Lapland, true winter wonderland destination: outdoor activities in Saariselkä

After visiting Lapland's 'capital' Rovaniemi and busy skiing resort Levi, we'll head for peaceful location in Saariselkä.

 

Hostel Ahopää, Saariselkä

Located at the root of one of the most loved national parks in Finland, Hostel Ahopää is a heaven for outdoor fans. The unique wilderness of Lapland is just one step away and beautiful fells invite you to go explore the magic of polar nights…

This area is suitable for a wide range of outdoor activities and the hostel has excellent selection of outdoor activities equipment, including GPS devices, available for hire. The accommodation price includes during the season participation in weekly hikes in the Kiilopää area. You can also choose from the many clearly signposted trails and go exploring your own. And why not try a refreshing dip in a fell brook after the sauna!

Hostel Ahopää has rooms and dorms sleeping 2–6 people. The dorms for male and female guests are separate, with shared toilet facilities just outside the dorms. All guests are welcomed to use the shared kitchen, a bathroom, and sauna facilities in the main building.

Did you know? Urho Kekkonen National Park is named after famous and longest-serving Finnish president, Urho Kekkonen. He was known for his sincere admiration for Lapland’s nature and often chose to spend his holidays in the wilderness. Urho Kekkonen also has been one of the protectors of Hostelling International Finland!

Lapland, true winter wonderland destination: ski and après-ski in Levi

We started our 3-part series of having a look at what Lapland has to offer during winter-time from Rovaniemi, the biggest town in Finnish Lapland. Now we are off to the biggest skiing resort in Finland: Levi.

Levi is a popular holiday destination is bursting with interesting activities such as husky and reindeer sledging, snow mobile safaris, ice karting and ice galleries. From the reception you can rent snowshoes and wonder around in serene beauty. After a day spent in nature you can relax by taking a massage or trying out several delicious restaurants in the area.

Hostel Hullu Poro, Levi

Hostel Hullu Poro is located two kilometres from Levi centre. You can easily arrive to Levi centre from Kittilä airport only in 15 minutes. Hostel has twin bed room apartments, where you have kitchen, common room and a bathroom. One apartment can host four people. You can also book a dorm bed.


National symbol of Lapland: Every year Levi hosts World Cup of Alpine skiing in the most Northern competition location in the world. Starting from 2013 winners are awarded with their very own reindeer and you might see these famous reindeers while visiting Levi!

Lapland, true winter wonderland destination: start from Rovaniemi

Often claimed as the last place of true wilderness in Europe, Lapland is the destination for all winter lovers. Starting from Rovaniemi, Finnish Lapland continues all the way up close to Arctic Sea. The harsh and unique conditions of the North have shaped Lapland into a magical place: polar nights and northern lights make you feel all the troubles of the world are far away.

Magic of Lapland can’t be described by words - you just have to experience it!

Good place to start your winter adventure in Finland is Rovaniemi, the hometown of Santa Claus. Most places can only dream of such a combination Rovaniemi has: tucked in a nature of Lapland and having all the amenities of a bubbling university town!

Rovaniemi is the home of Santa Claus, don't forget to visit him!
Picture by Visit Finland Media Bank

To be warned, Rovaniemi might not charm you with its architecture but it offers more than a decent compensation: museums, Santa Park, cafes, location in the Arctic Circle and husky farms make a visit to Rovaniemi worth it.

Surrounding areas also have plenty to offer, for example Ranua Zoo with its arctic animals (polar bears!) is only one hour drive away.

Santa’s Hostel Rudolf, Rovaniemi

Santa’s Hostel Rudolf has a central location and offers a good base to explore Rovaniemi. All the rooms have their own bathrooms and room size varies from single rooms to dormitories. Santa’s Hostel Rudolf has been recently granted a HI-Q quality certificate!


Psst! Let your creativity flow while crossing the Arctic Circle! This has become a ritual for those from the South, since after all Arctic Circle is the place where all magic of Lapland begins. The most popular place for crossing is Santa Park and some visitors might be even rewarded a certificate.

Sauna is the hottest place in Finland

If you visit Finland and leave without experiencing sauna even once, you have missed an essential part of the local culture. For many Finnish people sauna is a part of everyday life and it is enjoyed at least once a week.

