The night train north
The night train leaves Stockholm Central in the late afternoon or evening, calls at Arlanda Airport and Uppsala, and runs north overnight through Gävle and the forests of Norrland. By morning it is in Swedish Lapland, reaching Boden, Gällivare and then Kiruna after about 17 hours. It continues across the mountains past Abisko to Narvik on the Norwegian coast.
You can choose a seat, a couchette or a private sleeper cabin, and there is a restaurant car. Sleeper cabins sell out early in winter, when the train is popular with travellers chasing the northern lights. You can compare times and book tickets on Omio.
Where to get off
- Kiruna: base for the Icehotel at Jukkasjärvi, dog sledding and aurora tours.
- Abisko: Abisko National Park has some of the clearest skies in Scandinavia for the northern lights, and the start of the Kungsleden trail.
- Narvik: the end of the line, on a fjord in Norway, with connections onward to Lofoten by bus.
See the Northern Sweden map for Lapland's towns and national parks.