http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/ Welcome to Been there. Your tips on the places you know - that you love, live in or have just visited - are what make this guide. http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/33660 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/33660 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/33608 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/33608 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/33607 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/33607 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/32890 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/32890 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/32859 The Swedes are totally into fashion, H&M, hipster trends or uniform (black, black, black). But it is a city to be inspired of.
Most of all, I recommend Sodermalm, the south part of Stockholm with is total mix of affordable vintage, design furniture, catwalk brands and top end trainer shops and amazing cafes.]]> http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/32859 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/32422 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/32422 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/32195 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/32195 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/32188 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/32188 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/32078 A network of mountain huts provide overnight accommodation, cooking and camping facilities and an opportunity to meet fellow walkers.When we were there we found hut wardens baking fresh Swedish "bulla" for their guests and a mountain sauna fueled by a wood burning stove. During the war, these mountain huts were used by the resistance movement to cross into Norway. The network of huts can also be used in the winter months for long distance skiing.]]> http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/32078 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/32076 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/32076 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/32074 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/32074 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/32049 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/32049 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/32041 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/32041 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/32036 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/32036 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/32018 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/32018 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/31979 On the edge of the lakes you will find wooden smoke saunas (known as bastu). They are often close to where a stream joins the water so that you can plunge into the lake near the edge where it's not frozen. You feel surprisingly warm when you re-emerge to drink your cold beer!

In the quiet of early morning, when the mist still hangs over the water, you can often hear the eerie sound of the ice cracking.
Stay at the pretty 19th century Åkerby Herrgård hotel on the lakeside, or stop in for a coffee in their cosy library.]]> http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/31979 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/31968 We did this for our honeymoon and even though we spent the whole trip in separate beds (or sleeping bags!) it was truly amazing. The closest thing to magic I have witnessed.]]> http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/31968 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/31950 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/31950 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/31949 The hotel room was simple but good, and affordable.]]> http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/31949 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/28814 Swedish Lapland. The Arctic Circle. I’m ridiculously pleased to be here. The air is dry as it's -35 deg outside. The snow sparkles like a million diamonds strewn beneath my big warm snowboots. I look at a flake on my arm, except it’s not a flake, it’s a proper crystal, like in the fairy stories, like something covered with silver paint you’d buy to scatter on your Christmas table or tuck into envelopes to fall all over someone’s floor as they take out their Christmas cards. Seriously, my heart squeezes at the perfectness of it.
We’re on snowmobiles, there are only three of us and it’s night time. It’s a little scary driving over these frozen lakes and rivers – Bjorn warns us not to stray from his path as there are places where the ice is thinner. He tells us to go quickly over one section and not stop as there is water on the track – water that’s so cold you’d die if you fell into it. The wind chill has got to be taking this down to way under -40deg. Thank goodness for all the snow gear I’m wearing. The snowmobile has heated hand grips, so my hands are ok in the mittens, but my feet are very uncomfortably numb. I’m starting to not enjoy the ride when we arrive at a tipi. We go in and Bjorn makes a fire which warms the place up a lot. I’m jumping about to make my feet warm, but its not working. He gives me a headtorch and tells me to go outside and run up and down the track.
This is the scariest thing I’ve ever done. I’m claustrophobically puffing through a balaclava as I run three meters one way and three meters the other – always with one eye on the tipi in case it suddenly disappears into the trees. I go in when I’m sweating, rip off the balaclava and the jacket and breathe deeply. He makes us reindeer in a creamy sauce and boils a copper kettle on the fire for tea. The milk is frozen in its container so we have to warm it by the fire. He tells me there are brown bears in the woods, but they’re hibernating right now. We talk politics and economics and books. He’s so tall, must be nearly seven foot, I find out later he’s 65.
We move on, through a few more trees and then onto a plain which is actually a huge frozen lake. It’s snowing lightly, the snow flicking, sparkling in the snowmobile headlights. Then the sky begins to glow white in the north, and then the white becomes green and the green grows and undulates in the sky. The aurora borealis. The cameras are all frozen, so we can’t take a picture, but it’s ok. Apparently, the aurora have only been seen four times this winter, so we were so lucky.]]> http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/28814