an excellent restaurant.

After our buffet-style breakfast, you will meet your snowmobiling guide in reception. First is the gear and clothing check to ensure you have enough warm clothing for the day's adventure. A padded suit, snowboots, hat and gloves are amongst the items that will be provided if they are needed.

Up in northern Sweden, the snowmobile is the most common form of transport out in the beautiful winter landscape. It is recommended that children under 12 years of age are towed in a covered trailer sledge behind the snowmobiles. We'll start at Camp Ripan and drive out into the low mountain areas close by, over frozen lakes into the wild forest land. If we are lucky we may come across moose and reindeer on our adventure. We have a break out on the ice and try our luck at some icefishing (sometimes this is not possible if it is too cold, around Christmas and New Year). We drill a hole in the ice whilst enjoying some traditional hot drinks and snacks. And if we are lucky we might catch some fish. After the break we head back out again on the snowmobiles and return to Camp Ripan for lunch. You even have the opportunity to drive your own snowmobile at an extra fee.

In the afternoon, we can go snowshoeing or cross-country skiing, sledging or simply play in the snow. Simple plastic sledges can be borrowed from the gear shop, and rental of snowshoes and skis are included in the holiday cost. Further exciting additional activities can be booked, see the end of this itinerary and in the spending money section for details.

For April departures we travel further into the mountains (1.5hrs drive) for our snowmobiling trip and make a full day of it. We enjoy a cooked lunch and some icefishing.

After breakfast, we will meet our Sami guide and make the short (20 minute) journey to Jukkasjarvi and the world-famous Icehotel. This is the world's largest ice structure, which includes an ice bar, an art gallery and even an ice church which is consecrated for weddings and christenings. We take time to explore this unusual building which is reconstructed every year. The highlights are the many 'deluxe' rooms, each of which have been given the designer treatment by artists from around the world. Beautifully carved out of ice over a period of several weeks and with a wide variety of themes, these can be quite breathtaking.

We then visit the towns' log timbered Sami Church dating from 1607. This small church has many special features and stories to discover. We end our tour at Cafe Sapmi, a large lavvu, traditional Sami teepee, with an open fire place in the centre surrounded by rustic benches. Here they serve classic sami dishes and we have a hot drink and one of their delicious berry pastries. We return to Camp Ripan for lunch.

In the afternoon we have included a 2 hour visit to the Aurora Spa at Camp Ripan. This has an outdoor hot tub, an indoor pool with panoramic windows to the snowy landscape and a sauna. The whole atmosphere is very relaxing, combining the clean modern whites of the Swedish style and earthy stone and wood. The adults will get a sauna bucket 'Stavan' which includes a birch leaf scrub, foot salts with juniper berries lemon and sea salt, coffee scrub and a body oil made with regionally-grown rapeseed oil.

A number of optional activities are available. Please see 'holiday information/spending money' for details.
We enjoy our dinner in the Camp Ripan restaurant.

We gear up (we are provided with additional warm clothing) and transfer to the kennels to meet our mushers (sledge drivers) and their dogs. Depending on the number in the party, a decision will be made on the number of dogs required for each sledge, which will be driven by one of the mushers. The dogs are Alaskan huskies and there could be as many as 12 pulling a sledge with 4 passengers and the musher. Anyone who wants to can usually assist with the process of putting the dogs in their traces.

We then get comfortable on the sledge, snuggling down into our winter gear on reindeer skins, as the dogs get more and more excited, yelping in their eagerness to be off. Off we go, our musher expertly guiding the dogs and sledge, and suddenly everything is quiet. The only thing you can hear is the sledge running on the snow and the panting of the dogs. The area is excellent dog-sledding terrain - undulating and forested and offering a real taste of Arctic travel by dog sled. We will take a break at a Sami-style teepee (Lavvo) and by the light of the open fire we will have a snack and a glass of lingonberry juice or a cup of coffee. There is a chance that we will see moose or reindeer along the trail or their tracks in the snow. We return to our accommodation at Camp Ripan in time for lunch in the restaurant.

In the afternoon, we have a guided, snowshoeing hike in the forest surrounding Camp Ripan. Equipped with snowshoes we'll explore the wintery landscape, following the tracks of the hare or mountain ptarmigan over the blanket of snow. At the end of our hike, we will stop for a hot drink. We'll then head back to our cabins before dinner in the restaurant later.

This morning you have a choice of optional activities. Cross-country skis (and footwear) are included, so you can venture out to the local trails to enjoy this. You are required to buy a pass locally (approx. SEK 50 pp). There is a sports field close by (so you can easily walk there) with a circuit of prepared cross-country tracks and several pisted trails lead off from this field. If you are feeling confident there is the option to complete a fun and undulating circuit through mixed forest terrain which takes us out towards the hill of Luossavaara. There are also shorter and easier ski tour options, depending on your standard. Again, given good weather, we will have views across to the peaks of the Kebnekaise Range. Returning to base we go for lunch in the restaurant.

Alternatively you can go on the snowshoes or take part in an additional activity.

A second visit to the Aurora Spa (2hrs, usually starting at 1400) is including for this afternoon, and otherwise the time is yours to enjoy another optional activity or go make use of the included sledges, snowshoes or cross-country ski's near the property. We have our last dinner at the accommodation.

Our holiday ends after breakfast. A single transfer is provided to Kiruna Airport. Depending on your flight time, there may be time to visit some of the sights in Kiruna or have some more fun in the snow. Kiruna Church is worth a visit. Extraordinarily beautiful and built along the lines of a Lappish cottage, the Church was recently voted the finest building in Sweden.

Additional activities (at extra cost) that you might be able to fit in a free morning, afternoon or evening include; a northern lights tour on horseback / a reindeer encounter meeting a Sami reindeer herder who takes us for a short sledge ride, we can pet and handle the reindeer / evening Northern Lights by snowmobile or dogsled / an evening kennel visit and packwalk / ice climbing at the indoor wall in Kiruna / further dogsled tour interaction for younger children / evening Northern lights photo tour. All these activities need to be booked in advance. Further information can be found in the 'spending money' section.

CHRISTMAS DEPARTURES
Christmas is special in this part of Sweden and Camp Ripan take extra care to ensure that it is as magical as could ever be. Departures which fall over the Christmas days have a slightly different format, and the itinerary will be in a different order to accommodate the celebrations.

Swedish Christmas Dinner - the Smorgasbord
In the evening of the 24th December the Swedish have their ‘Christmas Dinner’. This smorgasbord feast is a buffet selection of the finest herring, salmon, hams, smoked reindeer, lamb, deer, meatballs and much much more. There are plenty of options for the vegetarians!

Meet Father Christmas
Now it’s time for one of today’s highlights. Meet Father Christmas in the Sami tent, he offers mulled wine and gingerbread, he tells his tale of the eventful journey over the mountains through the snow storm. All children will receive a small Christmas gift.

Christmas Day torchlight procession
For those who can get up early on Christmas morning, there is the option to take part in a torchlight procession through the snow to the Kiruna Church. The early Christmas service, Julotta, is an old Swedish Christmas tradition. Even although many Swedes do not attend regular church services, they do take part on Christmas Day. The Kiruna Church, which beautiful and based on a large Sami hut, was honoured with the accolade of ‘Sweden’s Most Beautiful Building' in the year 2000. There is a small additional charge if you wish to take part, and you should book this on arrival.

NEW YEAR CELEBRATIONS
On New Year's Eve there will be a welcome drink and canapés in the lobby, and then a three course dinners in the restaurant.

At midnight there will be a celebration outside with a glass of bubbles. For families with children there will be a smaller celebration at 9pm.