Polar Express: Golfing in Sweden

When the Orient Express adds a route as the Polar Express, you know that this has to be a special year for travel in the far north of Europe.

You’ll be absolutely sure of it if you happen to be a golfer and follow the Polar Express route into Sweden.

It will be a surprise to most traveling golfers that Sweden, in addition to all its natural and cultural attractions, has also become the golf capital of continental Europe, second only to the British Isles in golfing enthusiasm on this side of the Atlantic.

By latest count Sweden had 187 golf courses, and the sauna is the most popular 19th-hole activity, even in a land where aquavit is the national drink.

The rolling fairways that tempt us for cross-country skiing at this time of year will all be open by May to welcome low handicappers and happy hackers with the same friendliness. The first northbound Polar Express excursion is set for June 16-22.

The Orient Express presentation of five Polar Express tours this summer is a first-of-its-kind offering to U.S. travelers, and is being marketed through Europe Train Tours, based in Yorba Linda, Calif.

2,000 Miles of Rails

Europe Train Tours is the North American marketing division of the Mittelthurgau agency and private raillway company of Switzerland. Pullmans, sleepers, bar and dining cars of the Orient Express are used for the 2,000 miles of rail travel from Copenhagen to Oslo, on to Stockholm and north through Sweden.

These are the original Orient Express cars, restored and equipped with modern amenities. You travel north to the Arctic Circle in the legendary graciousness associated with the Orient Express runs across Southern Europe. A trial run of the Polar Express was made last summer, but it was sold out in Switzerland before it could be offered in the United States.

Johannes Widmer, president of Europe Train Tours in Yorba Linda, points out that Polar Express travelers can arrange to stop over at a place that may intrigue them and pick up the express on its next run.

Passengers meet in Copenhagen, then go on by train and ferry to Oslo. After a day of sightseeing in Norway’s capital, they reboard for the dinner and overnight to Stockholm, for a morning of sightseeing and afternoon at leisure.

Next, the Polar Express travels north for three days at considerably less than express speed. It stops for a steamer cruise on Storsion Lake, a barbecue lunch in the forest, a visit to a wooden church and the summer home of composer William Peterson.

Also on its schedule are a walk around the Doeda waterfalls, a tour of the Lapmuseum and a mine in Kiruna, an optional three-hour river rafting trip into the northern wilderness and return to the train by seaplane, a cable-car climb to an Arctic mountaintop, a morning along the fiords and offshore islands before flying back to Copenhagen.

Reviewing this route that covers many of our favorite places in Scandinavia, we’re ready to return in the summer when the Orient Express begins creating a new legend as the Polar Express. The three northbound and two southbound trips, each lasting seven days, continue through July 25.

Most Snow-Covered

Most of the 187 Swedish golf courses are covered with snow, but some in the south and along the Gulf Stream can be played in winter. Descriptions of each course are published in the “Golf in Sweden” pamphlet by the Swedish Tourist Board and are guaranteed to stir the fantasies of anyone who has ever enjoyed a round of golf.

What we like best about golf in Sweden, after being compelled to rent carts on so many courses in the United States, is that there are few drive-yourself carts. There are also very few caddies. You can rent clubs and a trolley cart at all courses so that you can enjoy walking the fairways. Special arrangements can be made for golfers who would not be able to get around a course without a cart. Greens fees start around $9.

As soon as you check into a country inn or hotel near a golf course in Sweden, you’ll realize how much else there is to do. Hotel Rusthallgarden is in a centuries-old building in the seaside fishing hamlet of Arild. Besides 18 holes of golf it offers tennis, sailing, windsurfing, deep-sea fishing, hiking in a national park.

The countryside inn of Tanums Gestgifveri tempts guests with prehistoric rock carvings near 18 holes of seaside golf. In the glass country between Kalmar and Vaxjo, watching a lump of molten glass turn into a glass blower’s masterpiece can counterpoint sinking a 20-foot putt.

Out in the countryside we find more leisure to read the Swedish poets, from the 18th-Century words and songs of Michael Bellman to translations of contemporary poets who deal with social issues as well as the harmonies of nature.

The story of Carl XVI Gustav, Sweden’s youthful king who has done well in cross-country ski races and yachting competitions, is told in a booklet, “The Monarchy in Sweden,” available in most bookstores.

At this winter season in Stockholm the Philharmonic Orchestra and the Royal Opera are nightly attractions. A crisp evening and early darkness sharpen appetites for the smorgasbord in the Operakallern, part of the Royal Opera House and a grand introduction to Nordic cookery.

Venice of the North

Shade your eyes in the midday sunlight and it’s easy to imagine Stockholm as it will be in springtime, a Venice of the north built on 14 islands, with its Old Town dating back more than seven centuries and a modern yachtsman’s paradise reaching out to an archipelago of more than 20,000 islands.

Uppsala, which will be visited by the Polar Express, is celebrating its 7th centenary with a full year of music, exhibitions, folk and cultural festivals, including an international jitterbug competition on March 9.

Highlight of the year in Sweden will be the annual Midsummer Eve celebration on June 20, when the sun is at its highest point. Maypoles are raised everywhere as focal points for games and dancing. Jazz festivals start in June.

The Polar Express tours start at $1,990 per person in a double compartment. That includes six nights and all meals aboard the train, air fare within Scandinavia, English-speaking guides, excursions, transfers, luggage handling. For details, contact your travel agent or Europe Train Tours Inc., 17372 Chicago Ave., Yorba Linda, Calif. 92686, phone (714) 524-5130.

For information about travel in Sweden, write to the Swedish Tourist Board, 655 3rd Ave., New York 10017.