In Östersund as a tourist - a lovely winter town

What to do in Östersund as a tourist? We visited Östersund a few weeks ago, while watching the Alpine World Cup in Åre. We had some fantastic winter days, including a spontaneous guided city walk with another travel blogger and a visit to the Winter Park.

In Östersund as a tourist

We visited Östersund in connection with the Alpine World Cup in Åre 2019. Of course, it would have been convenient to stay in Åre, but since it was completely full there (did I mention the World Cup?), we ended up in Östersund. We grumbled a bit about the bus in between, but on the other hand, we got the chance to get acquainted with Östersund, which was really nice!

Östersund is a cosy town with nice houses and nice streets. What I really liked, here in February, was that there was snow on the streets in the centre of town. When do you see someone in Stockholm travelling on a kick scooter? When was the last time you saw someone travelling on a kick scooter ...?

Guided city walk

As a travel blogger, you are sometimes lucky enough to know other travel bloggers who live around Sweden. Daniel, who runs the blog Flying Dryden, lives in Östersund and had the opportunity to meet up with us confused outsiders for a spontaneous city walk, which you can also read about at his blog. The other bloggers in the picture are Sofia from Fantasy travel, Peter from FREEDOMtravel and Jennifer Sandström from the blog of the same name.

Östersund is a pleasant city to walk around, with lovely old houses and charming courtyards. There are also plenty of cosy little shops selling, for example, art, delicacies or clothes. When we were here, there were also plenty of long icicles ...

When you go on a city walk, you should of course also check out some famous buildings and places. Among other things, we checked out Stortorget and were impressed by the fact that it is actually so... large as it is.

We also checked out a bunch of nice yellow buildings: the Old Church, the tourist office and Mid Sweden University. By the way, the university is divided into two locations, and is also located in Sundsvall.

City Hall in Östersund

Östersund Town Hall is probably one of the most impressive buildings in the city. It was built between 1909 and 1912 in the National Romantic style. The price tag was higher than expected, the builder went bankrupt, and almost half of the 136 rooms had to be rented out to fill them.

But it is magnificent! The dome on the roof has been deliberately designed to resemble Jutlandic bell towers, and four times a day the computerised chimes of the bell tower play.

Winter park

It is perhaps an exaggeration to say that Winter park in Östersund is fantastic, but it actually felt almost fantastic to come here. In Stockholm, snow is often unwieldy and in the way, but here it becomes a prerequisite for play and relaxation.

In the winter park you can walk, ski, skate on Lake Storsjön or just sit in deck chairs and enjoy the winter sun. You can borrow a book, surf on free WiFi or perhaps try the winter pool, with hot tubs and a sauna. There are also fireplaces where you can have a barbecue (maybe kolbullar!?), and there is both a kiosk and a café. When we were here, the winter was really enjoyable!

For children, the park offers lots of different winter activities. There is a snow castle, slides, pedal cars and an ice maze.

Lunch at the Badhusparkens café

We took the opportunity to have a simple lunch at Badhusparkens café, located in the centre of the Winter Park. The café is fantastically located, with large glass windows overlooking the wintry landscape. Here it was a soup for Peter and a pie for me. Perfect lunch!

Restaurant in Östersund

In addition to the visit to the Badhusparkens Café, we had another day to have lunch at a restaurant. Jazz kitchen. We had lunch in the bistro and I chose salmon with parsnip mash. Very good and nice!

Clarion Hotel Grand

We stayed at Clarion Hotel Grandwhich was excellent in every way. The hotel is very centrally located at Prästgatan 16, with Stortorget and shops right outside. In addition, the airport bus goes right outside the door. We were also pleased with a good room, a fresh breakfast buffet and helpful staff. What more can you ask for?

Excursions to Åre

One of the advantages of Östersund is of course its proximity to Åre. You go here mainly in the winter to ski, but in the summer you can also hike or cycle. There are also several spas and we tried the lovely Copperhill Mountain Lodge, with fantastic views of the white plains.

Film from Östersund and Åre

Peter has also edited a small film from our visit to Östersund and Åre, where we visited the Alpine World Cup 2019, in collaboration with the Austrian Tourist Board. Feel free to watch it!

Facts about Östersund

• Landscape: Jämtland
• County: Jämtland County
• Residents: 63 000 (2018)
• Tourist office: Visit Östersund, Rådhusgatan 44

Travelling to Östersund

• Flight: There are direct flights to Östersund from Stockholm, Arlanda (SAS), Stockholm, Bromma (BRA), Gothenburg (BRA) and Umeå (Direktflyg).
• Car: It takes about 6 h 30 min to drive from Stockholm to Östersund, counting pure driving time.
• Trains: SJ has several departures to and from Östersund every day. Norrtåg also runs to and from Sundsvall, and to and from Trondheim. During the summer months, you can also travel by Inlandsbanan.
• Bus: Flixbuss runs to and from Östersund, from many different destinations.