Many Finns have a sauna in their own home. If they haven’t had it in the first place, they might have built it in their apartment – for example where their walk-in closet used to be! In apartments the saunas are electric, but in the countryside it’s often heated with wood and it gives the nice, softer heat.

If you get invited to a Finnish summer cottage you can be sure to find a sauna there. I’m not even sure if a summer cottage was considered a proper one if there was no sauna. At least the owners would be asked frequently “So, when are you going to build the sauna here?” It is expected.

Sauna by a lake. A place to relax and unwind.
Photo by Visit Finland Image Bank

It is quite magical in the summer when you can first enjoy the hot sauna and then go swimming in the clean waters of a lake or a sea. And then go back to sauna again. Back and forth!

Sauna in a Hostel

Many Finnish hostels provide their guests the real sauna experience. Many have included it in the price and you share the sauna with other guests (men and women bathe separately). Or then you can rent the sauna for yourself. Here is a complete list of all the hostels in our network that have saunas.

Smoke sauna

This gorgeous sauna building below is in the Lakeland area in the village of Joutsa at Hostel Vaihelan tila. It's a smoke sauna, so it takes a whole day to heat and therefore they are not used on daily basis. 

Here's another smoke sauna (in Finnish "savusauna"). This one is at SKO-hostel in Savonlinna, which is also in the Lakeland area.

There's a hostel called Hostel Ahopää in Saariselkä, Lapland. The hostel is part of Kiilopää Fell Centre and they offer you the experience of smoke sauna few times a week. They also have "normal saunas". Here's an introduction the all their sauna facilities.

Kiilopää Fell Centre is a home to Hostel Ahopää too in lovely Lapland.

Sauna by a Lake in Lapland

Hostel Visatupa is a real gem for anyone who loves nature and wants to experience the countryside in Lapland. They have a very good sauna too, it's right by a lake. In the winter you can even try ice-swimming!

Sauna at Hostel Visatupa in Lapland

Let's have a look inside

Without people there though...

There's a log or two ready for the next time the sauna is heated at Hostel Koskelan lomatalo in West Finland

Cozy sauna at Hostel Hirvikoski in Toholampi

City saunas

Many city hostels offer the traveller a chance to enjoy this Finnish tradition too.

The pictures below are from two hostels in Helsinki. First there's Eurohostel that has just recently renovated their saunas to resemble a very traditional Finnish smoke sauna. It is electric though. And the morning sauna is included in the accommodation price.

Also Hostel Domus Academica, located in central Helsinki, offers its' guests a morning sauna. Plus a refreshing swim in the pool.

Want to learn more about sauna? Start by reading an article '10 Sauna Tips for Beginners' on VisitFinland.com.

And if you wonder about the health effects sauna has, here's some information at Visit Sauna website.

HI Membership goes sauna!

Hostelling International members, make use of your membership even outside the hostels while in Finland: Forum Sauna in Turku gives you a 10% discount on all sauna and spa treatments


See you in sauna!


by Kati


updated in October 2014

Follow Hostelling International Finland's board Finnish Sauna on Pinterest.

Ski season goes on till late April in Lapland

Levi is situated in Finnish Lapland in the village of Sirkka. It is the biggest and busiest ski resort in Finland. But it is a great destination for a visit any time of the year. The four changes in the season are very distinct. 

View to Levi Village from the Front Piste.

There is still time to catch the end of ski season, which continues until late April. Spring is great time for skiing in the beautiful sunshine. Summertime is time of the midnight sun and great time for hiking and mountain biking. Autumn brings along the amazing leaf colours, different shades of red, orange and yellow. And again in October the nature is covered by a white blanket of snow for the next six months and Polar night arrives. January is the coldest month, but it is also the best time to spot the Northern lights.

Levi offers a wide range of services, anything from wellness services to restaurants and activities. You can also hire the equipment needed for winter sports and even outfits, if you didn’t pack enough warm clothes to wear.

You can find all sorts of services in Levi. And activities too; anything from bowling to winter sports.

Skiing is the activity number 1 in Levi. There are 43 pistes in total.

Newly opened Hostel Hullu Poro (‘Crazy Reindeer’) is situated within a walking distance from the Levi Centre. It has apartments that each has two bedrooms with two single beds. Dorm beds are available too. Each apartment has its own kitchenette and living room.

