My INCREDIBLE trip on the Arctic Circle Sleeper Train (2019)

Hello and thanks for joining me for another video. I'm Paul Lucas and in this video I'll show you a

journey that I've wanted to do for years and years. 18 hours on a sleeper train from Stockholm

Sweden up to Narvik in Norway, well inside the Arctic Circle. I'm going to be taking the Arctic

Circle sleeper train in a solo sleeper and it's going to be fantastic. Also a big shout out and

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forget a password again. Our journey today begins at Stockholm Central Station which is 148 years

old. Following the opening of a new station for commuter trains a couple of years ago

nowadays Stockholm Central serves mostly regional and intercity trains. There are self-service left

luggage lockers at various points on the station and I made good use of these as I was actually

connecting from an intercity service which had departed Gothenburg earlier in the morning

The station is a pleasant enough place to wait for a few hours but if I were you I would head

out into Stockholm City itself especially if you've got a long connection. There is a first

class lounge here but unfortunately my sleeper ticket didn't grant me access. The restaurant cars

on board the arctic sleeper train are reasonably good but if you don't fancy taking your chances

or you just want something to eat before you leave there is an extensive food court and shopping area

underneath the station. I was really looking forward to getting on board so I headed out to

the platforms early. Our train actually arrived from the depot, headed by an RC class locomotive

If you do take this train be mindful that the rear half actually goes to Lulio in Sweden. Only the

front half goes to Narvik, so be careful, check your ticket and make sure you're in the right

carriage and berth. Don't worry too much though, there are extra signs on each carriage for extra

reassurance. You'll need to book in advance for this sort of trip with SJ Swedish Railways. This

is the first time I'd ever booked with SJ so I needed a customer account to buy and retrieve my

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10% off Dashlane Premium. Go check it out. I already use it and I love it. Now let's get to

the Arctic Circle. Sweden is like much of continental Europe in that the platforms are

much lower than the train floors. Therefore there are a few steps up so be careful if you have large

bags. The corridors are actually much wider than the fisheye lens on my GoPro camera makes it look

in this footage so don't worry if you have big bags that will certainly fit down this corridor

Each bed space is called a berth and comes with a berth number which you can

see handily signposted on the walls next to the relevant doors. Now I've actually

got solo occupancy of four, five and six this entire room all the way up to Narvik

The cost 824 Swedish koruna that around about 68 pounds A bargain for 18 hours of comfortable travel access to a shower and your bed for the night Good evening and welcome on board on SE Night Ring number for Ljujo and Narvik

As we speed north from Stockholm now is a good time to have a look at our room all the way up to the Arctic Circle

The first thing that comes to mind is this large window. This can be opened using a catch at the top here

It is a lot more easy if you use two hands. Of course, I've got my camera in one hand here

Accompanying the window is a blind. This can be set to go just halfway down the window using this latch

Or you can pull it all the way down and secure it using a button at the bottom and that will block out about

95% of the light during the day There are actually three beds in this room and therefore there is space for three people on this long bench seat

This is the centre bunk just here and we'll fold down. We'll have a look at that later

At the bottom here is a sofa bench seat and that will convert into the lower berth if necessary

There's also a top bunk which I won't need to use today but it is a handy storage place for all the bedding

Finally there are detailed instructions on how to make up and put away the beds

but if you're stuck you can always call the steeper cabin attendant. There is one per carriage. Although my cabin isn't an en suite, it does have a private wash basin

although the pressure, as you can see here, was pretty disappointing. There's also a conveniently

located electrical socket, which you could use, I suppose, for shaving or for charging anything else

a vanity lamp, and a large mirror. There's also controls above the sink for the air conditioning

and climate control. Above the sink is a good-sized rack, which holds my cabin case with no problems

There's also a ladder here which is very useful in case you need to reach the top bunk

This actually pops out and you need to stand on the first couple of rungs to even get into

a position where you could swing yourself into the top bunk. It's definitely not something for the less flexible

There are also coat hangers and hooks here for hanging clothes. This is pretty useful because you're going to need, I hope, a change of clothes for the

next day. The light switch is located next to the door. There are also duplicated controls above each berth, including attendant call buttons and

individual reading lamps. There's also another charge socket just above the second berth

The toilets are located at the end of every corridor. Every one that I used on this train was spotlessly clean at every point of the journey

There's also additional rack space in the corridor for very large bags

A lot of people take this train to go skiing. Another accommodation includes the Couchettes. These are 6 berth compartments with basic bedding

