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Safari Sto Gran Tour
Gran Trip to

Lapland

Beyond the Arctic Circle
Calendar
7 days
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Spirit of adventure
Balanced
Comforts are almost always available, with the occasional simpler moment. And you know how to appreciate both.
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Rhythm of the journey
Intense
Wow, there’s so much to experience. We race through it far and wide, with little desire to stop.
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Self Drive
Oh yesss
You’re the one with your hands on the wheel (or someone in your group is). Can you imagine how awesome that would be?

This Great Journey in Lapland

Up north, there’s supposedly nothing but cold, snow, and boredom. Unless you head off with Sto Gran Tour—then it’s a whole different story. Picture yourself diving into a natural paradise, where peace and silence reign supreme… at least until we show up. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to our epic Lapland adventure!

On this 7-day group adventure trip, we go snowmobiling, cross the sea on an icebreaker ship (including a dip among the ice floes), and race through the forests on husky sleds. All of it in self-drive mode, just the way Sto Gran Tour likes it.

We fly to Luleå, then head to Gammelstad, a historic village of traditional Scandinavian wooden houses and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Next stop: Kiruna, where we sleep in real igloos carved out of the snow, with reindeer hides, right beneath the Northern Lights. Cold? Not at all. We stay toasty warm thanks to the thermal sleeping bags we sleep in. We even manage to enjoy dinner with the Sami and visit the Icehotel, a hotel made entirely of ice. Then we move on to Abisko and—guess what—even Rovaniemi, the hometown of the old man we all know. From there, we make our way back toward Stockholm on the Polar Express.

In the evenings, we soak in millions of stars and the Northern Lights. That’s because we’ll spend a week beyond the Arctic Circle, in some of the best places on Earth to admire this incredible phenomenon.

For 7 days, we enjoy star-filled skies and chase the Northern Lights, since we’ll be in one of the best places in the world to see them. Great choice, by the way!

Here’s a quick roundup of some of the amazing experiences we’ll share together:

🍌 Sleep in a real igloo carved into the snow.
🍌 Visit Gammelstad, a charming little village.
🍌 Go wild on husky sleds and snowmobiles.
🍌 Cross the far north aboard the Polar Express.
🍌 Explore Swedish and Finnish Lapland.
🍌 Sail the Baltic Sea on an icebreaker ship.
🍌 Soak up the atmosphere in Stockholm.
🍌 Wander around Rovaniemi.

We don’t travel just to say, “I’ve been there,” but to feel, “wow, I’ve changed.” We’re here to take you on the most incredible adventure trip of your life. Everything you’re imagining—only even better.
Lapland, here we come!

Experiences you'll live
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Sleep in a real snow igloo under the Northern Lights, if we’re lucky.
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Dinner featuring traditional Sami delicacies after a day of falls in the snow.
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Sailing and a refreshing swim among the ice floes in the Baltic Sea.
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Watching the snow fall, with that song playing softly in the background that brings back memories...
What we've got
(And the others don't, MUAHAHA)
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Self-drive: you’re the one driving (if you want)
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Certified team leader with licensed tour escort qualification
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You can customize your trip with extra activities
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We don't stay in hostels or dormitory-style rooms.

Discover this gran trip

Check out the itinerary

Itinerary map

Boring but important stuff to know

Deposit and registration

To sign up for the trip, you need to:
🍌 Pay a deposit, which will be indicated during registration, to confirm your spot.
🍌 The remaining balance must be paid 45 days before departure.

And what about payment methods?
🍌 You can pay by bank transfer.
🍌 You can pay by card.
🍌 You can pay for your trip in up to 12 installments with HeyLight.

We’ll show you the final trip cost, including any extras you select, during the registration process and in your personal area.

