Hemavan reviews

The resort towns of Tärnaby-Hemavan are regaining their popularity with a new buzz in the air. Kept secret by the Scandinavians and made famous by the likes of Champions Ingemar Stenmark, Stig Strand and Anja Pärson, the rest of the world is finally starting to experience the beauty and wonder of the area. With F.I.S slalom competitions about to take place over the 22nd and 23rd of November 2005 , Tärnaby is alive with French, Polish, Russian, Czech, Slovakian, Korean and even a team from Pakistan ! These are some of the many coutries taking place in the competitions. Fantastic off piste in both Tärnaby and Hemavan and superb Heli-skiing/boarding. Snow mobile paradise and dog Sledding experiences ( www.nova-arctic.com )Definitely Worth a visit ! Check out www.TarnabyLapland.com for backpackers accommodation, bed & breakfast and ski-apartments.

Hemavan is a good ski resort, but it has its limitations and is certainly not a complete ski resort like Åre or Hemsedal. I've been skiing here since I made my first turns in the late 70s, so I could probably say that I know the resort relatively well.

For a start, the snow comes to Hemavan later in the season than in many other resorts, such as Kittelfjäll, which is a resort that often gets a lot of snow at the beginning of the season. When the sports holidays in the country begin in week 7, there is usually enough snow for the slopes not to become too hard due to too much artificial snow, but it is not obvious that there is enough snow out in nature for skiing outside the slopes to be possible. Nor is it obvious that by week 7 there will be enough snow up on the bare mountain for the Kungsliften to be open. Later in the season, Hemavan usually gets a lot of snow, often up to 120-130 cm in nature, and once the snow has settled up on the bare mountain, there will be a chance for many nice rides with fantastic views of the mountain world.

If you look at the slopes, there are slopes for all tastes. As with many other ski areas in Sweden, you suffer from the fact that the mountains are not higher than they are and thus the slopes are short compared to the slopes down in the Alps (or those in Hemsedal). When the Kungsliften is open, which is often not until a little later in the season when the snow has a hard time getting stuck up on the bare mountain, the total drop is much better, but 2/3 of the slope from the Kungsliften top station is very flat, around blue hill, so it sounds a little better than it actually is in reality. Not many of the slopes in the system are steep, most are between green and red. This means that those who are very good at skiing do not have so many slopes to ski in. Parts of the slope closest to Solkatten and parts of what used to be called Victoriafallet up at Kungsliften (it is no longer listed) are the slopes that I would say could be called black. No other slopes are steeper than red. If you are an advanced skier, you can instead devote yourself to carving and clean cutting turns on the slope. Then, at least for me, red slopes are usually enough for it to go fast enough.

Over the years, Hemavan has had a few different variants of snow parks. In the children's slope above Solkatten, they usually have some smaller big jumps and some ralls that the children (and we who did not grow up with this type of jump) can practice on. In the Centrumliften there is a part of the slope right next to the lift where they usually build up larger big jumps and rails that suit the more advanced.

The lifts in Hemavan are scattered for historical reasons. Unfortunately, the convenience of ski-in/ski-out has been allowed to take precedence over the possibility of having a good coherent system, which means that it takes some time and effort to get between the different parts of the system. It also gives the disadvantage of not having a real village down at ICA and Systembolaget, but everything is spread out. As for the capacity of the lifts, I have not experienced any long queues, but I have not been there during the northern sports holiday week 10 or during Easter for many years. My experience is that as long as the gondola is open, there is no problem with queues, as it swallows a lot of people very quickly. My brothers, on the other hand, say that there are long queues during Easter, even when the gondola is running.

One disadvantage of the gondola (if you can say so) is that, thanks to its capacity, it can send many freeriders up the mountain and that, combined with the fact that Hemavan's best freeriding area, the one in the forest above Solkatten, is adjacent to the gondola, that area after snowfall is reached as quickly as the freeriding areas down in Verbier or Chamonix. As mentioned earlier in a review, most of the skiing off-piste is in forest. Some parts of the forest are just sparse enough, while other parts of the forest are very dense. When the Kungsliften lift is open, you can use it to get out on the mountain and with fairly little effort get up to nice runs in Kobåsen or north towards Dalåive, either directly or by putting on crampons and walking yourself a bit.

If you are a more experienced freerider who enjoys walking on your own, later in the season when there is enough snow up on the bare mountain, there are good opportunities to go up and go down from peaks in the mountains near Hemavan: Dalåive, Gemken, Brakkon and others. Of course, you need to have your own car (and equipment and mountain etiquette). I have done some nice skiing there as recently as May.

There are plenty of homes near the slopes for those who like ski-in/ski-out, but I have not tried any of them myself to be able to comment on accessibility or how good they are in reality. My recommendation is that to be able to enjoy Hemavan to the fullest, I would still like to have a car for the occasion when the weather is bad in Hemavan but good weather in Tärnaby or to have the opportunity to get around the village a little easier. There is no local bus or ski bus between Hemavan and Tärnaby.

