Midnight Sun Route – Start & Finish Vilhelmina
Hotel Wilhelmina is a Start & Finish Hotel on the Midnight Sun Route and will be the base for your adventure. You can leave your car and luggage at this hotel. If you’re travelling by bus, plane or train to Vilhelmina, book a taxi to the hotel.
A Start & Finish Hotel booking package consists of at least two hotel nights, including breakfast and two dinners, luggage storage and parking. Also a Midnight Sun Route t-shirt is included.
The Midnight Sun Route is a self-guided adventure. You decide the length of your journey and how many stops you want to make on the way – the Start & Finish Hotel package also includes assistance and advice with your booking arrangements!
In order to provide the best possible weather conditions, the booking period for the Midnight Sun Route will be accepting bookings from June 19 to August 23. Summer har barely arrived to the mountains by mid-June and some hotels and campsites are be closed until after Midsummer.
The Midnight Sun Route starting from Vilhelmina
The full length of the Midnight Sun Route consists of 15 stages but if you don’t have time to complete the route in its entirety, we recommend 11 mostly mountainous but very enjoyable stages, starting from Vilhelmina. If you have time then continue on from Sorsele along the Vindel River down to Umeå and the Gulf of Bothnia to cycle the whole length of the route.
Mountain weather is uncertain and may affect cycling conditions. On a week-long trip we recommend that you plan for at least rest day due to rain. The hotels on the route can usually be rebooked with a days notice. Some stages are shorter than others which also gives you the possibility to make up for a lost cycling day by combining two stages.
The stages of the Midnight Sun Route are designed for experienced cyclists who travel light like a randonneur with only a saddle bag and frame bag. You should be comfortable cycling on busy roads (mainly the E6 in Norway, depending on the time of day) and should have basic knowledge of bicycle maintenance, such as being able to repair a puncture. Most of the time, you will be cycling on roads with very little traffic in sparsely populated areas, so it is not always possible to get help from outside.
Planning your adventure
Add or subtract stages of the Midnight Sun Route depending on the length of your holiday. To help you decide how many days you think that you may need to complete the Midnight Sun Route we’ve borrowed the nomenclature of French randonneuring culture to describe three categories of cyclists. The first category of cyclists we describe as ‘tourists’. In randonneuring, tourists are cyclists that have abandoned an event but continue cycling on the course ”outside competition”. For ‘tourists’ time and speed is not important and they will make time for other activities during their day, such as sightseeing or a visit to a museum or natural attraction. The second category of cyclists are the ‘randonneurs’. These cyclists are focused on cycling and may only take breaks to refuel during the day. Randonneurs will have little time for sightseeing and may also cover more distance by spending an hour or two more on their bikes than ‘tourists’. The third category are the ‘stars’. These cyclists who are completely focused covering as many kilometres per day as possible. They will have little time for breaks and will push themselves to the limit every day; cycling well into the evening. These cyclists have the aim to complete the route as fast as possible.
Midnight Sun Route – Tourist
The category of cyclists we describe as ‘tourists’ will average between 80–120 km per day, which gives them time for activities at their destinations during the afternoon or evening.
Here’s a timetable for the Midnight Sun Route keeping a pace of 80–120 km per day, which starts and ends at Hotel Wilhelmina
. We recommend that you mix in a few rest days in your final plan.
| Stage | From | Accommodation | To | Book | Service | Km | Elev. | Route |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Vilhelmina | Hotell Wilhelmina | Dikanäs | Kvarnforsens Camping |  | 101,7 | 1330 |  |
| 2 | Dikanäs | Kvarnforsens Camping | Kittelfjäll | STF Kittelfjäll Hostel |  | 29,0 | 375 | |
| 3 | Kittelfjäll | STF Kittelfjäll Hostel | Hattfjelldal | Hattfjelldal Hotell | | 98,9 | 1045 | |
| 4 | Hattfjelldal | Hattfjelldal Hotell | Mo i Rana | Scandic Meyergården | | 111,8 | 1450 | |
| 5 | Mo i Rana | Scandic Meyergården | Krokstranda | Krokstrand Fjellpark |  | 62,2 | 1007 | |
| 6 | Krokstranda | Krokstrand Fjellpark | Storjord | Storjord Hotel | | 53,4 | 725 | |
| 7 | Storjord | Storjord Hotel | Vuoggatjålme | Vuoggatjålme | | 64,1 | 1087 | |
| 8 | Vuoggatjålme | Vuoggatjålme | Arjeplog | Hornavan Hotell | | 104,7 | 912 | |
| 9 | Arjeplog | Hornavan Hotell | Sorsele | Sorsele River Hotel | | 90,9 | 741 | |
| 10 | Sorsele | Sorsele River Hotel | Storuman | Hotell Toppen | | 114,2 | 1219 | |
| 11 | Storuman | Hotell Toppen | Vilhelmina | Hotel Wilhelmina |  | 67,2 | 1117 | |
Midnight Sun Route – Randonneur
Fitness levels may differ for the category of cyclists we describe as ‘randonneurs’ but their focus is mainly on cycling, and the extra distance they gain over ‘tourists’ may be from either increased cycling speed or increased time on their bike. Randonneurs will average 90–180 km per day.
Here’s a suggested timetable with focus on longer stages. It combines stages to shorten the trip by four days. On some stages stops are only made for lunch at some hotels. Add at least one rest day to your final plan.
| Stage | From | Accommodation | To | Book | Service | Km | Elev. | Route |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Vilhelmina | Hotell Wilhelmina | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 1 | - | - | Kittelfjäll | STF Kittelfjäll Hostel | | 129,5 | 1677 | |
| 2 | Kittelfjäll | STF Kittelfjäll Hostel | Hattfjelldal | Hattfjelldal Hotell | | 98,9 | 1045 | |
| 3 | Hattfjelldal | Hattfjelldal Hotell | Mo i Rana | Scandic Meyergården |  | - | - | |
| 3 | Mo i Rana | - | Krokstranda | Krokstrand Fjellpark | | 174,0 | 2 457 | |
| 4 | Krokstranda | Krokstrand Fjellpark | Arctic Circe Center | - |  | - | - | |
| 4 | Arctic Circe Center | - | Vuoggatjålme | Vuoggatjålme | | 117,5 | 1812 | |
| 5 | Vuoggatjålme | Vuoggatjålme | Arjeplog | Hornavan Hotell | | 104,7 | 912 | |
| 6 | Arjeplog | Hornavan Hotell | Sorsele | Sorsele River Hotel | | 90,9 | 741 | |
| 7 | Sorsele | Sorsele River Hotel | Storuman | Hotell Toppen | | - | - | |
| 7 | Storuman | - | Vilhelmina | Hotel Wilhelmina | | 181,4 | 2336 | |
As for the ‘stars’, well, the sky is the limit for them and so they will cycle as many kilometres per days as they can; and that is a number these cyclists will decide during each day, depending on how they feel.
Book Hotell Vilhelmina as the base for your adventure on the Sweden By Bike website (soon bookable).
