Ski Sweden

It’s a little known fact to those who ski Sweden that the northerly European country has one of the largest counts of ski areas for anywhere in the world – with some 500 ski hills – albeit 95% of them small, single rope tow hills, next to villages across the country.

However the country is home to several internationally famous Swedish ski resorts, including the World Alpine Skiing Championships resort of Are-Duved (Åre), the most popular of the nearly 1,000 ski resorts and hills of Scandinavia, and Riksgränsen up 200km within the Arctic Circle where the lifts don't open until February but keep running well in to June, for skiing and boarding under the midnight sun from late May, and affordable heli-skiing. This is where many die-hard skiers and boarders, who can’t accept that winter must end, head for each April.

There’s a very long history of cross country skiing in Sweden just as in the other Scandic nations, with old skis dating back more than 4,000 years old preserved in bogs. Downhill skiing has also been possible here as long as the sport has existed.

Swedish ski resorts also have both the advantages and disadvantages of other Scandinavian skiing nations - short cold days in midwinter (there is a lot of floodlighting of pistes to compensate for this), balanced by long days from April to June as the season stretches on when the snow has long gone from the Alps and the Rockies. Many of the world's top skiers head to Sweden at that time.

On the slopes there’s a predominance of small ski hills with small verticals and mostly short easy runs served by drag lifts rather than chair or gondola lifts except at the big resorts like Are.

Sweden’s ski resorts are also known for being particularly family friendly however, which includes free skiing for children up to age 7 or 8 in some resorts, friendly and relaxed child care and ski school and high safety standards on the slopes.

There's also the reputation for high prices, which is no longer really true compared to the Alps or Rockies, except in the case of alcoholic drink, which is expensive. Many of Sweden's top resorts have long histories and have developed in a similar way to the classic Swiss ski centres. Other well known centres such as Sålen and Funåsdalen offer similar expanses of terrain, although most are actually made up of numerous small areas.

There are also unique experiences such as the Storlien Mountain Resort hotel which has its own lifts as well as a vast array of non-ski alternatives on offer, all delivered from a setting of timeless ambiance.

Riksgransen, Are and other famous resorts have been rail-linked for a century or more, and it is a Swedish ski tradition to climb on to trains equipped with restaurants, discotheques, sleeping cars and play rooms in Stockholm in the evening and party north overnight to the ski centres. read more...

Sweden: latest snow conditions round-up

Ski resorts of Sweden, alphabetically

Resort	Webcam (click to zoom)	Top and bottom snow depth	On-piste	Off-piste	Forecast snow in next 3 days (click for forecast)	Weather forecast for 3 days ahead Weather report	Last snow
Åre		85 cm 62 cm	Excellent	Varied	7 cm	A light covering of new snow mostly falling on Sat night Partly cloudy, some sunny spells	5 cm on 6 Feb
Björkliden					7 cm	A light covering of new snow mostly falling on Thu night
Björnrike					0 cm	Mostly dry
Bjursås					0 cm	A dusting of new snow
Branas					0 cm	Mostly dry
Bydalen					0 cm	A dusting of new snow
Funäsdalen					2 cm	A dusting of new snow
Gällivare		40 cm 30 cm	Packed		0 cm	A dusting of new snow	on 27 Jan
Hassela					0 cm	Mostly dry
Hemavan and Tärnaby		50 cm 20 cm	Artificial		6 cm	A light covering of new snow mostly falling on Fri morning	on 27 Jan
Hovfjället					0 cm	A dusting of new snow
Idre Fjäll		50 cm 20 cm	Packed		0 cm	Mostly dry	on 27 Jan
Järvsö					0 cm	Mostly dry
Kåbdalis		60 cm 35 cm	Artificial		0 cm	A dusting of new snow	on 27 Jan
Kiruna					0 cm	Mostly dry
Kittelfjall					0 cm	A dusting of new snow
Kläppen					0 cm	Mostly dry
Klövsjö-Storhogna		55 cm 20 cm	Artificial		0 cm	Mostly dry	on 27 Jan
Kungsberget					0 cm	A dusting of new snow
Lofsdalen					0 cm	Mostly dry
Mullsjö					0 cm	A dusting of new snow
Riksgränsen					12 cm	A moderate fall of snow, heaviest on Thu night
Romme Alpin					0 cm	A dusting of new snow
Säfsen					0 cm	A dusting of new snow
Sälen		70 cm 50 cm	Excellent	Varied	0 cm	Mostly dry Partly cloudy, some sunny spells	2 cm on 6 Feb
Storlien					6 cm	A light covering of new snow mostly falling on Sat night
Sundsvall					1 cm	A dusting of snow turning to light rain (total 2.0mm) on Sat night
Sunne					0 cm	A dusting of new snow
Tandådalen-Hundfjället		50 cm 20 cm	Artificial		0 cm	Mostly dry	on 27 Jan
Tärnaby		60 cm 30 cm	Packed		5 cm	A dusting of new snow	on 27 Jan
Tolvmannabacken					0 cm	A dusting of new snow
Trillevalen					6 cm	A light covering of new snow mostly falling on Sat night
Ulricehamn					1 cm	A dusting of new snow
Vallåsen					0 cm	A dusting of new snow
Vemdalen					0 cm	Mostly dry