You’ll by no means see it multi functional journey – which is simply in addition to Finland has bought sufficient to hook you for a lifetime. And forged its spell it should – whether or not it’s the sorcery of the northern lights within the frosty wilds of Lapland, bear watching within the distant, silent forests of the east, cloudberry foraging because the midnight solar blazes, or paddling from lake to lake, with nothing however the seals and sea eagles for firm in Finnish Lakeland.
However don’t take our phrase for it: on this nation of extremes and excessive otherness, each second and reminiscence is wholly distinctive. Listed below are 15 of the perfect issues to do in Finland to get you began.
See the northern lights in Lapland
Holding your breath because the aurora borealis swoops and sways within the frozen Arctic evening sky is an expertise not fairly of this world. No photograph will get even near conveying the second when the heavens gentle up, the sky shifts in probably the most unsettling manner and inexperienced rays float down like strobe lights, as if the Nordic gods are having a wild celebration up above.
Finnish Lapland is likely one of the greatest locations on earth to look at the electrifying, shape-shifting phenomenon that the Finns name revontulet, or fox fires – delusion has it they had been created when an Arctic fox working by way of the snow despatched sparks flying into the sky. The Sámi have deep respect for the northern lights and stay silent of their presence, as some imagine they’re the dancing spirits of their ancestors.
Rovaniemi makes a cracking first base for heading out on a tour to search out the northern lights. Or go additional north nonetheless to the snowy fells of Saariselkä, Harriniva, Levi or Utsjoki, the place the percentages of seeing the lights from September to April are sky excessive.
Really feel festive in Lapland’s Rovaniemi
Want it might be Christmas daily? You’re going to like Rovaniemi, the place you may cuddle as much as the massive, jolly, red-robed, chimney-diving dude one year a 12 months. You might be eternally 5 years previous as you whisper your want listing into Santa’s ear in his grotto on the Santa Claus Village, proper atop the Arctic Circle. Once you’re completed, submit letters with the Arctic Circle stamp on the submit workplace or leap on a reindeer-driven sleigh.
And if you happen to’re nonetheless fizzing with festive enthusiasm, nip throughout to the Santapark to hang around with toy-making, gingerbread-baking elves, hop on twinkly rides, chill on the ice bar and meet – err – the opposite actual Santa…
Forage for cloudberries in Ranua
The mosquitoes are after blood and the swamps need to suck you down, however who provides a rattling: with a basket, a netted hat, a forager’s eye and mile after shimmering mile of forest and lake forward, you’re feeling nothing however at-one-with-nature pleasure as you enterprise into the distant wilds looking for cloudberries. And the place higher to seek out “Lappish gold” than in Ranua, the little city simply south of the Arctic Circle that payments itself as Finland’s cloudberry capital.
For a couple of transient weeks in late July and early August, you may channel your internal hunter-gatherer and are available right here to select the tart, creamy, amber-gold berries, born of winter snows, which drive Finns loopy for his or her style and super-food efficiency. Nevertheless it isn’t simply concerning the berries – strolling alone within the cottongrass-stippled swamps, feeling the house and silence, having the time to assume – that is Finnish happiness. Visit Ranua can kind you out with foraging maps and apps and assist prepare guides.
Dive in on the sauna deep finish
For those who’ve by no means completed it earlier than, you may discover the concept of stripping bare in entrance of a bunch of sweaty strangers in a bit picket cabin unnerving, however chill out: that is Finland. Wholeheartedly embracing the sauna expertise is your fast-track to the nation’s steam-loving soul. Depart your modesty within the altering room, convey a towel and an open thoughts and really feel the stress slip away as water hisses on the range, clouds of löyly (vapor) rise and the temperature reaches a toasty 80°C (176°F). Spherical out by flippantly whipping your self with a circulation-boosting vasta (birch whisk), leaping in an ice gap and ingesting a beer, and also you’ve reached peak Finnishness.
Saunas are in all places in Finland, however ones you’ll always remember embrace the world’s greatest underground smoke sauna, Herrankukkaro (Mama’s Pocket), on an island simply south of Turku, rustic lakefront Jätkänkämppä in Kuopio, and Finland’s oldest working sauna, Rajaportin in Tampere.
