The northern part of Finland or the Finnish Lapland is known to be the home of many things mystic, it is after all the home of Santa Claus since ages and more recently the home of Lordi.
After you have landed in one of the three airports of the Finnish Lapland, Rovaniemi, Kittilä or Ivalo, you can find yourself in only minutes absolutely alone in complete wilderness. The winter season that starts in mid November stretches all the way to end of April and the mystic darkness of the mid winter turns into the bright winter scenery of the Nordic spring.
We visited Äkäslompolo near Kittilä during the last week of 2016 and thoroughly enjoyed the infrastructure with kilometers of lit cross country ski tracks, coffee pit stops, restaurants and activity providers. The area is so large that even if hundreds of regular and charter planes bring huge amounts of tourists, you can find yourself completely alone in spotless nature.
It is definitely a destination to consider for snow secure winter sports, even downhill, and silent contemplation of natural wilderness.
And the good thing is that you can extend your winter sports all the way to spring.
We stayed in a typical lappish blockhouse, with all the necessary equipment including a sauna, fireplace and a full kitchen. The advantage of this place is that the cross country tracks are next to the house. So there is no excuse not to exercise every day! You can set the timer for your Sauna to be ready when you get back from your day of skiing, enjoy full „löyly“ (don't forget the chilled beer!) and have a delicious dinner at home or the numerous restaurants of the village. Later at night you can join a „Northern Lights“ tour or spot them on your own on the frozen lake of Kesänkijärvi.
Lapland offers an excellent choice of activities also in the short Finnish summer. These include hiking, canoeing, fishing etc.
Watch our Northern Lights in Lapland video here
Watch our Finland Travel Vlogs for summer and winter activities here
