A great way to explore Sweden and wind down at the same time is to enjoy some good old cabin life. We use Airbnb a lot and either pick a cabin in a location we want to go to, or just browse the entire map of Sweden and decide based on what we find and availability where we’ll go.

With a cabin at a basecamp for a few days it’s easy to explore the surrounding towns and nature. Spend a day in a nearby city, go hiking, bike if there are rentals available. Renting a cabin let’s you briefly live in a new place and get a feel for life there while experiencing something new.

The simplicity of cabin life also helps me wind down a lot, and opens the door to inspiration and creativity. Staying at a cabin often means that it’s a bit smaller, less cluttered with stuff. All of a sudden the morning routine is to get a fire going to scare away the lingering, cold night air before tending to things like coffee and breakfast. With less stuff around me and can relax and really get into the zone.

If I go with friends we have great quality time together as everyone are able to let go off work for a bit. We play a lot of boardgames, cook together and have great conversations around the fire.

All in all I have only good things to say about cabin life and there are so many cabins out for rent through Airbnb! If you’re traveling around a lot you can also make use of all the free cabins available throughout Sweden. The rule states you can stay there a night or two, and there’s an entire book about it guiding you to some of them: Stuglandet – En guide till fria övernattningar

Below are all my journal entries from stays at various cabins – I hope they inspire you to try the cabin life for yourself, it truly is wonderful!