Lapland

As the midnight sun dips to the horizon, Tornetrask’s lake mirrors the blue tundra cloaking the high mountains of Abisko National Park. Famed as a stunning example of Arctic Landscapes, Abisko also gets the vote from botanists and birders as one of the very best natural sites in Lapland.

It seems that the entire northern Swedish flora is jostling for space on Njulla Mountain which rises immediately behind our hotel. It looks a long way to the top so it’s a fine thing to have a working ski lift whisk us to 900m above sea level. White carpets of Windflower and pink domes of Moss Campion greet us with a spectacular show. Willow Grouse and Lapland Bunting feed amongst Cassiope hypnoides and rarer Cassiope tetragona. The beautiful lilac-pink Mountain Heath flowers prolifically amongst Alpine Catchfly and mats of lovely Diapensia lapponica on dry tundra, the nesting habitat for elegant Long-tailed Skuas and overflown by Merlin and Rough-legged Buzzard. By snow we can find the beautiful Ranunculus nivalis and on rocks both Saxifraga cespitosa and purple Saxifragaoppositifolia. There’s moss-loving Pinguicula villosa, tiny Snow Gentian, fine yellow Astragalus frigidus, and two rare orchids, the strange Gymnadenia straminea and the tiny green Platanthera oligantha. Bluethroats and Bramblings nest by our hotel, whilst Slavonian Grebes and immaculate Black-throated Divers rear their young on Tornetrask’s still waters. Red-necked Phalaropes spin on boggy pools home to Ruby Whiteface, Azure Hawker and the shimmering Alpine Emerald. Snow Bunting and Reindeer should be seen as we explore the magnificent glaciated Trollsjön Valley where Pale Arctic Clouded Yellows and Cranberry Blues fly amongst Dwarf Cornel and a fine show of Wild Azalea.

If you enjoy Arctic landscapes and fauna and flora, and prefer to spend as little time as possible travelling, then this tour is for you. It is barely an hour to Abisko from the airport at Kiruna and you’ll spend the entire week thereafter less than an hour’s drive from the hotel.