Join Christiana and Marcus for a New Year’s retreat in wilderness 2024-2025
Group size
Up to 12 people
Meeting Location
On the train from Stockholm to Mora, Sweden
Duration
5 days / 4 nights
ACCOMMODATION
Navardalen wilderness LODGE
WHEN
29 dec 2024 – 2 jan 2025
Activity level
Easy. No previous experience is needed, but you’ll be hiking in snow so a decent level of general fitness is required.
✨ HIGHLIGHTS ✨
Celebrate new years in the wild
This is Navardalen wilderness lodge, a true hidden gem! This place is completely off-grid and far away from the nearest town. The sauna is to the right.
Connect with likeminded people
Hang out with nice people like a pack around the campfire. We will gather a small group of nature loving travelers and we are hoping that you will want to come join us!
Become a better you
Take a step towards a more natural life. Return home energized and inspired for the upcoming year. And with no mobile connection you will have plenty of time to read books and talk to the others.
Reconnect with nature
Reconnect with nature through meditation, wood heated sauna and ice bathing. On the first morning of the year you will be invited to join a ceremony where you leave all your troubles behind and give space for a new and healthier lifestyle.
Let’s play in the snow
We are hoping for plenty of snow, so that we can play and have fun. We will invite you to explore the old growth forests and the frozen landscape on snowshoes and on foot.
“What a lifechanger! An eye-opening retreat full of love, peace and happiness!”
We’re now open for bookings with early-bird discount!
Our booking procedure is hassle-free.
With the Early-bird-discount you get 1500 SEK discount per person if you book before the end of May 2024. To get the discount use this code during the checkout: EARLY-BIRD-NAVARDALEN
Please note! If you book for two persons or more you will need to add the number of participants after the code. For example, if you book for two persons you will need to write EARLY-BIRD-NAVARDALEN2.
Just click the button “Date & Prices”, choose a date and fill in the booking form. You pay a 20% deposit now and the rest 30 days before you arrive. For cancellations up until 30 days before arrival you will receive a 80% refund of your total sum paid. You can also choose to add an extra Cancellation Protection which will give you more flexibility.
🛡Full financial protection: Your money is safe. Every booking is fully financially protected.
4 nights at a wilderness lodge
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We pick you up and drive to Dalarna, with a couple of interesting stops along the way.
We arrive in Navardalen, a remote wilderness lodge overlooking a frozen lake and surrounded by rolling hills covered in snowy forest. We light the fire heated ovens and make ourselves at home.
We will stay in shared rooms and help out with the cooking.
Welcome dinner followed by a sharing session.
After dinner we will heat up the sauna and the adventurous are welcome to take a dip in the lake.
Night at the lodge.
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Energizing breathwork in the morning. Breakfast by the fire.
This day will be devoted to exploring the surrounding forest. We fill our thermoses with hot drinks and venture out on snowshoes in the deep snowy landscape. Our aim is to get to know the forest and all of it’s inhabitants.
We just love to walk around in winter wonderland surrounded by ancient spruce and pine trees covered in snow and lichen.
Lunch in the forest or at the lodge.
Free afternoon. Read books, play games, hang out with the others.
After dinner the sauna will be hot.
Night at the lodge.
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Breathwork and breakfast.
On this day Marcus will take you out for another hike in the forest. If the conditions are good we will build snow sofas and light a fire on the frozen lake. We may also try our luck ice fishing. The lake is known for it’s Char, a very beautiful and tasty fish for those who eat fish.
We then help out to prepare a festive New Year’s dinner together. Let’s create a feast in the wild!
Later in the evening we will have a sauna ritual which includes an optional ice bath. It is all about leaving the unwanted behind to create space for the new!
We end the year and welcome the new with a fire at the frozen lake.
Night at the lodge.
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This will be a relaxed day, we deserve it!
We begin the new year with energizing breathwork and then Christiana will lead us through a sharing circle where we set our intentions for the year to come.
After a brunch you have the chance to join Marcus for another outing.
In the evening we have another chance to marvel at the starry sky. Fill up your thermos and bring some snacks to stay warm and content.
Read your book, play games or just hang out in the sofa.
Dinner and night at the lodge.
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We enjoy one last slow breakfast at the lodge and conclude the adventure with a sharing circle.
We then help out to tidy up and bring all of our common equipment to the vans before we pack our bags and get ready for departure.
We drive to Mora where we will have a lunch together before getting you on the train back to Stockholm or Arlanda airport.
ACCOMMODATION
Four nights at Navardalen wilderness lodge. This is by far the coziest place we can think of to celebrate New Year’s. The rooms are basic but comfortable and clean. Expect to share with one or two other people since the rooms have 2-4 bunkbeds each. If you travel as a couple we will try to give you a private room. There are no regular bathrooms, but dry toilets in a separate building and you can wash yourself in the sauna, either by heating up water in a bucket over fire or by taking a dip in the frozen lake. There is no electricity. Perfect 😁
This is Navardalen wilderness lodge, a true hidden gem. There is no electricity so the whole place is lit up by cozy candles. We drive on long snowy roads and walk the last few hundred meters to the lodge.
