The question about the minimum number of nights for a cottage in Sälen is one of the most common we receive, and it’s often the deciding factor in whether a trip goes ahead. Many people assume that a mountain holiday always means Sunday to Sunday, and therefore don’t even bother to book when they only have a long weekend off. That’s a shame, because the picture is more nuanced than that – it depends on the season, the specific cottage and what the calendar looks like for that particular week.
Here we explain the reasoning behind exchange days, why there are fixed rental periods, when shorter stays are available, and how to enquire about dates that aren’t shown on the calendar. Are you looking for weekend in the mountains The last section is the most important. The exact periods and minimum stay requirements that apply to your specific house and your chosen dates are set out in the booking terms and conditions and the booking calendar – we have deliberately chosen not to specify any fixed number of days here, as these may vary between houses and throughout the season.
Our periods: week, short week and weekend
| Period | Arrival–departure | Nights | When |
|---|---|---|---|
| Week | Sunday–Sunday | 7 | all year round |
| Short week | Sunday–Thursday | 4 | winter: 3 January–24 April, and spring, summer and autumn |
| Weekend | Thursday–Sunday | 3 | winter: 3 January–24 April, and spring, summer and autumn |
| Christmas and New Year | 20 December–2 January | 7 per week | specific lengths of stay – see the calendar on the website |
| Sports holidays and Easter | Sunday–Sunday | 7 | periods and changeover days as shown in the website’s calendar – the calendar indicates whether a particular week is a short week or a weekend |
Check-in from 4 pm, check-out by 10 am at the latest. Olarslodgen and Stenlodgen are only available for the whole of July (28 June–1 August) as full-week bookings, whilst Villa Åsstigen is sold on a weekly basis. The price per period is shown in the property’s price list; payment details are as follows: How to book a holiday cottage in Sälen.
Flexible arrival – whenever your schedule allows
Sunday and Thursday are the arrival days listed in the calendar. Other arrival days and different lengths of stay are available on request when the house is vacant between two bookings – most commonly outside school holidays and during spring, summer and autumn, when a five-night gap between a weekend and a week would otherwise go unused. Please let us know your dates, the number of guests and how flexible you are, and we’ll see if we can arrange this in the house you’d like or in another one of the same standard. During Christmas, New Year, the winter half-term and Easter, the answer is usually no, as the houses have guests arriving and departing on the same day during these periods.
Short answer: fixed exchange days during peak season, more space outside
The basic rule throughout the Swedish mountains is easy to understand when you look at it from a different angle. In high season, demand is so high that each cottage can be rented out for the whole week to a single group. This makes fixed rental periods sensible: they fill the calendar without any gaps and make it possible to plan cleaning and guest changes. Outside the high season, there isn’t the same level of demand, and in those cases a three-night booking is better than no booking at all – which means there’s greater flexibility.
In practical terms, this means that Christmas, New Year, the winter half-term and Easter are generally sold as whole periods with fixed changeover dates, whilst December, January (outside the school holidays), early spring and the whole of the summer season are considerably more flexible. If you’d like a holiday home in a location close to the slopes During a peak week, you should factor in the fixed booking period – in practice, this is the only way to secure that particular house for that specific week.
The standard tenancy periods – and why they are as they are
The recurring periods in the mountains are the week from Sunday to Sunday, the shorter stay from Sunday to Thursday, and the long weekend from Thursday to Sunday. This combination is no coincidence: together, they cover a whole week without any gaps, and they match the way Swedes actually travel. Families take the week, groups of friends take the long weekend, and those who have time off in the middle of the week get the cheapest nights.
The system also has an advantage for you as guests: it makes prices comparable and ensures that cleaning and maintenance routines are predictable, which in turn is essential for the properties to maintain the standard you are paying for. The periods available for a particular house are set out in the booking terms and conditions and are shown on the calendar when you search for your dates.
Shorter stays: when it’s possible to book three or four nights
Shorter stays are perfectly possible at Sälen, but they are easiest to arrange in three situations. The first is outside the peak season, when there is simply space available in the calendar. The second is late in the booking process, when a period is in danger of remaining empty anyway. The third is when your shorter stay happens to fit into a gap that already exists between two bookings – which is why it’s always worth asking, even if the calendar looks fully booked.
Bear in mind that the nightly rate is higher for short stays. This isn’t down to greed, but because cleaning, linen changes and administration cost just as much for three nights as they do for seven. If price is the deciding factor, it’s often cheaper per night to book a whole week in low season than a long weekend in high season.
High season and low season – how the rules change throughout the year
The year at Sälen effectively has three periods. The peak holiday weeks are entirely fixed to specific dates. The rest of the winter is partially fixed, with specific dates for the most sought-after properties and more flexible dates for the others. The summer half-year is almost entirely open, and you can often arrive and depart whenever it suits you. We’ve written more about the option to book accommodation at Sälen with flexible arrival times and what’s required to make it work.
Here’s a tip that few people think of: postponing your trip by a week can turn a busy period into a quiet one. Weeks 8 and 10 are completely different from week 9, even though the snow is the same.
Check-in and check-out: times and late arrivals
Check-in takes place in the afternoon on the day of arrival and check-out in the morning on the day of departure. The exact times are set out in the booking terms and conditions and in the confirmation, and they are there for a practical reason: between your check-out and the next group’s check-in, the entire house must be cleaned and inspected. During school holidays, when a house has guests arriving and departing on the same day, this timeframe is non-negotiable.
If you’re arriving late in the evening, that’s no problem – check-in is digital and the cottage will be ready for you. If you need to arrive earlier or stay longer than the standard times, this can often be arranged as an optional extra, but it’s subject to the cottage being available immediately before or after your stay. Please enquire when making your booking, not the day before departure. We’ve explained how this works in practice in the article on late check-outs in Sälen.
Here’s how to look up dates that aren’t shown on the calendar
This is the most useful piece of advice in the article. A booking calendar shows what’s available for booking – not everything that’s possible. Send a message with three details: your preferred dates, how many of you there are, and how flexible you can be. With that information, we can see if there’s a gap, if another house would be a better fit, or if shifting the dates by a couple of days would sort everything out. The answer isn’t always yes, but it is ‘yes’ surprisingly often.
Summary – plan the dates correctly from the outset
The minimum number of nights for a cottage in Sälen is not a single figure but depends on the season, the cottage and the calendar dates. During peak holiday periods, fixed periods and whole weeks apply; outside these periods, there is considerably more flexibility, and in summer the calendar is, in practice, open. The specific terms applicable to your booking are set out in the booking terms and conditions and on the calendar when you search for your dates – and if you cannot find what you are looking for there, the next step is to contact us. Anyone who is prepared to postpone their trip by a week, or to swap their cottage for one of the same standard, will almost always get to enjoy their mountain holiday in the end.