Celebrate the holidays on a Finnish Island

At Hotel Svala, we invite you to experience the quiet beauty of a Christmas in the Åland archipelago. Here, the season unfolds close to nature- with frost-covered cliffs, muted greens, and deep stillness. Free from light pollution, the stars glow brighter, and the darkness becomes a peaceful canvas. When winter is at its coldest, the brackish sea freezes, and you can skate from island to island.

A Finnish Jul is rooted in simplicity and warmth: evergreens, candlelight, and the scent of hyacinths. In our kitchens, we prepare traditional flavors, forest lingonberries, smoked fish, hearty rye, and mulled wine. We bake, we make, and gather together, blending old-world traditions with modern comfort.

holiday stay

November 28th-December 13th

Join us a holiday overnight on the island. The hotel will be decorated for Christmas and you can enjoy seasonal meals and traditions, our modern take on julbord. We can organize activities or making presents and decorations.

From €180 per person · Whole hotel, all rooms and meals and staff included. Minimum 4 guests, up to 8.

Activities, wine pairings, and additional nights can be added to your stay. Contact us with your preferred date and group size, and we'll confirm availability.

Included per person:

Welcome glögg with småplock on arrival
Prix fixe holiday dinner
Small gift
Breakfast the following morning

For a Holiday Booking, please enter desired dates and guests, select the hotel nights and package per guest.

Christmas at svala

December 22nd-26th 4 nights

Included:

The whole hotel- 4 double rooms, library and staff

Breakfast, lunch, dinner daily

Christmas Eve dinner

Christmas morning at Kumlinge historic church

Guided walk on the island

Making of traditional julbord

Holiday crafts and decorating

Warm welcome basket on arrival

A curated Christmas for up to eight guests. You book the entire hotel-four double rooms, library, kitchen, and our full attention. Over four days, we cook together, walk the island, attend a candlelit Christmas morning at the local 15th-century church, and make julbord from scratch. Activities will be offered but nothing is required. One can choose to simply stay in and cozy up with glögg a book. We warmly invite you to join us for a special Jul på Svala!

You are welcome to a longer stay with us, additional days can be added by request.

€1,200 per person · All-inclusive: rooms, all meals, and programming. Minimum 6 guests, up to 8.

Travel, activities and drinks are not included in the price. A deposit is required to confirm your booking.

Add to your stay:

Bread baking workshop
Visit to a local island maker
Wine pairing with dinner
Additional nights

You are welcome to extend your stay beyond the 26th. Additional days are arranged on request. Limited to 8 guests, 4 rooms, double occupancy. We are happy to help coordinate your travel to the island. Contact us to begin planning.

We are happy to help you with coordinating your travel to us.

making

Still today we follow the old Finnish traditions for our holiday preparations. Our Christmas trees are imperfect and simply done. Candelabras and stars adorn our windows. Straw is woven and crafted to ensure a good harvest. The sweet straw Julbock has origins in the story of pagan god Thor, who rode in the sky in a chariot drawn by two goats. We gather to make candles, cookies or a homemade mustard to share with friends. Avoiding the bright colors and synthetic materials we opt for natural elements like wood, lingon, greenery and wool. During our preparations at Svala we will be gathering from the forest and making garlands and our table settings. We can collaboratively contribute to the beauty of our own Christmas eve, below are a few examples of Finnish holiday crafts.

grenljus branch candles

A longtime tradition is dipping grenljus (branch candles), also called syskon jus (sibling candles). One makes a branch for each sibling and it foretells of the year forward. It is important to be happy while dipping candles so they burn brightly.

traditional straw himmeli

“Back in the olden days, himmelis hung above dining tables to ensure a good crop for the coming year, and stayed on display from Christmas till Midsummer. The structure of a himmeli – especially a bigger and more complex one – is visually striking, with geometrical shapes made out of hundreds, or even thousands, of pieces of straw.

According to connoisseurs the best himmelis are made out of rye, the grain with the longest and sturdiest stems. A well-kept himmeli can last up to a hundred years. In modern interpretations, the materials vary from plywood to paper and even plastic straws.” For more on Himmeli Finland.fi

traditional knäckebröd

We will be at our amazing friend Airi’s, our local baker making knäckebröd. Traditional crispbread was invented about 500 years ago. Finland and Sweden have long traditions in crispbread consumption, and it has been known in most households since the 1800s. Traditionally, crispbreads were baked just twice a year; following harvest and again in the spring when frozen river waters began to flow. Traditional western Finnish crispbread was (and still is) made in the form of a round flat loaf with a hole in the middle to facilitate storage on long poles hanging near the ceiling.

dining

The holidays are filled with beautiful food and our traditional Jul bord on Christmas eve is a feast. We will be preparing our dishes using local purveyors and ingredients, and sharing our favorite versions of these dishes with our guests. Guests are invited into the kitchen during the days leading up to Christmas to learn how to make pickled herring, gravlax, pepparkakor and knäckebröd.

CHRISTMAS DINNER

christmas morning

On Christmas morning we go to the Church, it is as dark as night and the path is lit with torches, inside the church it is warm and candlelit. The sermon is in Swedish but everyone can enjoy psalms sung with an organ accompanist and the sun rising through the windows. Kumlinge church is really special, dedicated to the Saint Anna, mother of the Virgin Mary. The church was built of stone during the 14th century and is famous for the beautiful and unique chalk paintings in the chapel. These paintings date back to the middle of the last millenium. Inside the church there are several artifacts, including a gothic altarpiece and a font from the 13th century.