Åre - Sweden's alpine center

Fancy some skiing? If you are here in the winter, Åre is the place. As big and with as varied skiing as the big name ski resorts in the Swiss, Austrian and French alps, but quite a bit less expensive. 350.000 people come here every winter.

Åre lies 690 kms (430 miles) to the northwest of Stockholm. Driving is pretty simple and the roads are good. E4 north to Sundsvall (406 kms), turn left towards Östersund (187 kms) drive straight through, continue for another 100 kms and you are there.

If 8-9 hours of winter driving is not what you want to do with your life, there is air charter via Östersund (+ bus transfer) and high speed trains to choose from. Air charter fares starts at round trip. A seat on the 9 hour train trip costs about the same, more if you want a couchette for an overnight journey.

Alpine sports giant Skistar pretty much runs the show up here. They offer 4 destinations, 100 prepared runs, 100 km of pistes and 262 km of prepared ski tracks. The season in Åre is usually from the last week of November through late April.

Åre village seen from the lake, with the new Holiday Club hotel at the waterfront. The Åreskutan mountain top is 1.420 metres (4400 ft) above sea level. There are 40 lifts and 100 pists, of which 12 green (very easy), 39 blue (easy), 39 red (medium difficult) and 5 black (difficult). The longest run is 6,5 kms (4 miles). Photo: Skistar AB

Åre is a really big place for skiing and there is a huge choice of accommodations, from 4 star hotels to B&B's and rental chalets. There are 50 restaurants, 15 bars and night-clubs and a wealth of acitivities available. Everything, including transportation, ski rental and skipasses can be booked through Skistar's website.

In addition, Åre and its surroundings have many indicators of old prehistory and history. The samic original population is still surviving here, including their reindeer management. Several thousand years old rock carvings and paintings, viking graves, a stone church from 1180, copper mines from 1742 are among other evidence.

Åre's pist map is pretty impressive. To the left is the Duved pist system, in the center the Åre Village system and to the right the family oriented Åre-Björnen system, all with lots of hotels and other forms of lodging.