Explore 9 ski resorts in Sweden. Every card links to a full resort page with pictures, terrain and the numbers; the arrow opens the description without leaving this page.
There is a sleeper train from Stockholm that arrives in the morning, which is one of the best ways to reach any ski resort in Europe. It puts you in Sweden's largest resort, a mountain above a lake with a proper village at its foot and the station in the middle of it. Åre has a lively bar and restaurant scene, a strong Swedish weekend crowd, and it hosts World Cup races and championships regularly. It eats well for a mountain town. The terrain is varied across several linked sectors with a big vertical, good beginner areas, and open bowls above the treeline that hold in wind. Snow is reliably cold from December to April. Hotels, cabins and apartments spread around the village. Dog sledding and a lakeside sauna fill the days off the skis.
A family resort in Värmland in central Sweden with a strong following among Swedish and Norwegian families, built around the idea that the children come first. There are themed areas for young skiers, free activities through the week, and free skiing for children up to six. Evening skiing runs until seven, which matters in a Nordic winter when the light goes early. The vertical is 415 metres, which is substantial for this part of Sweden, and the runs cover green, blue and red across a wide face. Most of the accommodation sits right on the slopes. Karlstad is the nearest city and Oslo is around three hours away by road, which makes this a common choice for Norwegian families looking for cheaper snow.
A quiet fell area in Jämtland in central Sweden, west of Östersund and south of Åre, spread across open mountain terrain above the treeline. The skiing is wide and mostly gentle with a fair amount of runs, and the setting is properly remote in a way the busier Swedish resorts are not. Cross country and ski touring across the surrounding fells are at least as much of the point as the downhill. Accommodation is cabins and a mountain hotel rather than a village, and Östersund lies about an hour off. Åre is close enough for a day if you want a bigger mountain.
Sweden's southernmost fell, in northwestern Dalarna, with runs facing in every direction so there is always one side with the best weather and snow on a given day. Almost all of the accommodation is genuine ski in and ski out, and the resort was laid out deliberately so that shops, restaurants and lifts are within walking distance of the beds. That makes it straightforward with young children. The terrain covers a wide spread including a well built snow park, and the vertical is good for this part of Sweden. Stockholm is around five and a half hours by road and Oslo about four and a half, and the area has a strong Norwegian following as a result.
A family resort in the Sälen area of Dalarna, on the Västerdalälven river, and one of the busier Swedish destinations for families with young children. The whole operation is built around them. There are themed weeks with characters for young skiers, free lift passes, ski school and equipment for children up to seven during certain periods, and a large share of the terrain is gentle. There is more to it than that though, with a well built terrain park and enough red runs to keep a confident skier occupied for a few days. Accommodation is cabins and apartments on the slope, and there is a spa. Stockholm is around five hours by road and Oslo about four.
The oldest and busiest of the Sälen resorts in Dalarna, and one of the most visited ski areas in Sweden, joined by lift to Högfjället next door. The terrain is wide and gentle with an enormous learning operation, which is why so many Swedish children first put on skis here. There is enough variety for confident skiers but the mountain is built around families. Lindvallen has a well known supermarket and shopping area right in the ski area, reached on skis, which is more useful on a self catering holiday than it sounds. Stockholm is around four and a half hours by road and Oslo about four, and the whole Sälen area fills during Swedish holiday weeks.
A mountain village in Härjedalen in central Sweden, smaller and quieter than the big Swedish resorts and with a strong following among families who come back every year. The terrain is spread across two mountains with a good vertical for this part of the country, a well protected learning area and enough red runs to keep confident skiers busy. There is also an extensive cross country network across the fells. Accommodation is cabins and apartments, mostly close to the lifts, and the whole place is built around self catering rather than hotels. The wildlife safaris in the surrounding forest, with moose and sometimes bear, are a genuine part of what people come for. Stockholm is around six hours by road.
Thirteen kilometres outside Borlänge in southern Dalarna, and around two and a half hours from Stockholm, which is the whole reason it exists in the form it does. It offers mountain style skiing at a distance that makes a day trip or a weekend realistic. There are 34 runs facing in every direction, which means there is always something sheltered and something in the sun, served by fourteen lifts of which six are six seat express chairs. That lift capacity on a hill this size means queues are rare. The vertical is modest, but the runs are well built and the snowmaking is thorough. It is a place built for volume of turns rather than for scenery.
One of the Vemdalen resorts in Härjedalen in central Sweden, sharing a lift pass with Björnrike and Klövsjö nearby, which together make one of the larger Swedish ski areas. The terrain is a good spread with gentle learning ground and enough red runs to keep confident skiers busy, and the fells here hold snow reliably from December into April. Accommodation is mostly cabins and apartments close to the lifts, and much of the area is genuinely ski in and ski out. Stockholm is around six hours by road, and the area has a strong following among Swedish families who come for a week rather than a weekend.
