Terms & Conditions

Smooth Aurora Travels is a brand of Smooth Pirates AB, a company registered in Sweden with its registered office in Tyresö outside Stockholm. All our travel is operated in Kiruna and the surrounding area in Swedish Lapland, where we have no fixed premises open to the public. Smooth Pirates AB is the organiser of the package travel described on this website and is your contracting party.

• Company: Smooth Pirates AB, trading as Smooth Aurora Travels
• Registration number: 559382-1225
• VAT number: SE559382122501
• Registered address: Smooth Pirates AB, Siklöjevägen 11, 135 31 Tyresö, Sweden
• Area of operation: Kiruna and the surrounding area, Swedish Lapland
• Email: info@smoothaurora.com

Email is the fastest way to reach us and everything we agree with you is confirmed in writing.

The Feel Good Week is a four-night package in Kiruna. It includes hotel accommodation with breakfast every morning and a two-course dinner at the hotel restaurant every evening, all airport and activity transfers, a full winter clothing set for the duration of your stay, the Arctic activities listed on the package page, and a local host throughout your stay.

It does not include flights or train travel to and from Kiruna, lunches other than the meals that form part of an activity, personal travel insurance, optional add-on activities, or personal expenses. The full and current list of inclusions and exclusions is published on the Feel Good Week package page and forms part of these terms. The written confirmation you receive states exactly what your booking contains.

You start a booking by sending us a request through the website or by email. A request is not yet a booking. We check availability with our accommodation and activity partners and reply to you, normally within 48 hours.

The booking becomes binding for both parties when we issue a written confirmation by email stating your dates, the number of guests, what is included and the total price, and you have paid the booking and arrangement fee. Please read the confirmation carefully as soon as you receive it and tell us straight away if anything is wrong.

All prices shown on this website and in your confirmation are per person and include Swedish VAT. There is nothing to add at checkout. Prices are stated in Swedish kronor (SEK). Where a price is also shown in euro (EUR) it is for guidance only, converted at an indicative rate. Your invoice and any refund are in SEK, and your bank's exchange rate and any card or transfer fees are your own cost.

A booking and arrangement fee equal to 20 percent of the total price is payable when your booking is confirmed. This fee covers the work of planning and reserving your week: securing accommodation in a town with very limited capacity, holding activity places with our partners, scheduling transfers and preparing your clothing set and itinerary. It is non-refundable.

The remaining 80 percent of the total price is due no later than 60 days before departure. If you book less than 60 days before departure, the full price is due at the time of confirmation. If a payment is not received by the due date, and you do not respond to our reminder, we may treat the booking as cancelled by you and the cancellation terms in section 6 apply.

We will always try to accommodate a change of dates, a change in the number of guests or a change of activity. All changes depend on availability with our accommodation and activity partners and are only valid once we confirm them in writing.

An administration fee of EUR 50 per change applies. If a change increases the cost of your package, for example a higher seasonal room rate, the difference is added to your balance and shown to you before you accept. A change that reduces the content of the package is treated as a partial cancellation under section 6.

A non-refundable booking and arrangement fee equal to 20 percent of the total price applies to every booking from the moment it is confirmed. Of the remaining 80 percent: cancellations made more than 60 days before departure are refunded in full; cancellations made between 59 and 30 days before departure are refunded at 50 percent; cancellations made less than 30 days before departure are non-refundable.

Cancellations must be sent to us by email and take effect on the date we receive them. Refunds are paid to the account used for payment within 14 days of us confirming the cancellation.

Unavoidable and extraordinary circumstances. You may cancel any departure, including the New Year departure, without paying a cancellation fee where unavoidable and extraordinary circumstances occurring at or in the immediate vicinity of the destination significantly affect the performance of the package or the transport of passengers to the destination. In that case you receive a full refund of everything you have paid, but no additional compensation.

We strongly recommend taking out travel insurance that covers cancellation, medical costs and winter activities, so that you are protected if you have to cancel for reasons such as illness.

Under the Swedish Package Travel Act you may transfer your package to another person who meets all the conditions that apply to the booking, for example the minimum age and the health requirements of the activities. Tell us by email on reasonable notice before departure. A notice given at least seven days before departure is always regarded as reasonable, and we will do our best to accommodate a later request where our partners allow it.

You and the person taking over your place are jointly and severally liable for the unpaid part of the price and for any reasonable additional costs the transfer causes, for example a supplier name change fee. We tell you what those costs are, with evidence, before the transfer is made. This is a statutory right and it is usually a better outcome than cancelling.

The New Year departure is a separate product with its own price and its own cancellation terms. It is sold at SEK 44 900 per person, about EUR 4 199. Every activity, transfer, supplier and member of staff costs more over New Year and the week is harder to run, and the price reflects that.

In addition to everything included in the standard Feel Good Week, the New Year departure includes: on New Year's Eve, an amuse bouche and a four-course New Year supper at Restaurant Fe at Elite Hotel Frost, the hotel in which the guest is already staying; a drinks pairing selected for that supper, included in the price, which the guest must select when booking and which is not served if it has not been selected; and one gift of the guest's choice from the Arctic Love Basket, the Arctic Spa Kit or the Mystery Box. A guest who chooses no gift receives a welcome kit instead. On the other three evenings of the New Year week the guest receives the same two-course dinner as on every other departure.

