Swedish island offers free stays for creatives

Applications open for next summer

Ideas Island offers an idyllic retreat (Ideas Island)

If you’ve ever thought you just needed to get away from it all to unleash your inner artist, one island in Sweden could provide the answer.

Vifärnaholme in eastern Sweden, dubbed Ideas Island, is letting creatives stay for free during the summer.

Just an hour’s drive from capital Stockholm, the private island is offered up as “a safe haven for creatives” by author and speaker Fredrik Haren.

Potential guests can apply to stay on the idyllic isle by outlining the creative project they’ll be working on during a week-long stay.

Groups of up to six visitors at a time can be accommodated, with sole use of the island for the duration of their stay.

According to the island’s Facebook page, it’s “a place made to inspire and motivate people with great ideas to make those ideas happen. Created to give creative people the time and space needed to sit down and focus on their ideas – while at the same time feeling great.”

Although selected attendees are invited to make a donation of $1,000 to Ideas Island’s chosen charity in lieu of payment, those who can’t afford to donate are also welcome to apply for the retreat.

The island itself is just 7,000sqm, boasting a wealth of wildlife and a verdant, undeveloped landscape. There is also a dock with rowing boats for guests to explore by water.

Accommodation décor appears pleasingly stripped-back Scandi style, with white walls and wood floors.

Visitors must pay for their own travel and food, but use of the island is free.

“This place is like oxygen for the mind it inspires to think, exchange ideas and to imagine the future,” wrote one guest, Bastian Döhling, of his experience.

While this year’s slots are all taken, applications are now open for 2020. The Ideas Island is available from 1 June to 30 September.