Kolarbyn Ecolodge

Kolarbyn calls itself Sweden's wildest hotel and it has a fair claim. The huts are kolarkojor — the shelters charcoal burners used to live in while tending their kilns — dug into a slope by Lake Skärsjön and roofed with turf. There is no electricity. You draw water from a spring, chop your own wood for the stove and the sauna, and wash in the lake.

Two hours from Stockholm, ten minutes from a railway station. The gap between those facts and the experience is the whole appeal.

Best for: finding out how little you actually need for two nights