This is your destination guide for Sweden.
This is your destination guide for Åre
📍 Part of SwedenSweden's biggest ski mountain, Scandinavia's biggest bike park, and après-ski that runs later than the lifts.
The reality: You step off the night train at Åre station and the mountain is right there — Åreskutan, white and blunt, the village clustered at its foot, lifts running up into the cloud. No transfer, no hire car. You can reach a chairlift in the time it takes to find your gloves.
That's Åre's trick. It's a full alpine resort — the biggest ski area in Sweden, and the only place in the country to host the Alpine World Championships, which it has done three times — but it sits in the middle of Jämtland's fells, reachable overnight from Stockholm. In summer the same lifts carry mountain bikes instead of skis, up one of the biggest bike parks in Europe.
Come in February for deep snow and packed slopes, in April for spring sun and outdoor après, or in July for 50 kilometres of downhill trail and long, bright hikes to the summit. Just don't come expecting it cheap, or quiet. Åre is neither.
One SkiPass covers four linked areas — Åre By, Björnen, Duved and Tegefjäll — which together make the biggest ski area in Sweden. Åre By is the serious one: the steepest pistes, the World Cup slalom hill, and the off-piste ravines (Östra and Västra Ravin, Svartberget) that locals disappear into on a powder day.
Åre By — the highest lift-served skiing in Sweden, topping out around 1,274 m with the biggest vertical (roughly 890 m) and a 6.5 km run to the bottom. This is where the racing happens; Åre is the only Swedish venue for the Alpine World Championships, in 1954, 2007 and 2019.
Duved & Tegefjäll — quieter, wider, more forgiving. A good base for intermediates and anyone who finds Åre By's crowds tiring.
Björnen — the family end. Gentle runs, ski-in ski-out apartments, and the children's areas. No village, no nightlife — which is the point.
Åreskutan and the high zone: above the treeline the mountain turns to bare fell (kalfjäll), and this is where Åre gets temperamental. Wind and icing shut the top lifts often — the local heartbreak is a bluebird day in the valley while the summit stands still. When it runs, the cable car and gondola take you high, and a short hike (about 45 minutes) reaches the 1,420 m summit and Toppstugan, the highest café in Sweden. Åre is rebuilding this part of the system — the old cable car up Åreskutan is set to be replaced by a new gondola with better weather protection — so check current lift status before you count on any single one.
Åre isn't one place but a string of them along the valley, linked by a ski bus. Where you sleep changes the holiday.
Åre By — the main village, built around Åre Torg, the square ringed with bars and restaurants. The train station is a short walk from the lifts, and the Bergbana funicular (running since 1910) climbs from the square to Fjällgården on the slope. This is where the noise is.
Duved — ten minutes west, smaller and more local, with its own lifts. Cheaper and calmer, and a bus ride from the nightlife.
Björnen — a cluster of ski-in ski-out apartments east of Åre By, aimed squarely at families. Efficient, quiet, no real centre.
Tegefjäll — between Åre and Duved, a chairlift and the Tegetornet bar at the bottom. Handy if you want the skiing without the after-dark crowds.
Copperhill Mountain Lodge, above Björnen, is the design hotel with the long views — worth knowing about even if you don't stay, for a meal with the valley laid out below.
The lifts don't stop when the snow goes.
Åre hosted the Mountain Bike World Championships back in 1999 and never really put the bikes away. In summer the slopes become Scandinavia's largest bike park — around 50 km of trail and 853 m of vertical — while the fells open up for walking. The season runs roughly early June to late September.
The lift-served downhill is the headline: over forty trails from green flow to black rock. Easy Rider, the signature beginner run, was rebuilt for 2025 into four kilometres of gentle flow down the high zone; Wingman is the machine-built jump line everyone films. Bikes and full protection rent at Åre Torg.
If you'd rather pedal, the trail and enduro network in Björnen has around eighteen built singletracks with no lift required — roots, rock and forest instead of berms and airtime.
Åre takes après seriously — this is one of the few Swedish resorts where the bar after skiing is a reason people come, not an afterthought.
Fjällgården — up on the slope, ski-in, with a live band that changes week to week, and you ski (or take the funicular) home afterward. The classic.