Hemavan has the necessities that such a small village of that size might have. There's an ICA store, a health food store, a gas station, a hardware store and a charging station. Down in the village there are also one or two restaurants (depending on how you count) and a clothes shop. Out in the lift system there are a few restaurants, including Björk, which serves fine, well-prepared food at slightly higher prices. There is some nightlife in the evening after skiing, but as most people who go to the resort are families who are there for the skiing, the atmosphere is not comparable to e.g. Åre or Hemsedal.

In my family, we go up from southern Sweden to Hemavan every year to go skiing, usually on sports holidays but sometimes also other weeks of the season. We usually say that the transportation does take a long time, but that the time we spend in the car on the way to and from Hemavan we do not have to stand in the lift queue, which we would have needed at any of the ski resorts in the southern mountain range that are of similar quality to Hemavan, such as Sälen, which I understand has very long queues during the weeks when people in southern Sweden have holidays.

To summarize, I would say that Hemavan cannot compete with e.g. Åre, Hemsedal or Trysil in terms of the number of slopes and how steep they are, or how lively the village is in terms of number of restaurants and nightlife. Nor can the resort compete with Riksgränsen or perhaps Kittelfjäll in terms of the availability of fantastic free skiing throughout the season, but in its category (family skiing with the possibility of free skiing for those who are better at skiing), Hemavan has many qualities and advantages that make the resort worth going to.

Hemavan is perfectly okay on the piste as there is a gondola and chairlift, but even when there has been a lot of snowfall and powder, the off-piste is the worst I have skied. The slope is very flat and with my 106 and 98mm skis you stop even if you float in the snow. There are no off-piste slopes without forest, which can feel limiting. Fun for the beginner and intermediate while for the more advanced may have more difficulty finding something suitable.

Good ski resort for families but there is also really good off-piste for those who want

For me, Hemavan is home. Visited the ski resort a few years in my younger teens. Then with a bus trip that was arranged from the home village. Full board at STF mountain station, parent-free and often deep, untouched snow. Easily among the best weeks during my entire youth.

Now I visit the resort with my own children. Especially for families with children, it fits perfectly. Even more experienced skiers, if you do not need a steep slope all the time, will enjoy it. I myself have switched to telemark, the resort is perfect for my purposes.
Have never skied as much as v.7 2025. 55000fhm in six days, well-groomed
slopes and total queue time during these days maybe 20 minutes.

So beautiful, in whichever direction you look. If you skin, there is so much to choose from. Shorter off-piste lines directly from the lift are plentiful too.

Can also recommend snowmobile trail running with headlamp and the cross-country track around Kobåset with the help of early solkattsliften♥️

When the kids fly out, I dream of one or more seasons here. Lovely atmosphere, staff and very nice visitors to exchange some thoughts with in the lift.

Disaster! Live in the hotel without a car, flew here, it's windy and the Centrum lift is closed as it blows 11 meters per second in the villages, no storm which is the only lift that takes one further in the system where lifts are open. No transport is available.
The lift staff is also very lethargic when the lifts are open, not shoveling away high banks of ice at the lift controls. I have been skiing for over 50 years in large parts of the world and have rarely been to a place with such nonchalance and totally uninterested in tourism.
Money is never refunded for unused lift tickets because 3 children's slopes are open..

Excellent conditions for top tours; randonné, hiking, cycling, etc. all year round. In fantastic surroundings. Once there, you don't need a car as everything is within walking distance.

Have been a lot in Hemavan as my partner has a house there. The resort has advantages and disadvantages like all resorts.
You are very good at taking care of the slopes and there are quite a few people if you avoid the weekends. If you compare it to Åre or Alporter, the place is quite sleepy. The airport makes the distance from central Sweden short but expensive. 90 miles from Stockholm is a bit too long a drive for most people. However, access to a car is actually needed for it to be comfortable. Ski buses non-existent, taxis sparingly. To use the lift card in both Hemavan and Tärnaby, you need your own transport. Snowmobiles are allowed, you can think what you want about it. Heliskiing now stopped. Then, as in Åre, they destroy the unique mountain environment with large areas of luxury housing. What sets Hemavan apart from similar resorts is very nice cross-country skiing and the top tour possibilities, which are enormous. The piste skiing is not very exciting. A little like Sälen with a better drop height when the weather allows the Kungsliften, which is exposed to the weather to be open. A good family resort.

Fantastic slopes when it's piste, but WHY do you ruin a day's skiing by NOT piste (Saturday v.13) SEK 970 for a two-day lift pass lost all value on day two. Feels like you cheated me on SEK 480. Could not go. Sad

Wonderful for the family. Long, kind slopes that suit everyone and if you want to go off-piste, it is easily accessible and often relatively untouched. Fun park for the kids and those who like to play there