One of the rooms. The rooms are small but very cosy. Each room has 2-4 bunkbeds. The dry toilets are in an outside shed. You will be able to wash up in a hot water bucket in the sauna.
This is the dining room. We will be feasting on delicious and wholesome meals that we cook together in the kitchen, and we all help out to do the dishes with water thet we fetch in buckets from a stream.
Meeting point & how to get here
You can choose to be picked up in one of these three places:
Uppsala train station at 2 pm
Falun train station at 4.30 pm
Mora at 6 pm
On the last day 2 January 2024 we will take you to Mora for a concluding lunch and then to Borlänge a the train back to Stockholm or Arlanda airport. The train ticket is included. We take you to the train that departs from Borlänge at 15:54, arriving at Arlanda at 17.53 and then Stockholm 18.15. This means you can plan for a flight at 20h at the earliest. There is also an earlier train leaving Mora at 12.22 that will be Arlanda at 16.15, but if you choose this train you will miss our lunch in Mora. Note that you cannot take any earlier train than that. You may also choose to stay in Mora, Uppsala or Stockholm one night before going home.
What's included?
Accommodation: 4 nights at Navardalen wilderness lodge
Meals: All meals from dinner on the first day until lunch on the last day
Guides: English-speaking, local, expert wildlife and meditation guides
Activities: All activities as mentioned in the program
Transfers: From the meeting point and a train ticket for the return journey
Equipment: Headlamps, snowshoes, sleeping bags for the beds
What to bring
>> See our full packing list here
Food
All meals will be vegetarian. Let us know if you have any allergies or prefer vegan meals.
FOR WHO?
If you are a traveler longing for nature and you are not afraid to socialize and make new friends for life… then you will love this setup! You are prepared to help out to keep the fires going and to fetch water, help out in the kitchen and you are fine with sharing room with others. Recommended minimum age is 18 years. You should be able to walk in uneven terrain without difficulties. Walking level is medium. You don't have to snowshoe, that is just an optional activity.
We are your Hosts
Christiana & Marcus - we will be hosting this retreat
Christiana loves teaching yoga and meditation. She’s also cooking delicious and vibrant vegan food. Her heart is at home inside the forest, or by the sea, close to water and fire, under the stars. Her passion is to inspire living a simple and conscious life in nature. Having grown up in urban Athens, she came to Sweden with her dog Aretha and they both rediscovered the untamed version of themselves in the forest.
Marcus spends a lot of time out in Sweden’s forests. He likes to go for hikes among trees, swim in cold lakes and to sleep in tents. His favorite season is Winter when he can walk on skis, heat up in saunas and cool down in frozen lakes. He has worked full time as a nature guide since he founded WildSweden in 2003. He shares his knowledge and love for Nature generously and sincerely, so every adventure is unique. Although he has seen innumerable wild animals and plants, his enthusiasm every time is as if it were the first time.
Happy participants
Frequently asked questions
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Absolutely! Most of our guests travel solo, while some travel as couple or friends. As a solo traveler you will share room with 1-3 other travelers.
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This location is not ideal for viewing the northern lights, since it is quite far South and there is a mountain partly covering the view in the North. But we will certainly go out and watch for it as it occurs quite frequently during this time of year.
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Yes, Central Sweden can be cold, especially during mid-winter. But don’t worry too much about the freezing temperatures. We are never far from the lodge and all outdoor activities are optional, so if you feel cold you can just go back inside.
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All activities will be optional. On some occasions we may walk in deep snow, even in darkness with headlamps. These walks are slow with stops along the way and rarely last for more than an hour.
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Breathwork is a breathing exercise in which you change your breathing pattern. We use breathwork to enhance our energy levels and improve our mental, physical, and spiritual well-being.
Breathwork is a practice that all can manage and benefit from so we invite you to try. And if you decide you don’t like it you can always opt out and relax in your bed or go for a walk in the snow instead. No worries!
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The recommended minimum age is 18 years but if you have a mature teen you are welcome to being her/him.
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We actively support rewilding and local initiatives, contributing to the preservation of the region's unique wildlife and environment.
You are welcome to help save Sweden's old-growth forests from clear-cutting by donating to WildSweden's Save the Forest Fund. 100% of your donation goes directly to activists and organisations working to conserve Sweden’s forests.
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This retreat is not focusing on wildlife watching but we will go out for tracking wildlife in the nearby forests.
This forest has fairly large populations of Moose, Red fox, Mountain hare and Pine Marten and we regularly see tracks of Wolverines and Lynx too.
During the previous retreat we saw a couple of moose. If we are lucky we can hear the calls of the Boreal owl or Pygmy owl and see Black grouse take off from their hiding places in the ground.