Hit the water in Finnish Lakeland
All is inexperienced and blue so far as the attention can see in Finnish Lakeland within the nation’s east. Right here you may’t decide a map up with out sploshing straight into the water. The precise variety of lakes is unsure, however estimates weigh in at 55,000. Days right here have their very own mellow rhythm and a simplicity that comes with the rising and setting of the solar over forest and mirror-like lake.
For a real sense of back-to-nature freedom, nothing beats grabbing a paddle and taking to the waters in a kayak or canoe. With the world’s longest lake shoreline, forest-blanketed Lake Saimaa is a superb base to rent a canoe or be a part of a guided tour. As you weave out and in of a maze of abandoned islands, inlets and bays, you may get fortunate and spot the uncommon Saimaa ringed seal (endemic to this area), otters, reindeer and elk. Nights are spent by the crackle of a campfire below a cover of stars. Bliss.
Rewind to medieval occasions in Outdated Rauma
With its lopsided picket buildings in ice-cream pastels, flower containers and cobbles, Unesco World Heritage Old Rauma is a pleasure to discover on foot. The most important picket medieval previous city within the Nordic nations may seem like a theater set, however it’s very a lot a thriving little neighborhood, with its cluster of low-key cafes, outlets, museums and artisans’ workshops. Rauman giäl, an previous sailor’s dialect, remains to be spoken right here.
The Rauma Museum takes you again to the roots, with snapshots of native historical past and insights into craft traditions. Keep the evening at Hotelli Vanha Rauma, lodged in a warehouse within the previous fish market, to go even deeper.
Go deep into the wild in Urho Kekkonen Nationwide Park
That is the massive one. With its off-the-map location and off-the-charts magnificence, Urho Kekkonen National Park in Lapland is Finland’s largest nationwide park, protecting a whopping 2550 sq km (1548 sq miles) of forest and fell because it ripples east of Saariselkä to the Russian border. For those who’re into long-distance climbing or cross-country snowboarding, it doesn’t get higher than right here, the place you may pad for miles in utter solitude by way of old-growth forests of pine, spruce and birch, crossing fast-flowing brooks and clambering up fells of delusion, together with 486m (1594ft) Korvatunturi, the non secular residence of Santa.
The wildlife is as phenomenal as you may anticipate. Whereas the massive predators (bears, wolverines, wolves and lynx) preserve a low profile, you may anticipate to see reindeer, moose and loads of birdlife, together with eagles. However simply as particular is the type of silence you solely discover this far north. Carry a backpack and sleep in a hiker’s hut or wild camp below the midnight solar.
Spend a really cool evening in an igloo or snow resort
If ever you’ve nurtured a dream of snuggling down on a reindeer disguise in an igloo because the flakes fall thick and quick or the northern lights come out to play, Lapland delivers with its flurry of snow lodges and glass-roofed domes. The temperatures plummet properly beneath zero, however don’t fear – expedition grade sleeping baggage or thermal duvets preserve you toasty, and on the luxe finish of the spectrum, there are saunas, scorching tubs and ice bars serving scorching grog to maintain you heat.
Frosty favorites the place you may sleep on an artistically made mattress of ice embrace the Lumihotelli in Kemi and lakefront Arctic Snow Resort in Rovaniemi. For those who fancy some gazing on the northern lights out of your mattress as an alternative, strive the laser-heated, glass-roofed cabins at Wilderness Resort Inari or the aurora bubbles at Wilderness Resort Nellim.
Delve into Helsinki’s design scene
Finland strikes to its personal different beat with regards to design and in Helsinki you may dive in on the deep finish. Swinging from outrageously daring to slick and practical within the basic Scandi mildew, the capital harbors a line-up of wonderful design outlets. Pin down the perfect with a wander within the Punavuori backstreets within the coronary heart of its Design District. If Twentieth-century design rocks your boat, you may simply spend a complete morning absorbed in prints that pop at Marimekko, modernist strains at Artek, and attention-grabbing glassware at Iittala.
For extra perception into the origins of Finnish design and its leading edge, go to the Design Museum; the web site has particulars of its free guided tours in English.