Cancellation of the New Year departure. The same cancellation ladder applies as to every other departure: the 20 percent booking and arrangement fee is non-refundable from confirmation, and of the remaining 80 percent a cancellation more than 60 days before departure is refunded in full, a cancellation 59 to 30 days before departure is refunded at 50 percent, and a cancellation less than 30 days before departure is not refunded. Sections 6 and 7 apply in full, including your right to transfer the booking to another person and your right to cancel without a fee in unavoidable and extraordinary circumstances. Because this week is the most expensive of the season, travel insurance covering cancellation matters here more than anywhere else.

We may need to make small changes to your itinerary, for example the order of activities or a change of accommodation to a property of equivalent or better standard. We tell you as soon as we know and the value of your package is maintained.

In rare cases we may have to cancel a departure because we are prevented from performing the package by unavoidable and extraordinary circumstances, meaning a situation beyond our control the consequences of which we could not have avoided even if all reasonable measures had been taken. Extreme weather, road closures and official restrictions are examples. A supplier ceasing to trade is normally our commercial risk rather than an extraordinary circumstance, and we carry it.

If we cancel, you may choose either an alternative departure of equivalent value, with any difference in price moved in your favour, or a full refund of everything you have paid us, including the booking and arrangement fee. Refunds are made within 14 days. Where we cancel for a reason that is not an unavoidable and extraordinary circumstance, and where we cancel later than the notice periods below, you are also entitled to compensation for the damage the cancellation causes you, as the Package Travel Act provides.

If too few people have booked. Every departure needs a minimum of three guests to run, which is why we mark a departure as confirmed once three guests are booked. If that minimum is not reached we tell you no later than 7 days before departure and refund everything you have paid us, including the booking and arrangement fee, within 14 days. This is the only situation in which the cancellation charges in clause 6 do not apply to you at all: they cover cancellation by you, not cancellation by us for too few participants. Within that notice deadline you receive a full refund but no additional compensation.

We are not liable for flights, trains or other travel you have booked separately, which is why insurance matters.

Smooth Pirates AB is a package travel organiser under the Swedish Package Travel Act (paketreselagen) and the Travel Guarantee Act (resegarantilagen), which implement the EU Package Travel Directive in Swedish law. As required by that legislation, our application for a statutory travel guarantee is lodged with Kammarkollegiet, the Swedish Legal, Financial and Administrative Services Agency, and is being processed. No booking is confirmed and no payment is taken until the guarantee is registered.

The guarantee protects the money you pay in advance. If a trip is cancelled because the organiser runs into financial difficulty you get back what you have paid, if a trip is interrupted you are compensated for the parts you miss, and if you are stranded at the destination it covers your journey home and extra accommodation. Claims are made directly to Kammarkollegiet. Because we take no payment before the guarantee is registered, there is no point at which your money sits with us uncovered.

Read more about our travel guarantee

You are responsible for holding a valid passport or identity document and any visa required for entry to Sweden, and for arriving in Kiruna on the agreed date. We cannot refund a package missed because of a travel document problem or a missed flight.

Every guest must hold personal travel insurance that covers medical care, repatriation and winter activities. You must complete the post-booking form we send you, giving accurate clothing sizes and disclosing allergies, dietary needs and medical conditions relevant to the activities, including pregnancy, heart conditions, back or neck problems and reduced mobility. This lets us adapt the week safely.

During activities you must follow the instructions of guides and operators, use the safety equipment provided, and not take part while under the influence of alcohol or drugs. A guide may stop or adapt an activity for an individual guest on safety grounds. Where that happens for a reason on your side, for example intoxication, refusing to follow safety instructions, or a health condition or pregnancy you did not disclose to us beforehand, no refund is due for that activity. Where the reason is on our side or in the conditions, for example weather, equipment or a health matter you did disclose and we accepted, section 12 applies and you are refunded the value of the activity you miss, or offered a replacement of comparable value.

The northern lights are a natural phenomenon that depends on solar activity and cloud cover. We never guarantee that you will see them. What we do is take you out with specialist guides who track the forecast every night of your stay and drive to the clearest sky within reach. No refund or compensation is due if the aurora does not appear.

Arctic weather can also affect activities. For safety we may shorten, adapt, reschedule or substitute an activity, for example when temperatures fall to extreme levels, in high wind or poor ice conditions. In that case we replace it with an activity of comparable value where possible, and if no replacement can be arranged we refund the value of the missed activity after your stay.

As organiser, Smooth Pirates AB is responsible for the proper performance of the travel services included in your package, whether they are delivered by us or by our local partners, in accordance with the Swedish Package Travel Act. If a service is not delivered as agreed, we will put it right where possible, and you may be entitled to a price reduction or compensation as that Act provides.

We are not liable for services you book yourself, such as flights or trains, for loss or damage caused by you or by a third party unconnected with the package, or for unavoidable and extraordinary circumstances. Our liability is limited as permitted by the Package Travel Act and by any international conventions that apply to a particular service. Personal belongings remain your responsibility.

Tell your host or guide immediately if something is not as agreed, so we have a chance to fix it while you are still with us. If you are still not satisfied, send your complaint to info@smoothaurora.com within two months of the end of your trip. We reply within 30 days.

If we cannot agree, you can refer the matter free of charge to the Swedish National Board for Consumer Disputes (Allmänna reklamationsnämnden, ARN), Box 174, 101 23 Stockholm, Sweden, arn.se. We follow ARN's recommendations.

These terms and your booking are governed by Swedish law. Disputes are heard by the Swedish courts, without prejudice to any mandatory consumer protection you enjoy in your country of residence.