WORLD’S TALLEST WOODEN HOTEL OFFERS NEW CLIMATE-POSITIVE TRAVEL EXPERIENCE


“Wood Hotel Experience” Blurs Luxury with Sustainability in Swedish Lapland.

After a soft local opening, the world’s tallest hotel made almost exclusively from wood, has now opened for guests everywhere at the birthplace of cross-country skiing, Skellefteå in Swedish Lapland. The new hotel is part of a five-day/four-night Wood Hotel Experience from Off the Map Travel adventure travel specialists, offering a mix of sustainability and nature in a beautiful setting.

Designed for enjoyment in the forested area of northern Sweden, couples as well as families will experience the hotel along with local adventure and gastronomy.  Available from December to March, the Wood Hotel Experience begins with an overnight stay in Stockholm before a flight to Skellefteå where guests will be transferred by electric car to the Wood Hotel.

The new Wood Hotel stands 75 meters tall with 20 storeys and is made almost entirely from spruce and pine sourced from the neighboring forests. Dominating the skyline but fitting into the town’s natural beauty with its wood construction, the hotel has 205 contemporary rooms filled with the rich, warm smell of the trees they are built from. In addition to a rooftop spa, the hotel has three stunning restaurants including an Italian café, an Asian restaurant and one with locally sourced, Sami-inspired food.

“This is an opportunity for sustainability-minded visitors who search out “neo luxury,” looking for culture and escapism all wrapped into one comfortable, climate-sensitive package,” says Alex Minnis, Chief Operations Officer of Off the Map Travel. “Being made out of wood contributes to the building’s being climate-positive as the structure absorbs more CO2 than it uses. It also contributes to comfort and personal well-being, reducing stress and improving sleep” he added.

As part of the experience, guests will create their own gin at Skellefteå’s award-winning distillery using locally foraged ingredients. Guests can also choose to go snowshoeing to take in the sights of this beautiful part of Swedish Lapland and then relax in the hotel’s Vana Spa with its saunas and outdoor pool offering panoramic views over Skellefteå and its forests.  In winter, the new itinerary is ideally located for guests to experience the Northern Lights on a self-guided walk with well-marked trails leaving directly from the hotel.

For cross-country skiers, Skellefteå is a dream, offering choices for all levels of enthusiasts, with optional excursions possible according to guests’ interests and levels.

Priced from £2045 per person ($2500 USD at the time of this writing), the five-day/four-night Wood Hotel Experience itinerary includes all accomodations, daily breakfast, one lunch and gin making, snowshoeing and the rooftop spa. Flights and travel insurance are additional, and the package can be customized to include excursions such as cross-country skiing.

For more information visit www.offthemap.travel, call 0800 566 8901 or email info@offthemap.travel

Full Itinerary:

Day 1 – Arrive in Stockholm and stay overnight in the city 

Day 2 – Fly from Stockholm to Skellefteå Airport for an electric car transfer to The Wood Hotel 

Day 3 – Lunch at Gin Distillery followed by gin making 

Day 4 – Morning snowshoeing and afternoon at the hotel’s panoramic Spa 

Day 5 – Return to Stockholm

OFF THE MAP TRAVEL

The team at Off the Map Travel works with experiences and destinations that allow people to explore hidden wonders of our planet. Specializing in the Nordic region OTMT creates tailor-made holiday itineraries offering authentic experiences not offered by many larger travel companies.  For more information on Off the Map Travel itineraries visit www.offthemap.travel; call 1-646-701-0041; email info@offthemap.travel  or join in the conversation on FacebookTwitterInstagramYouTube or Pinterest

SPEND FOUR DAYS IN THE ARCTIC ON A FREE VIRTUAL HOLIDAY, ONE DAY AT A TIME

Virtual travel experts have created the world’s first four-day holiday, that you can experience from the comfort of your own home.

The holiday has been designed by Virtually Visiting to be experienced through your own computer, tablet or phone.

The Arctic adventure puts you right in the center of the holiday with new experiences released each day over a four-day complete trip.

The first holiday will start on Saturday April 18. It has been designed to take guests on a wintery tour of the Arctic region of Swedish Lapland. “We wanted to put you right in the action, allowing you to experience tours as though you were there,” says Jonny Cooper, founder of Virtually Visiting. “This is about keeping the travel experience real; we meet some of the best local guides who walk us through local life to give guests the real-life experience – from their own homes.”

What’s more, this bucket-list four-day holiday is completely free for people to experience and will unfold one day at  a time at https://virtuallyvisiting.com/360-journeys/.

Your Virtual Travel Itinerary

Guests will virtually arrive 144km north of the Arctic Circle into Kiruna. The first stop has been perfectly timed just as the ICEHOTEL closes the doors on ICEHOTEL 30 for the last time this year, before it is left to melt back into the river – and it is here that the adventure begins.

Ice Bar at the ICEHOTEL

The first experience on Saturday April 18 sees our ICEHOTEL guide Matilda give a personal tour around four of the jaw-dropping, individually designed and carved ice rooms and explain how it all comes together – from the frozen water in the river flowing beside the hotel, to being transformed into these beautiful masterpieces you see before you.

The tour will not only allow you to hear from Matilda but also look around the amazing space created entirely from ice and snow – a breathtaking combination of an art-exhibition and a hotel in one. ICEHOTEL

Yellow Snow Husky Tour

Monday April 20 brings a more leisurely pace and a chance to join Kent Lindvall, the founder and visionary behind the world famous Treehotel. Today, Kent will take us on a personal tour of Treehotel where guests learn about the history of the hotel including a tour inside four of the seven amazing tree-top hotel rooms. Each room has its own theme which is showcased in the design of the exterior and interior.

TreeHotel Tour

The final day of the tour, Tuesday April 21, the adventure will take guests east 90km to the wilderness around Kroktask. Here we join Erik Hordijk from Yellow Snow Husky tours to learn how to harness a team of huskies in preparation for the journey across the frozen landscape, before setting of on our dogsled adventure.

Each day a new virtual experience and additional information will be released allowing visitors to immerse themselves in a journey through the region getting a real sense of the people and place as you travel through it.

The team behind Virtually Visiting will launch more experience and tours after this with the chance to visit Storforsen middle falls nature walk, join a tour of the new Arctic Bath, visit ICEHOTEL 365meet the Moose and Reindeer, learn about the Sami culture, go Kayaking, and explore the Aurora Safari Camp.

Virtually Visiting founder, Jonny Cooper, added, “As well as our new virtual holiday, we’re also working hard to add further capabilities allowing us to run live VR tours in the future, adding even more real-time interaction with guides.”

To join the free four-day Virtual Arctic adventure from Saturday April 18 – Tuesday April 21, visit https://virtuallyvisiting.com/360-journeys/ (and don’t worry, if you miss one of the days, the video can be accessed at the same link).

For more information on virtual travel experiences visit www.virtuallyvisiting.com or email info@virtuallyvisiting.com