Ice Driving in Swedish Lapland

Two nights in Swedish Lapland, guided, with two full days of ice drifting in a studded Toyota GR Yaris, and the price quoted on application.

The car choice is good. A GR Yaris is four-wheel drive, short, light and quick to respond, which on ice makes it far more instructive than something heavy and powerful: the mistakes are cheaper and the lessons land faster.

The driving runs nine until half past four on both days, on frozen lakes near the Arctic Circle, with four coffee breaks a day and a transfer back to the hotel for lunch in the middle. The tyres carry three-millimetre studs, which is what makes genuine drifting practice possible rather than mere survival. A welcome aperitif opens the stay, and the evenings run to two three-course dinners and a Swedish cottage dinner with salmon grilled over an open fire. The Aurora is visible most years, which is a fair way of putting it: it is a solar phenomenon rather than a scheduled event.

The GR Yaris on studs for both driving days, fuel and insurance with a deductible, full board including the aperitif, two buffet lunches, two three-course dinners and the salmon evening, the coffee breaks and all the local transfers are included; flights, insurance, alcoholic drinks and the optional snowmobile, ice karting and buggy sessions are not. The price is given on application. Deep winter is the season, when the ice is reliable and the daylight short. Three days with two full days of driving is a course rather than a holiday.