Vegan travellers know that booking a holiday can be complicated by a hotel’s or region’s understanding of a plant-based diet. Fortunately, Scandinavia’s open-mindedness and drive for culinary innovation make it vegan-friendly and an exciting foodie destination. Nordic purist cuisine takes a holistic approach to sustainability. It keeps food miles low and supports small businesses, including the indigenous Sami people. In cities, concept diners like Natura in Helsinki pride themselves on using local suppliers. They source herbs, berries, and mushrooms from the green belt around the capital. Vegans won’t struggle to find tasty Scandi grub in Northern Europe’s urban centres. Whether on the go or in haute cuisine restaurants, options abound.

Further north, in Arctic Scandinavia and Lapland, things are different. Travellers stay in wilderness lodges, with little access to supermarkets or vegan-friendly restaurants. Most wilderness retreats can cater to a vegan diet. However, the quality of the food varies widely. The good news is that some outstanding restaurants cater to vegan diets with authentic, local dishes. To avoid disappointment, we recommend contacting the hotel in advance. This gives them time to source the right ingredients before you arrive. Even if dining quality isn’t the main focus of your trip, it’s worth the effort.

If you’re travelling with us, we recommend not taking any chances. Choose hotels that either feature vegan food on their à la carte menu or have a creative culinary flair beyond meat-based or vegetarian diets. Let us know in the planning stage, and the team will make recommendations to suit your dietary and travel needs. To give you a taste of what a vegan holiday to Lapland could look like, we’ve selected a few small-scale wilderness retreats. We have worked closely with them over the past decade.

Camp Ripan

The chalet-style spa retreat outside Sweden’s northernmost city, Kiruna, prides itself on sustainably sourced local food. The à la carte menu features vegan options across three courses, such as mushroom soup, vegan bouillabaisse, or carbonara and berry dessert. The dessert includes vegan vanilla ice cream, spicy blueberry soup, crowberry meringue, blackberries, and vegan chocolate. YUM!

We recommend Camp Ripan for its accessibility from Kiruna airport. It also offers a sublime spa experience with an outdoor hot tub, indoor infinity pool, and a Nordic sauna. You can end your visit with Lappish-inspired skin treatments. From the lodge, guests can enjoy cruelty-free dog-sledding experiences, visit the nearby ICEHOTEL, or learn about Sami culture.

Sorbyn Lodge

Sorbyn Lodge in Swedish Lapland is a community-funded hotel with a beloved restaurant. The restaurant combines a passion for local cuisine with a desire to learn and develop. While the hotel doesn’t feature vegan options on its menu, its vegetarian dishes can be adapted to vegan meals.

Our personal veggie experience: The vegetarian dish featuring celery, puréed cauliflower, and roasted nuts was the best veggie dish I had during my four-day trip to Swedish Lapland. I was impressed by the restaurant’s focus on making the most of available vegetarian ingredients and avoiding the usual solutions like veggie sausages, beans, or – worse – a portobello mushroom patty (!). The approach was original, authentic, and well-suited to the overall ambiance of the lodge. While I can’t comment on the vegan food specifically, the top-notch quality and evident passion of our host, Cicci, always kindled my appetite for celery-infused dishes.

Grano Beckasin

Grano Beckasin is a retreat-like hotel with charm and character. Its charm lies in whimsical treetop accommodation overlooking South Lapland’s Umea River. In the lodge’s spacious interior, far-reaching views are sometimes disturbed by curious squirrels peeping through panoramic windows. The hotel’s character lies in its commitment to conservation. Inspired by one man’s love for local birdlife, Grano Beckasin has become an eco-tourism micro retreat. It has little appetite for expansion and focuses on improving the quality of the experience.

This commitment extends to the lodge’s culinary flexibility. The hotel restaurant caters to all dietary requirements with organic food sourced from the surrounding wilderness area when possible.

Javri Lodge

Javri Lodge in Finnish Lapland focuses on sustainably and locally sourced food. The owners come from a high-end gastronomic background, which is reflected in the lodge’s emphasis on food quality.

When asked if the lodge is vegan-friendly, host Egle reassured us: “We had vegan guests who stayed with us for 4 or 5 nights. It’s a bit more challenging, but our chefs can always create a custom menu to meet your clients’ specific needs.”

Example options for vegans include:

• Winter root vegetable light bouillon, cabbage cannelloni, horseradish foam

• Pumpkin seed pesto gnocchi

• Lentil dip, coriander, and apple

• Pan-fried veggies, tofu Rosso

• Vegan chocolate cake

Lyngen Lodge

Tucked between the spiky peaks of the Lyngen Alps and glassy fjord waters lies the luxurious Lyngen Lodge, a boutique hotel balancing top-notch adventures with food for the soul. With an outdoor hot tub and a chef who has catered to both the Queen and Metallica, travellers can expect a creative menu and playful use of ingredients.