What's included, and what's not

Included in the trip price

Not included in the trip price

❌ Meals and provisions (self-managed or arranged as a group)
❌ Checked baggage (but it can be added)
❌ Cancellation insurance (recommended; terms and conditions in the first registration step)
❌ Collision damage waiver for self-drive (to be paid via link before departure €69.99)
❌ Vehicle expenses (fuel, tolls, parking) - Managed via SplitUp
❌ CS expenses (eSIM, meals, any admission fees, etc. - split among participants) - managed via SplitUp;
❌ Entrance to the Ice Hotel to be paid on site
❌ Optional activities not included in the trip (see the Extra Activities page)
❌ Anything not expressly indicated under “The price includes”;

Common fund

What about shared expenses? How do they work?
No one likes traveling with stacks of local cash and doing the math on a calculator every night. So we’ll spare you that hassle: when you travel with us, it’s much easier.

Each participant takes turns covering shared expenses and logging them in the SplitUp app, which at the end of the trip splits everything equally among the group. We estimate these costs will range between €150 and €220 for this trip, depending on the number of participants.

🍌 Fuel for the vehicles and parking.
🍌 Full kasko damage insurance for the vehicles (€69).
🍌 Trip Leader’s expenses.

Pick your extra activities

Customize your itinerary!
Great idea, with us you can. You can tweak every itinerary by adding the extra activities you want to do on the trip. We've tested and approved every single one. So instead of putting up with an "all inclusive" and paying for stuff you don't like, you're free to choose.

Book your date

You might have questions, we definitely have answers

Deposit, balance and insurance

Here’s how payments work:

🍌 A deposit is due at the time of booking to confirm your spot.
🍌 The remaining balance must be paid 45 days before departure, directly from your personal account area.
🍌 You can pay by bank transfer, card, or in installments. Choose whatever is most convenient for you.
🍌 We’ll show you the final trip cost, including any extras you select, during the booking process, in the confirmation email, and in your personal account area.

🍌 Before departure, you can purchase cancellation insurance to cover your trip cancellation, provided the reason for cancellation falls within the covered cases listed in the insurance PDF. You can view and download this PDF during the booking process, before confirming your trip.
🍌 Purchasing the cancellation insurance we offer is not mandatory. If you feel it doesn’t meet your needs, you are welcome to arrange your own policy and we’ll still be happy travel buddies.
🍌 Sto Gran Tour accepts no responsibility if the participant’s reason for cancelling the trip does not fall within the cases covered by the insurance.
How air travel works

🍌 With us, your airfare is always included in the trip price, departing from Milan or Rome depending on the departure date.
🍌 For an additional fee, you can choose a different departure airport. For example: Catania, Naples, Bologna, London… your call. And if you can’t find your airport, just write to us.
🍌 The group may have different flight schedules, depending on airline availability and the order in which participants book.
🍌 We’ll share your flight times in your personal area as soon as they are available.
🍌 A booking for two people does not automatically include seats together on the plane, as seat selection comes at an extra cost. However, you can request it and add it through your personal area.
🍌 Unless otherwise stated, the flight booking does not include checked baggage. If you really, really want to add it, well, fair enough! You can add it through your personal area.
🍌 If you are absent at the airport on the day of departure due to personal unforeseen circumstances, delays or cancellations of connecting flights, or other means of transport, you will need to reach the destination independently with another flight at your own expense. We’ll help you find a flight, provided you buy the first round of beers when you catch up with us.
The no-flight option

If you’d rather book your own flights, no problem! You can select the “without flights” option when you sign up. We’ll deduct the flight cost from the trip price, and that’s it. Please note:

🍌 With the “without flights” option, airport transfers are not included.
🍌 With the “without flights” option, domestic flights are still included and covered by us.
🍌 With the “without flights” option, we ask you to share the flight times you’d like to book so we can confirm whether they are compatible with the rest of the group.
🍌 With the “without flights” option, before purchasing your flights you must wait until the trip is confirmed. If you buy them before confirmation, we will not refund the flight portion of the trip price.
The self-drive

What a pain it is when, on your trip, you have to depend on buses and drivers with standard working hours, right? And have you ever seen a backpacking adventurer rolling around in a 50-seat coach with a private driver? Nah. On our trips, we prefer the self-drive formula. In other words, you plant yourself in the driver’s seat and drive — you experience the road firsthand. You’re the one behind the wheel, if you want to be. And if you don’t, that’s fine too. There’s always a need for someone to navigate through the desert, put on the perfect playlist, and notice that “guys, I think that explosion might have been our tire… hang on.”