There's also a seated carriage, but I imagine the vast majority of people in here are not

taking the train all the way overnight. This train stops in a number of places in Sweden

and also acts as an intercity train. Finally, there's a dining car around about the middle of the train. This is a very convivial

place to get a meal. There's a reasonably good selection of hot and cold meals on offer

for reasonable prices. Payment must be done with cash or card at the counter as you see

here. There is no waiter or table service on this train. Having eaten a good sized lunch in Stockholm I wasn't in the mood for another cooked meal

and just settled for a cold pasta salad. It was pretty good

Around an hour after leaving Stockholm the line becomes very rural and quite remote. There

is an awful lot of countryside here The countryside is fantastic as long as you like trees There There also the opportunity to see small quiet Swedish towns where you would never normally visit It quite a surreal experience At about 10 p I

decide it's time to go to bed. I actually convert the middle bunk instead of the

bottom one because it's easier for me to have a look out of the window. The bedding

on these trains is very fresh and comfortable. There's also a fabric style

safety guard which you can just about see here. It's kind of connected with a

seatbelt and this will stop you from rolling out of the bed during the night. I tend to sleep

pretty well on trains but I surprise even myself by getting a full eight hours unbroken sleep on

board. The next morning the scenery looks much the same but there is a lot more snow. We're now

in the arctic circle. It's time for me to take a shower. The showers are only accessible by keycard

to passengers in the sleeper accommodation, not couchettes or seats. These are some of the smartest showers I've ever seen on a train

They're smart and clean, towels and shampoo are provided, and there's also a hairdryer here for good measure

I think the best thing about this train is the fact that it has a shower on board

Okay, don't expect any miracles with the pressure, but it's so nice to be able to wake up, have a shower

and feel like a completely new person in new clothes. Anyway, we're about half an hour away from the town of Karuna in the north of Sweden

I'm going to go and check out what there is for breakfast in the dining car. The Narvik portion of this train, my train, has split overnight

and there's a different dining car which is now at the back of the train. It's certainly got interesting decor, much more retro than the one I was on the previous evening

This dining car works in exactly the same way as the one that I visited the night before

There's still a reasonable selection of food and drink. One thing that's really interesting about this dining car is that all of the seats appear

to be moveable. They're almost like wicker chairs that you can move around on the floor

I really can't place what era the decor in this carriage is from. Why don't you have a go at guessing in the comments section below

However, the scenery outside is absolutely fantastic, as to be expected. I had a small roll and coffee for breakfast

Apparently this is turkey and cheese. wasn't too bad, I paid about 50 kroner for it. Something I really love about these old

carriages is that if you're at the end of the train, like I am here, you can look out

at the back window and see the track disappear behind you. It's certainly a novelty. This

whole carriage just feels like a complete time warp. I'd be really interested to find

out exactly when this carriage was built. Shortly after half past nine, we approach

Kiruna, a mining and tourism town in the very north of Sweden, in Lapland. There's also

a spaceport and space research centre here. Apparently Virgin Galactic are going to be

a tenant of Spaceport Sweden located next to Karuna. The train stops here because the

locomotive needs to change ends. However most of the people I can see getting off the train

here appear to be skiers and not astronauts. It's actually not quite as cold as these pictures

make it look. This was filmed in April and it was about two degrees above freezing, so

of a Thor had just started. After Karuna, the train heads even further north towards Torna Trask, a giant frozen

lake and the mountain ranges that stand between us and Narvik. Thank you

The railway line we're currently on is the Swedish Iron Ore Line

The first section opened in 1888 and it was fully open all the way to Narvik in 1903

Incredibly, this line was fully electrified as far back as 1923. It's an engineering marvel

There are enormous snow canopies like this to protect the overhead line, the track and

infrastructure from the risks of rockfall and avalanche. 1,634 kilometres from Stockholm we approach the lonely place of Riksgransson

This is the last town in Sweden. Norway and Sweden participate in the Schengen free travel zone and therefore there are no customs or

passport formalities to be sorted out here. The only clue that you're actually going into a

different country is located on the side of the tunnel wall, here. You can see the flags change

from Swedish to Norwegian. Blink and you'll miss it. Just a few hundred yards later

the train bursts out into the open and we're in Norway. Narvik lies 1,674 kilometers by rail from the Swedish capital, Stockholm

And we arrive bang on time at 12.54, just in time for lunch

This is the end of the line, and it's also the furthest north I've ever been in my life

And so that's it. Here I am in Narvik, Norway, right in the heart of the Arctic Circle

What an epic 18 hours of travel that was. I really hope that you enjoyed coming with me

Don't forget to head to dashlane.com slash Paul and enter coupon code Paul at checkout to receive 10% off premium courtesy of the nice people at Dashlane

As for me, I'm off to my hotel. I'll see you in a few days with another video. Bye