Cycle within the Åland Islands
Sprinkled like stepping-stones off the nation’s southwest tip, the self-governing Åland Islands communicate Swedish but are technically Finnish. And they’re stunning. These 6700 islands – a lot of them simply anonymous specks of pink granite – have an nearly dreamlike high quality, with painterly gentle, reflecting waters, forests, and blonde-sand seashores easing ever so gently into the Baltic. Biking is the best way to go, with ferries hopping between islands and flat trails that make pedaling a breeze, zipping from fortress to orchard, medieval church to windmill. Lease your wheels within the capital, Mariehamn, and set off in spring or autumn when the islands are at their quiet greatest.
Go Moomin loopy
Go on, admit it: you got here to Finland for the Moomins. You aren’t alone. Nearly everybody has a secret gentle spot for the weird-looking, cute white hippo-like characters (properly, apparently they’re really large-snouted trolls…) which might be so magically delivered to life in Tove Jansson’s tales.
Be a part of the children within the Moomin home, cave, workshop and nature path at Muumimaailma (Moomin World), which sits by itself island simply off the coast of Turku. Or for extra of a cultural Moomin expertise, head north to the imaginatively thought-out Moomin Museum in Tampere, which is filled with unique illustrations and dioramas.
Play within the snow in Lapland
Lapland within the deep freeze of winter is full-on Narnia, with its snow-blanketed fells, tundra and forests. Some may be content material to hibernate in a bit cabin and watch the flakes flutter, however chances are high you’ll be itching to get out and play. The choices are boundless, whether or not you need to dogsled, snowmobile, cross-country ski, snowshoe into the icy wilds or sprint off on a reindeer-driven sleigh because the aurora glints overhead. Levi and Ylläs come tops for crowd-free snowboarding and ideal powder. Or for the entire snow enjoyable shebang, strive Rovaniemi, Inari and, farther north nonetheless, Utsjoki.
If that’s not fairly intrepid sufficient, there’s at all times aurora ice floating in Rovaniemi. Kitted out in an Arctic survival go well with, you’ll float on a frozen lake, peering up on the northern lights. It’s mad and magical.
Store on the native meals markets
If you wish to see Finnish meals in all its wild, fantastic bounty, get your self over to the closest kauppahalli (lined market). Helsinki’s superb late Nineteenth-century market corridor is a incredible place to refill on every part from reindeer steaks to forest berries and herbs, artisan cheeses, and ham slowly roasted over alder logs in a standard smoke sauna. You’ll additionally discover a tempting array of cafes, the place you may seize a espresso and korvapuusti (cinnamon bun), or lunch particular like cured salmon on do-it-yourself rye bread. Strive harborfront Story for brunch below hovering arches.
The historic lined markets in Tampere and Turku are equally nice for picnic fixings or lunch on the hoof. In summer time, the motion spills outdoors to the kauppatori (market sq.), the place stalls are laden with every part from wild mushrooms to golden cloudberries.
Tune into Sámi tradition
It’s a a lot cited incontrovertible fact that Lapland’s Sámi folks have 200 phrases to explain snow, however extra unimaginable is the 1000 phrases they’ve for reindeer. The reindeer have been their lifeblood for a lot of centuries within the stark, darkish, bitterly chilly north. Spending time among the many Sámi provides astonishing perception into their nature-bound, season-driven lifestyle, whether or not it’s listening to the haunting sound of the joik (rhythmic poem) round a hissing campfire in a lavvu tent, or assembly reindeer below the flash of the northern lights.
The Sámi capital, Inari, is a good place to begin. Right here you will get the within scoop on Sámi life, from their semi-nomadic previous to trendy occasions on the cutting-edge Siida museum, and immerse your self within the wilderness of close by Lemmenjoki National Park.
Hang around with brown bears
Watching a bear emerge from the dense forests of Russia to lollop throughout the swamps looking for a midnight snack is a kind of magic moments you’ll be raving about eternally extra. Out on a limb and correctly immersed in wooded wilderness, Lentiira on the Finnish–Russian border is one in every of Europe’s most excellent locations to look at brown bears of their pure atmosphere. Although there’s by no means any ensures, the percentages are good throughout bear-watching season (April to October) on the conservation-focused Wild Brown Bear Centre. Each season works its appeal – from the cubs and snows of spring to the never-dying gentle of midsummer and richly coloured foliage of fall.
The bears listed below are shy however innocent. Hold quiet in your disguise or – for better privateness – family-sized luxurious lodge and also you’ll see loads. Moreover bears, you may also spot wolverines, wolves and elk if you happen to’re fortunate.
