Resenyheter: Husbilsnytt, djurparksrekord och skräckhotell

By: Editorial Office | Source: press material

This week's travel news includes Nortrip's expansion into Finland, nearly fully booked fall vacations and a growing interest in spending the night at Skåne Zoo. We also tell you about new ventures in the Swedish mountains, hotels awarded Michelin keys and hotel rooms transformed into pure horror experiences for Halloween.

Table of contents

Nortrip expands to Finland – first host locations ready

The motorhome service Nortrip, which offers overnight stays with local hosts, is now expanding to Finland. The company has started recruiting Finnish hosts and the first two locations are already ready: Sandösunds Resort in Åland and Övermark Bed & Breakfast in Närpes. Anyone who has access to Nortrip's Swedish network will also have access to the Finnish host locations during the build-up period.

At Sandösunds Resort on the island of Vårdö, campervan travellers can combine an overnight stay with archipelago life, kayaking and local food experiences. Övermark Bed & Breakfast is located in the Ostrobothnian countryside and offers a peaceful environment with, among other things, homemade bread and local products.

Nortrip is already available in Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Germany, and the establishment in Finland means additional opportunities to discover new places with a motorhome.

TUI's autumn holiday trips almost fully booked – Gran Canaria most popular

There is great interest in sun and warmth during the autumn holidays. On October 22, TUI's charter flights for the holiday week were 96 percent booked, and departures from several regional airports were already fully booked. This applies to Umeå, Luleå and Visby, among others, while there were still a few seats left from Stockholm-Arlanda.

Gran Canaria tops the list of TUI's most booked autumn holiday destinations, followed by Cyprus and Tenerife. This will be followed by, among others, Rhodes, the Antalya coast and Crete. The Canary Islands and destinations around the Mediterranean continue to attract Swedish holidaymakers who want to combine sun and warmth with a relatively short flight.

Record number of overnight stays at Skåne Zoo

More and more people are choosing to stay overnight at Skånes Djurpark outside Höör. The park has already exceeded 10,000 guest nights during the year and expects to reach around 10,500 before the end of the season. Since 2022, the number of guest nights has almost doubled, with an average annual growth of 18 percent.

Visitors can choose between three different accommodation concepts: tented cabins at Wild Lodge with views of red deer, tipi tents at Camp Oak and English carriages in Shaun the Sheep Universe. The overnight packages include two days of admission to the zoo, meals and special animal activities after regular closing times. Guests come from Sweden, Denmark and other European countries.

New experiences in the mountains – ski park and concerts on the bare mountain

Two mountain destinations in Härjedalen are presenting new initiatives for the winter. In Ramundberget Solparken, an approximately 360-meter-long ski park with a blue difficulty level, is being built. Here, both younger and older skiers will be able to develop their park skiing with jumps and other obstacles that follow the natural shapes of the terrain. The park is planned to open at the start of the season on December 19, at the same time as several of the facility's existing parks are being developed.

I Tanndalen The news is instead about music and culture. Here, Fjällvidda is launched, a new event arena on the bare mountain where the landscape will become part of the experience. The opening will take place on February 5–6, 2027 with a fire show, light installations and a concert with the artist Maxida Märak. The idea is that Fjällvidda can be used for various cultural experiences during several parts of the year.

Eleven Swedish hotels awarded Michelin keys

The Michelin Guide not only awards stars to restaurants, but now also recognizes hotels with particularly high quality. In this year's Swedish selection, eleven hotels have been awarded Michelin Keys, where the assessment includes, among other things, service, design, personality and the overall guest experience. Grand Hotel in Stockholm has two keys, while the other ten hotels have received one each.

Among the awardees are: Hotel Ruth in Vasastan and Hotel Frantz at Slussen in Stockholm, both of which will retain their Michelin keys for the second year in a row. Hotel Frantz is located in a culturally historic building from the 17th century and has also been named Sweden's leading city hotel at the World Travel Awards 2026. Hotel Ruth has been recognized for its personal atmosphere and breakfast, which was awarded at the Culinary Hotel Awards earlier this year.

Hotel Franz. Press photo from BWH Hotels.

Swedish hotels open horror rooms for Halloween

Anyone who finds regular hotel rooms a bit too boring can get a different overnight stay during the fall break. Three hotels within Countryside Hotels have each transformed their rooms into a so-called Rysrum, where the usual hotel harmony has been replaced by spooky decor and eerie surprises.

The participating hotels are: Two Shuttles in Västergötland, Nackarpsdalen Guesthouse in Skåne and Hennickehammar Manor in Värmland. The employees have been given free rein to create rooms that will make guests shiver, and the initiative is ongoing during the autumn holidays and Halloween weekend. The rooms are offered at the hotels' regular prices and packages, but for those who prefer a quiet night's sleep, there are of course regular hotel rooms left.

Nackarpsdalen's rysrum. Press photo from Countryside Hotels.

Reflection of the week

Once upon a time, a hotel room was perhaps mostly a place to sleep between the day's excursions. Nowadays, the actual overnight stay seems to be an experience in itself.

This week we can read about the possibility of sleeping with red deer outside the window, checking into a hotel with a Michelin key, or spending the night in a room decorated to scare guests.

Of course, it's fun to have new and different experiences. But sometimes you can also think about what you really need from a hotel room. A comfortable bed, a good breakfast and maybe a nice view will also go a long way...