Sweden

Imagine you’re in Swedish Lapland in June. Around 11 p.m. you finish dinner at an acclaimed restaurant and instead of repairing fireside with a brandy (though that’s good, too) you hit the slopes for a couple more hours of skiing under the midnight sun. Then later – or tomorrow, if you actually choose to sleep – your Brown + Hudson guide can take you ski touring or heli-skiing, or get you off-piste (as they say) to see the WWII shipwrecks at Narvik.

Winter is just as fun, only darker. Ride snowmobiles for a lakeside picnic to watch the amazing aurora borealis. Or let our local friends introduce you to the art of dogsledding. As the huskies strike up a chorus of “Pick me, pick me”  – or maybe “Born to Run” – your guides assemble expertly balanced teams. Then you’re off, gliding almost silently through a winter wonderland to stay at the very cool (as in cool) Ice Hotel, or perhaps a remote log cabin where your private chef arrives by snowmobile and you can take in the Northern Lights from an outdoor hot tub.

Flipping back to summer, you can go rugged and explore Lapland on the ancient Kungsleden Trail. Fish for salmon under the midnight sun with a tot of brännvin to keep you warm. Or bike and walk in the Viking enclave of Gotland, or on Ingmar Bergman’s beloved island of Fårö. Then there’s medieval Visby, or the royal gardens of Drottningholm, or the villages of Mariefred, connected by interlocking lakes and rivers. 

In Stockholm we can arrange a tour with young designers who’ll show you there’s a lot more to Swedish furniture and décor than prefab melamine bookshelves. Then there’s the Konserthuset where the Nobel Prizes are handed out and dinner in the City Hall. We’ll even teach you the etiquette of smorgasbord dining and brief you on the Swedes’ 120+ methods for preparing herring or salmon.

In short, Sweden is a place where pretty well anything is possible. Except maybe keeping track of time in 24-hour daylight when you’ve forgotten your watch. But then, it doesn’t really matter…