Places to stay
Niehku: Long Walks, Long Dinners and the Midnight Sun
At Sweden’s border with Norway, Niehku Mountain Villa brings together mountain days, serious cooking and the kind of relaxed care I wish more hotels understood. I arrived curious, and a little sceptical. I left deeply moved.
By Lina Skandevall
Published · Updated
I have stayed at many wonderful hotels in Sweden. Even so, Niehku caught me off guard.
I had been curious about it since it opened in 2018. There had been plenty of praise, but after years of trying hotels, I tend to bring a little scepticism along with my luggage. A beautiful setting is a good start. What happens once you get there matters rather more.
During my July visit, I spent my days walking through the mountains, swimming in lakes and discovering how much the landscape can change between the Swedish mountains and a Norwegian fjord. Back at the hotel came a sauna, a glass of white wine in the sunshine and dinners I looked forward to with almost childish excitement.
My legs were tired. The rest of me felt thoroughly replenished.
A place with something to remember
Niehku sits in Riksgränsen, close to the Norwegian border, in the Sámi homeland of Sápmi. There is a sense of scale here that I find difficult to put into words: rock, water, snow still lying on the mountains, and summer light that makes you reluctant to go indoors.
The hotel has a history beneath its feet. Built on the site of an old railway roundhouse, it incorporates surviving stonework into the newer building. In the dining room, a glass floor reveals the wine cellar below, tucked into a former locomotive greasing pit. I enjoyed choosing wine from that cellar. It is a rather lovely second life for a place built to keep engines running.
With just 14 guest rooms, Niehku is small. The atmosphere reminded me of the Alpine chalets I like best: somewhere you can spend the day being active, eat extremely well and feel completely at ease afterwards. The service during my stay was relaxed and familiar, with a fine instinct for looking after people.
From the mountains to the fjord
Some walks began close to the hotel. Another took us to Trollsjön, where clear turquoise water lay beneath steep mountain walls. We had beautiful weather and flowers were in bloom along the way. I could have spent a very long time beside that lake.
We were fortunate with the weather for most of the trip. The exception was our walk across to the Norwegian side and down towards Rombaksbotn. Mist hung around the mountains as we followed a route marked by the history of the railway, passing through a landscape of rock, greenery and rushing water.
Walking from the Swedish mountains down to a Norwegian fjord is an extraordinary experience in itself. Then, just as our boat came to collect us, the sun appeared. The water was perfectly still, reflecting the mountains and waterfalls above it.
There was also a helicopter flight among glaciers and emerald lakes. I cried. The sheer beauty of it was overwhelming.
These mountains are not reserved for guests at one particular hotel. You can explore the region from other bases, including Abisko and Björkliden. What I loved about staying at Niehku was being able to give myself over to the whole experience, including the care waiting at the end of each day.
Dinner was worth coming back for
A tasting menu every evening can be a little much if the cooking does not hold your attention. Here, I kept looking forward to the next one.
There was butter-fried vendace with Kalix löjrom, the fish served alongside the roe for which this part of Sweden is famous. And beautifully cooked cod. The food drew on the surrounding north: game from Sweden, fish from the Atlantic, a kitchen with plenty to work with on both sides of the border.
Annie Hesselstad was among the chefs cooking during my visit. She has also created desserts for the Nobel Prize banquet. That gives some indication of the skill involved, but it was the pleasure of sitting down to eat, night after night, that stayed with me.
I remember the breakfasts, too. And soup out in the mountains. The meals belonged to the days we were having, whether we were stopping on a walk or settling in for the evening.
The full hiking experience is a substantial indulgence. I felt it was worth it. The walking, the food and the warmth of the welcome added up to the best hotel experience I had had in Sweden.
I left thinking about coming back in winter. With all those summer kilometres in my legs, I was already wondering what the mountains would look like under snow.
Planning a stay
- Niehku Mountain Villa, Riksgränsen, northern Sweden.
- The hotel has 14 guest rooms. Its summer hiking programme includes helicopter-assisted trips among the options.
- The restaurant accepts non-resident reservation requests subject to availability.
- Check upcoming seasonal dates and package details on Niehku’s official website and confirm arrangements directly with the hotel.
Read more of Lina’s reporting in the journal, or find out about the magazine and its editorial approach.