Sälen or Hemavan and Tärnaby – which one suits you best?

Sälen or Hemavan? The difference is, first and foremost, geographical – and it’s a significant one. Hemavan and Tärnaby are situated in southern Lapland, about a ten-hour drive from Stockholm, offering a genuine mountain experience, a long spring season and Tärnaby’s steep terrain. Sälen is four and a half to five hours away, has four interconnected resorts and offers a much wider range of facilities.

For a typical winter week, the Sälen is the practical choice. However, there are clear instances where the journey north is well worth the extra hour, and these should be stated plainly. If you’re travelling with a larger group, though, the range of options is a factor: exclusive mountain houses in Sälen is found on a scale that has no equivalent in the Västerbotten mountains.

Quick comparison: Sälen or Hemavan – Lapland versus the Dalarna Mountains

Here’s how the towns differ:

• Journey time from Stockholm: Sälen: approximately 4.5–5 hours by car – Hemavan: approximately 10 hours, or by plane.
• Season: Hemavan and Tärnaby have a considerably longer spring season, usually lasting into May.
• Terrain: Tärnaby is steep and challenging, whilst Hemavan is wider and more family-friendly – the Sälen is generally gentle, with a wide profile.
• A taste of the mountains: Hemavan and Tärnaby are situated in the high mountains, with bare mountain slopes and open plains – Sälenfjällen is at a lower altitude and more forested.
• Service: Sälen has more restaurants, shops and things to do – Lapland is less densely populated.
• Accommodation: Sälen has the country’s largest selection of large private mountain houses.

The journey time is the main difference

A ten-hour drive from Stockholm to Hemavan effectively means two days’ travel, or one very long day with at least three stops. From Gothenburg, it’s even further. This means a long weekend is out of the question, and even a week is effectively shorter – two out of seven days are spent travelling there and back. From Umeå, Skellefteå or the rest of Norrland, the picture is completely reversed: Hemavan and Tärnaby are close by, whilst Sälen is far away. If you live north of Sundsvall, this comparison is therefore largely the reverse, and Hemavan becomes the local area.

Flying instead of driving

It is the flights that make Lapland a realistic option for people in southern Sweden. Hemavan has an airport with scheduled flights and a short transfer to the slopes, which turns a ten-hour drive into a morning’s journey. Bear in mind, however, that you’ll need to hire a car on arrival or stay within walking distance of the ski lifts, and that there’s an extra charge for checking in ski equipment – many people choose to hire it locally instead. Sälen similarly operates Scandinavian Mountains Airport with seasonal flights. For a couple or a small group, flying can be both cheaper and more convenient than travelling by car; for a family of five with their own equipment, travelling by car is usually both cheaper and more practical. See fly to the mountains to see how it works against Sälen, and direct flights to Sälen for current arrangements.

The slopes: Tärnaby’s steep slopes and Hemavan’s wide slopes

Tärnaby is a classic ski resort with steep, technical terrain and a competitive tradition that few Swedish resorts can match – it is here that several of the country’s biggest names in alpine skiing have grown up. The resort does not have a large number of runs, but those it does have are challenging, attracting skiers who really know their stuff. Hemavan, a few mils away, is more spacious, more family-friendly and offers good off-piste terrain above the tree line. Together, they make an interesting pair for the experienced skier. Sälenfjällen has more runs and a significantly wider range of difficulty levels, but fewer truly steep runs – those that do exist, such as Väggen on Hundfjället, are the exception rather than the rule. If you’re looking for freeriding in Sälen, we’ve compiled off-piste and ski touring in Sälen.

Snow, early spring and light

This is where Lapland has a real advantage. Hemavan and Tärnaby are so far north that spring arrives later, which means a reliable season stretching into May with spring snow, sunshine and long, light evenings. In April and May, the sun also stays up well into the evening, creating a completely different atmosphere to that of an April week in Dalarna. Sälen makes up for this with some of the country’s largest snowmaking capacity, enabling an early opening in November and stable snow conditions throughout the peak season – but the season normally ends at the end of April. If you’re planning a late-season trip, this is a strong argument in favour of the north.

Accommodation options, services and price levels

Hemavan and Tärnaby have hotels, flats and holiday cottages of a good standard, often in excellent locations, but in limited numbers and with little choice in the higher price bracket. Amenities are more sparse: fewer shops, fewer restaurants and shorter opening hours outside the peak season. Sälen offers a full range of services and accommodation options ranging from simple cottages to large houses with saunas, dining rooms and space for the whole group. The price levels for lift passes and accommodation are essentially comparable; the difference lies in the range on offer and, consequently, how easy it is to find something that suits your particular group. If you’re travelling as a family, there’s a family home with room for everyone in several of Sälen’s areas.

When the journey north is worth the extra hours

Head to Hemavan or Tärnaby if you’re planning to go at the end of April or in May – there’s simply no option further south at that time of year. Head there if you’re experienced skiers looking for steep terrain and proper off-piste skiing, if you’d rather experience high mountains and bare mountain slopes than wooded slopes, or if you can fly and thus avoid the car journey. You should also go there if you live in Norrland, as it’s the closest option. However, don’t go there for the snow’s sake in January or February – snow conditions are perfectly adequate throughout the mountain range at that time, and the extra hours’ journey won’t gain you anything. And don’t go there if you’re a group of twelve people looking to stay together, as there simply isn’t the accommodation to suit.

Summary – Sälen or Hemavan: how much travelling time are you prepared to spend?

The choice between Sälen and Hemavan depends on three things: when you’re travelling, how you’re getting there, and how many of you there are. If you’re travelling in May or want steep slopes and high-altitude skiing, head north – and fly if you can. If you’re travelling between December and March, are coming from the Mälardalen region and want to maximise the number of skiing days per holiday day: choose Sälen. If you’re a large group staying together, Sälen is, in practice, the only one of the two that offers the right accommodation options. And if you’re still weighing up your options, it might be worth comparing the full range in our review of Which mountain resort has the longest skiing season?. If you’d like help finding the right house in Sälenfjällen, please feel free to get in touch.