🐕 Dog sledding in Kiruna

Few experiences capture the Arctic like standing on the runners behind a team of eager huskies: the barking that suddenly goes silent when the sled takes off, the sound of runners over snow, and the vast landscape opening up in the polar light. The Kiruna region is among the world's best places to experience it — with kennels run by people who have devoted their lives to the dogs.

In Djurgården just outside Kiruna lies Kiruna Sleddog Tours — home to Mats Pettersson and his 60–80 Alaska huskies. Mats has completed the Iditarod in Alaska, the world's longest and toughest dog race at around 1,600 kilometers, eight times. The dogs you meet at the kennel are the same athletes who race across Alaska — and the guides know every single one of them by name.