🍌 Can we take turns driving? Yes. This Great Journey is organized to make driving flexible: anyone in the group can get behind the wheel, as long as they let us know in their personal area before departure.
🍌 Insurance and what it covers: you’ll find all the information in the “vehicle insurance” FAQ. Easy!
🍌 Vehicle pickup: to collect the vehicle, Sto Gran Tour provides its own credit card, so even travelers who don’t have one can still join the trip (you’re welcome).
🍌 Route and flexibility: we created the itinerary with our own hands, after testing it out ourselves. It’s designed to cover the coolest stops, at the right pace, with sensible breaks along the way. But it’s not set in stone: if we want to stay longer somewhere, change route, and explore a place, we decide it together as a group. That’s the beauty of self-drive!
🍌 What happens if we wreck the car or have a breakdown? We won’t get arrested or end up behind bars. The vehicle is covered by insurance (see the “vehicle insurance” FAQ). In any case, the Team Leader will handle the process by contacting the company or local partner for assistance. And the Team Leader will always be supported remotely by the Sto Gran Tour staff, 24/7. Seriously: day and night, every single day.
Vehicle insurance

In the true spirit of adventure and to enjoy a genuinely authentic trip, the group will drive the rental vehicles in self-drive mode.

🍌 An extra convenience for those traveling with us: Sto Gran Tour provides its own credit card as the guarantee for the vehicle rental, taking on the deposit and any required guarantee with the rental company, including in the event of possible damage or additional charges. This means that even travelers who do not have a credit card can still drive, and vehicle pick-up procedures are simpler for the whole group.

🍌 Each vehicle will be covered by full Kasko insurance. The cost (a small amount), shared among the participants, is included in the common trip expenses. You can pay your share directly in your personal area before departure. We believe this is the best way to avoid significant expenses if needed and to ensure that all responsibility does not fall on the volunteer drivers.

🍌 If you prefer not to pay the small Kasko fee, you can choose to rent the vehicle using your own personal credit card, or to pay the required rental excess/deposit yourself. You will be able to select this option in your personal area.

At the time of pick-up, all participants (not only the drivers) are responsible for checking that the insurance is in place and for taking photos of the vehicle, so as to avoid any unpleasant surprises when returning it.
Types of accommodation

Accommodation arrangements are outlined in the “Accommodation and Transport” section under “Boring but important things to know,” which you can find on this page. Depending on the departure date and the trip, the setup shown on the website may differ from what is described there. For this reason, you will never see it stated that a specific room type (whether double, triple, or quadruple) is 100% guaranteed. This is simply because we often do not have full control over our suppliers’ availability. Please also keep in mind that, on a group trip, sharing is part of the travel experience: in addition to an amazing adventure, you may also end up sharing rooms and bathrooms. Every traveler for themselves? Not quite. If having a double room is absolutely essential for you (like, truly non-negotiable), please contact us before departure! That way we can avoid problems, misunderstandings, and unnecessary hassle for both sides. Sounds fair?
Travel itinerary and changes

Even if you’re joining an organized trip, the spirit is that of a true road trip. Absolutely! This is a real journey: unexpected events, pleasant unplanned moments along the itinerary, stops, weather-related obstacles, and more. In practice, what does that mean?

🍌 The program, as well as the order of the days, may change.
🍌 Nature is in charge. We do not provide refunds of the amount paid for itinerary changes due to weather conditions.
🍌 Mechanical issues can happen. We do not provide refunds of the amount paid for itinerary changes caused by mechanical problems (for example, a flat tire, a blown fuse, a broken window, a stolen side mirror, and things like that).
🍌 If travel days or activities are missed due to bad weather or issues caused by suppliers, we will try to reschedule them if the group agrees with the new travel solution and only if the Trip Leader considers it feasible.
🍌 The layout/size of the means of transport and accommodations may differ from what is indicated in the travel program due to local availability.
The Team Leader

When you travel with Sto Gran Tour, you’ll always be accompanied by a Team Leader. We don’t work with polished influencers who turn travel into social media content, and we don’t partner with people who just want a free trip. Our Team Leaders are certified guides—experienced, passionate young women and men, as well as licensed tour escorts.

