Norway's oldest ski resort and host of the 1994 Winter Olympic Games is surrounded by national parks and the country's highest mountains,producing dramatic landscapes under a pale blue sky. You can downhill ski,but Lillehammer is also a notable cross-country ski centre,with 400 kilometres of tracks meandering across the beautiful Hardanggervidda Plateau,some of which are illuminated at night to magical effect. If you get into your stride,you can also ski well beyond and find another 2000 kilometres of trails that take you into surrounding high-mountain scenery amid forests of ice-encrusted pine trees. Seelillehammer.com
CHASING THE NORTHERN LIGHTS IN ABISKO
If you really want to embrace the Swedish winter,head north to Abisko west of Kiruna in Lapland,well within the Arctic Circle. It's one of the best places anywhere to see the incredible natural spectacle of the aurora borealis,or northern lights,unfolding in the sky in colours that range from yellows and blues to greens. The Sky Station in Abisko National Park will keep you warm as you gaze. Other winter activities in the frozen landscapes include snowmobiling,encounters with reindeer and a stay in the Icehotel,created each year from sculpted ice blocks. Seevisitabisko.com
ICE FISHING IN LAKELAND
You have to dress in so many layers you can hardly move,and your face might fall off in the cold,but this is one winter pastime available to anyone,with no previous experience required. Just walk onto a frozen lake (having checked with locals about the ice),make a hole,stick in a fishing pole and wait. Never mind if you never catch a fish. For the Finns,this is a kind of meditation amid the silence of the snows. Best enjoyed in Lakeland,an area of Finland scattered with endless islands and frozen rivers and canals. Seevisitfinland.com