Timmerstugan — by VM6, runs an "Apres Midi" on Sundays: red-checked tablecloths, candles, smoke cannons, alpine-fondue energy.
Verandan & Bygget — the square's bar-into-nightclub, where the bigger touring Swedish acts play. This is where the night goes long.
Broken is the pub — the "Mega Burger" is a village institution — and Tegetornet, down in Tegefjäll, does a lower-key live-music après for people staying that end. It all peaks in spring (vårvinter), late March into April, when the outdoor bars open and the sun stays up.
The eating is better than a ski town needs it to be. Jämtland is serious farm country — reindeer, mountain-cattle beef, local cheese, cloudberries — and Åre has the kitchens to use it, plus its own brewery (Åres Bryggcompagni) pouring around town.
Supper — South American small plates to share, in one of Åre's oldest buildings. Mister French — a brasserie with the ski hat on instead of the top hat. Parkvillan — a gastro-pub with its own brewery in the cellar.
Buustamons Fjällgård — a timber cabin up toward Ullådalen; you're fetched by snowcat for dinner in winter, and the waffles are reason enough to stop by in daylight.
Bistrologiskt claims the title of Sweden's highest restaurant, up the hill; Niesti at Copperhill cooks with the valley in the window.
Lunch on the mountain: Timmerstugan by VM6 (busy, drop-in only, turns into après by mid-afternoon), Hummelstugan at 883 m, and the slope-side restaurant at Fjällgården. Book dinner tables ahead in high season — the good places fill through the sportlov weeks.
February to early March is peak ski season — deep snow, longer days, and the Swedish school sports holidays (sportlov, roughly weeks 7–9). It's the most crowded and most expensive stretch of the year; book months ahead. The high zone opens in February.
Late March and April (vårvinter) is the local pick: long daylight, real sun, spring snow that softens by afternoon, and outdoor après in full swing. Mid-week is noticeably cheaper. This is the sweet spot if you can be flexible.
June to September is the summer season — bike park and hiking, 10–20°C, festivals in July. September brings autumn colour to the fell, thinner crowds, and crisp, clear air; some find it the best walking of the year.
May, and October to November, are the dead weeks: the ski lifts have closed and the bike park isn't open (or has just shut), and many restaurants close with them. Come only if you want quiet and don't mind a short menu. Whatever the month, the fell makes its own weather — the top can be still and sunny or a whiteout within the hour. Pack layers.
Take the train. A night train runs direct from Stockholm and Malmö to Åre station — board in the evening, wake up in the village, walk to the lifts. Day trains from Stockholm take around 6.5–7 hours, and regional Norrtåg services run from Sundsvall and Umeå. The station is central, which is Åre's quiet advantage over most alpine resorts.
By air: Åre/Östersund Airport is about an hour away, with domestic flights including Stockholm. Trondheim Værnes, across the Norwegian border, is around two hours but has more international direct routes; airport transfers and flygtaxi services run from both.
On the ground: in Åre By you barely need a car — it's walkable and the ski bus links the areas (free with a lift pass). A car helps in summer for reaching trailheads and Tännforsen, or if you're basing in Duved. Village parking is paid, via app.
Pick your base by what you want your evenings to look like.
Åre By — for the village and the nightlife, walking distance to the lifts and the square.
On the slope (Fjällgården, Tott, Lake Lodge) — for ski-in ski-out and the view, a funicular or short ski from the square.
Björnen — for families: ski-in apartments, gentle runs, and quiet nights.
Duved — for a calmer, cheaper, more local base with its own lifts; you'll bus in for the big nights.
Copperhill — for design-hotel comfort and long valley views above Björnen.
Åre is Sweden's most expensive ski town. A peak-week day pass runs close to Alpine prices — but the night train, the beer and the fondue all undercut the Alps, and dropping off high season knocks 30–40% off.
Prices in 2026 kronor (SEK) — roughly, 100 kr ≈ €9 and 800 kr ≈ €70. Off-season and mid-week take 30–40% off the winter figures.
Go if you want Sweden's biggest ski mountain and Scandinavia's biggest bike park in one village you can reach by night train — alpine runs, 50 km of downhill trail, and après that outlasts the lifts. Skip if you need guaranteed powder on fixed dates, a cheap mountain week, or silence.
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