“What exactly do they do on the trip?” you might be wondering. Well, the Team Leader coordinates the group throughout the journey, handling logistics, offering continuous support, and building team spirit—without being a traditional tour guide. They are not a nature guide, but they make sure each stage of the trip runs according to plan, as far as possible depending on circumstances and the group’s needs. They share helpful tips about the itinerary, help manage timing, and make organizing each day easier. Basically, a saint. They’re the go-to person for questions, unexpected issues, and logistical needs. In short: like a super practical Swiss Army knife, always ready and on the ball.
How extra activities work

You can customize your trip with extra activities, which you can choose either when you sign up or later on. Please note:

🍌 If an activity is canceled by the provider, you will be refunded.
🍌 Any special equipment required for each activity will be provided on site.
🍌 You can also choose activities after signing up and add them from your personal area for an additional €5.
🍌 We cannot guarantee activity availability if you add them close to the departure date.
🍌 During peak periods, such as New Year’s and summer, we cannot guarantee activity availability unless you book well in advance.
🍌 Activity prices may increase at the providers’ discretion.

One more thing: the activities are organized by local providers, and we at Sto Gran Tour are not responsible for changes, availability, or cancellations.
Group and fellow travelers

Groups usually consist of 3 to 17 travelers plus a Trip Leader. The exact number varies depending on the trip. The average age on our trips is generally between 25 and 45, with a few exceptions.

Our groups usually include people from all over Italy, and they’re open-minded travelers who love new experiences. You don’t need to be an experienced traveler, and you don’t need to have joined group trips before. It also doesn’t matter whether you’re traveling solo, with your girlfriend, or with your dad. What really matters is the mindset you bring: the desire and curiosity to explore the world and truly experience it. It’ll be what you imagine — only more.

About a month before departure, we’ll open the Wazzzzup group so you can start getting to know the other participants. You’ll find the Sto Gran Gruppo link in your personal area.

We confirm and activate the trip once there are at least 4 to 6 participants. If we don’t reach the minimum number, you can change your date free of charge to the nearest available departure, either for the same destination or for another one. Or you can request a full refund. So when will you know whether the trip is confirmed or not? About one month before departure, when we finalize the participant count.

P.S.
Are you cursing us out because you’d love to travel with us, but you think you’re outside the age range? Write to us — maybe we can still make it work and travel together. And in the worst-case scenario, at least you can insult us in person.
Group confirmation

Almost all of our trips are confirmed. For groups that are still awaiting confirmation, we will send you regular updates through your personal area. If we do not reach the minimum number of participants (generally 3), you may change your date free of charge to the nearest departure, either for the same destination or a different one, or receive a full refund. For trips with only one departure date, the "Trip Status" is shown.

Got questions buzzing around your head? Write to us

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An evening on your trip

An evening on your trip

Outside it’s -10 degrees, but you’re lying on a reindeer hide inside an igloo carved out of the snow, tucked into a thermal sleeping bag. So warm! You’re still wearing your hat, more out of affection than necessity, and your nose is the only part of you that remembers where you are. Above you, the Northern Lights are putting on a full show, as if they knew this was their last chance to impress you. Green, then violet, then green again, in slow waves that seem to breathe. And honestly, they’re pulling it off. More than pulling it off, really.

Outside, everything is still, hushed, muffled. No traffic, no notifications—just the occasional crunch of snow and the fullest silence you’ve ever heard. Earlier today you were out on a snowmobile in the middle of nowhere, with frozen eyelashes and dogs licking your gloves. You screamed through at least three turns, laughed through all the others, and at lunch the hot tea from your thermos felt like the best thing you’d ever tasted. Now you’re warm, slightly incredulous, your cheeks still a little red from the wind, and you think: “What kind of incredible trip is this?”

Greater Lapland is everything you imagine—and then some.

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