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The Concept
What Exactly Is a Coldcation?
A Coldcation is a holiday designed around cold, not heat. Forests and lakes instead of beaches and sun loungers. Restoration, not endurance. It's the counter to the staycation, the coolcation, the "we'll go somewhere cooler this year" half-measure — it's a full commitment to the idea that the best holidays happen when you're not counting down the minutes until the evening cools.
The word was born from an uncomfortable truth: most of Europe's favourite holiday destinations have become genuinely unbearable in summer. Spain, Greece, Portugal, the south of France — temperatures above 40°C are no longer heatwaves. They're just July. And yet the travel industry keeps selling the same sun, sea and sand it sold in a cooler century, to people who come home more exhausted than they left.
A Coldcation is the counter-proposal. Instead of flying toward the heat, fly away from it. Instead of an outdoor oven, choose a country where the summer high is 22°C, the water is clean enough to drink from the tap, the forests run for hundreds of kilometres in every direction, and a constitutional right called Allemansrätten means any piece of land is legally yours to walk, camp on, and forage from for free.
That country is Sweden. And this is its travel guide — 29 in-depth articles written from personal experience, covering every season, region and activity Sweden offers.
Why the timing is right
This isn't a fringe idea. The shift toward cooler travel is one of the clearest trends in European tourism right now — driven by climate, crowds and a growing sense that the old holiday formula simply isn't delivering.
76%
of European travellers
are adjusting their travel habits because of climate change — avoiding extreme heat, wildfires and overcrowded peak seasons.
European Travel Commission, 2024
+47%
bookings to Sweden
Virtuoso, the global luxury travel network, reported a 47% rise in Sweden bookings as coolcation demand surged. Flight searches from Rome to Gothenburg rose 500% in 2025.
Virtuoso / EU Tourism Statistics
23
tropical nights in 2024
Italy, Greece, Spain and Croatia hit a record 23 nights above 20°C in 2024 — nearly three times the long-term average. Sweden averaged 0.
EU Copernicus Climate Change Service
"The sun is no longer a thing to worship. Coolcations are expected to intensify as the effects of climate change become more unpredictable."
Jenny Southan, CEO, Globetrender — quoted in CNBC, April 2025
The Coldcation isn't a reaction to a bad summer. It's the direction travel is heading. Sweden — with its cool climate, extraordinary nature and infrastructure built for it — is simply the best version of that future.
A Coldcation is for
🥾
Outdoor Adventurers
Hikers, kayakers, cyclists and foragers who want wild nature, not theme parks.
🌱
Eco-Conscious Travellers
98% renewable energy, electrified trains, a right to roam 63% of the country.
👨👩👧
Families
Safe, clean, manageable temperatures. Free wild camping. Kids who sleep at night.
🌡️
Heat Refugees
Anyone who's tried to enjoy a holiday at 40°C and silently given up. You belong here.