Sea to Sky
Two nights, two spas, and a mountain in between.
Two nights, two spas, and a mountain in between.
A forest spa by the sea. A house on stilts that moves in the wind. A day of Hälsingland in between.
October to December is northern lights season up here. Nobody can promise you an aurora, and anyone who does is lying, but both of these nights are spent a long way from the nearest streetlight.
It starts at the cabin. Hop Farm Beach sits in the coastal forest at Humlegårdsstrand, fifteen minutes out of Söderhamn towards the sea. No neighbours. No signal. Light the fire under the outdoor shower, work your way between that, the sauna and the cold water, then walk down and watch the light go out of the Baltic.
The next afternoon you drive an hour inland, leave your bags at reception down in the valley and walk ninety minutes uphill to get to Högloftet. It stands on stilts above the treetops, with a big window facing the Ljusnan valley and an open terrace on the roof where nothing stands between you and the view but netting and wind. Everything you need is already up there. Everything you don't, plumbing included, stays at the bottom.
Both ends of the trip are hot water. The forest spa at the cabin is a sauna, a fire shower you light yourself and a cold shower, standing side by side in the trees with robes waiting on the hooks. There is a spa day at the other end too, down in the valley, once you have come off the mountain.
Nobody has sold these two nights as one trip before. We've paired our calendars for this autumn, and the dates below are the only ones that work at both ends.
The cabin stands on its own in the trees, a short walk from the water. It takes about an hour to stop reaching for a phone that no longer works, and then that turns into the best part of it.
The forest spa is three things standing side by side in the trees. A sauna, a fire shower you light yourself, and a cold shower, all of it under whatever the sky is doing. Robes are hanging up waiting for you. Then walk down to the shore, where in October you will not meet another soul.
The commute might be the best part.
Drive directly between the cabins and it's about an hour. However, we don't want you to do that, as Hälsingland is too magical to miss.
From the coast, we recommend spots along the way to visit. Coffee shops, photo stops, our favourite off-the-beaten-path stores.
If you book the Sea to Sky package, you're not only getting two cabins. You're receiving a travel guide to Hälsingland, Sweden's hidden gem, with an insider's viewpoint on what not to miss.
Your night is in Högloftet, the original loft house. Check-in there is 2.30pm, which is a fine excuse for lunch at Orbaden first, down by the river. The walk up takes about ninety minutes through the forest with what you need on your back. If the walk is not for you, drive the gravel road most of the way and go the last few hundred metres on foot. Either way the rest of your bags stay at reception.
Åsberget is an old ski hill that closed down and went quiet. Högloftet was built near the top of it in 2017, designed by the architect Hanna Michelson. Core pine and fir on the outside, ash and birch within, the whole thing standing on stilts so it barely touches the ground. On a windy night you can feel it move.
Slippers by the door. Futons that turn into beds, duvets hanging on the wall, pottery thrown by Staffan's wife Lena. A big window with the Ljusnan valley behind it, and a terrace on the roof with no walls at all.
There is no shower up there and no tap. The water comes up the mountain by hand before you arrive, enough for two people to drink and wash and no more than that. The toilet burns what goes into it.
On paper it sounds like roughing it. In the morning it feels like the opposite.
Leave the key at Orbaden and the spa is yours for the rest of the day. Sauna, salt bath, hot pools inside and out, every one of them looking at the river.
Robe and towel are waiting. Nobody is counting your hours.
Sauna on the coast, a mountain in the middle, hot water at the end. Not a bad shape for two nights.
Everything below is in the price.
One at Hop Farm Beach, one in Högloftet at Bergaliv, booked together so they cannot fail to line up.
No packing at dawn. It is what turns the middle day into a real day.
The road between us, written by the two of us, sent the moment you book.
All of night one, the way it always is here.
In the fridge when you arrive, with bread from the baker down in the valley.
After you come down. Robe and towel provided.
Both nights arranged between us, so there is nothing for you to piece together.
We are a message or an email away, before you come and while you are here.
Some of it is hard. That is part of why it is good.
Choose the day you arrive.
Everything else follows from it. Pick the day you get to Hop Farm Beach and the rest of the trip is built around it.
We have paired the two calendars, so these are the only dates that work at both ends. They stay open to ordinary bookings at both places until somebody takes them.
Payments are handled by Stripe. Hop Farm Beach is part of Way Up North AB, so that name appears at checkout and on your bank statement.
Two nights for two people. Payment is handled by Stripe and both nights are confirmed by email the same day.
Before you book
About an hour in the car. Close enough that you are not spending the day driving, far enough that it feels like you have gone somewhere.
Yes, you will want one. Neither of us is anywhere near a bus route, and the road up Åsberget starts a long way from the nearest station.
Coast first, mountain second. You get to the cabin in the afternoon, sleep in the forest, and take your time leaving the next morning. Check-in at Högloftet is 2.30pm, so most people eat lunch at Orbaden by the river and start walking after that.
Ninety minutes or so, uphill through forest, carrying whatever you need for the night. It is steady rather than brutal and most people are fine in decent boots, but it is a proper walk and not a stroll. If that is not your idea of a good afternoon, drive the gravel road instead and do the last few hundred metres on foot. Deep snow can close that road, in which case Bergaliv will run you up on an ATV or a snowmobile if you give them three days.
Really. Every drop of water up there was carried up by hand, so there is enough to drink and wash with and that is it. The toilet burns what goes into it. You get the sauna the night before and the spa the morning after, so you are never more than a day from hot water.
Winter is when both places are at their best, so long as you own boots. The cabin has heated floors and a sauna and Bergaliv was built for the cold. The one thing to watch is daylight: by December it goes dark not long after four, so we will help you time the drive to get you up the mountain before then.
Hop Farm Beach is yours from 3pm on day one, and you can take your time leaving on the morning you go. Högloftet opens at 2.30pm on day two. It is being aired and made up right until then, which is why it feels the way it does when you walk in. Lunch at the Orbaden restaurant, down by the river where you collect the key, is a good way to spend the hour before.
Sadly not. Högloftet is built for two people and there is no way around that. The cabin on its own sleeps four though, so if there are more of you, come and stay here and we will send you up the mountain another time.
At the coast, gladly, just say so when you book. Högloftet is one night only on these dates.
Breakfast is already in the fridge when you get there, with bread from the baker down in the valley. If you want dinner as well, Bergaliv will leave a cold supper of local food in the house for 395 SEK a head, but they need three days notice. There is a good restaurant at Orbaden too.
We would recommend travel insurance for a trip booked this far ahead.
28 days or more before you arrive: a full refund, a change of date, or a credit voucher, whichever suits you.
14 to 28 days before: one change of date, or a credit voucher.
Less than 14 days: we are not able to cancel or change it.
If you book inside 14 days of arriving, you have 48 hours to change your mind.