Hostel Hullu Poro. The name means 'Crazy Reindeer'.

How to get to Levi?

By air: There’s Kittilä Airport only 15 minutes away from Levi with the airport shuttle bus.
By train: Take the train either to Rovaniemi or further north to Kolari. From these destinations you can continue by bus. For train timetables check vr.fi. 
By bus: You can catch a long distance bus to Levi from several places in Finland. For bus connections and timetables check matkahuolto.fi. 
Rent a car: SIXT Rent-a-Car gives a 10% discount, if you have a valid HI Membership. See terms & conditions here.


Pictures: Henna Kokko

There is more to Lapland than reindeer and snow

Inari is one of the Samí municipalities in Finnish Lapland. Inari is a vast area consisting of several small villages. The Sámi are the only indigenous people of the European Union and they had already lived in Lapland long before settlers from the south arrived. The area inhabited by the Samí lies within the northern parts of Finland, Sweden and Norway. The traditional sources of income are reindeer herding, hunting and handicrafts, which are still practised together with e.g. tourism. 

In the actual centre of Inari village is *Siida, the National Museum of the Finnish Sámi, an important place of interest for the Samí culture. Siida is also the locale for a January event Skábmagovat, the indigenous peoples’ film festival.

Siida is the National Museum of the Finnish Sámi, a very interesting place where you end up spending hours.

Skábmagovat is not the only film festival in the area. In June the town of Sodankylä hosts the Midnight Sun Film Festival, founded by the Finnish film director Aki Kaurismäki. It is a very important festival for independent cinema, however, don't expect big-money blockbusters in the nightless night, but prepare yourself for films that will give you food for thought. While the January film festival takes place under the Northern lights and when there is only around 2 to 3 hours of daylight, the Midnight Sun Film Festival screens films 24 hours a day in the season when the sun does not set.

Expect to see these relaxed animals around: reindeer.

Inari has plenty of hostel accommodation on offer all year round. Hostel Jokitörmä is in the village of Kaamanen, which is a small village north of centre of Inari. There are only few hundred residents in the village, so it is a very peaceful destination.

Northern lighs, or Aurora Borealis, spotted here are Hostel Jokitörmä in the Kaamanen village.

Hostel Ahopää is part of the Kiilopää Fell Centre that lies on the border of a huge National Park, which is perfect for cross-country skiing during the winter months and hiking in the summer. You can also enjoy smoke sauna and in the winter try ice-swimming.

Hostel Ahopää is part of the large Kiilopää Fell Centre.

Getting to places in Lapland is easy. An overnight train takes you comfortably from Helsinki either to Rovaniemi or Kemijärvi from where you can move on either by coach or by a hire car. Hostels mentioned are close to the route of Eskelisen Lapin Linjat Coaches, which can even take you all the way from Helsinki to Inari. You can also continue your journey as far as to the banks of the Barents Sea.

There nearest airport is in Ivalo. There are daily flights to Ivalo from Helsinki or even places abroad. Also the airport in western Lapland in Kittilä is an option when travelling to destinations in Inari.

And once in Lapland you should definitely try this! Snowshoeing is great fun. At Hostel Ahopää you can rent the equipment needed for this as well as for cross-country skiing. 

* P.S. Are you an HI Member? Siida Museum gives you a discount in the entrance fee if you are. Read more here.

Enjoy Lapland!

Lapland is the home of Hostel of the Year 2012 in Finland

Hostelling International Finland has selected Visatupa, in the southern Sodankyla in Lapland, as Hostel of the Year 2012. Visatupa, which primarily functions as a dairy farm, has provided accommodation to tourists and travellers for over 30 years.

‘The fact that the majority of hostels are found in cities and tourist centres today makes us all the more pleased to have excellent countryside destinations such as Visatupa still in our network,’ says Hostelling International Finland Secretary General Ari J. Aalto. The association wishes to thank Visatupa for its long-term efforts to promote countryside tourism in Lapland, its active work on the local level, and its comprehensive range of services backed by a network of local businesses. Many regular customers visiting from Central Europe and even from Japan praise Visatupa’s ability to provide unforgettable experiences.

Visatupa is a family enterprise headed by Janne Sammalkangas. Three generations of the Sammalkangas family live on the farm: Janne, with his wife; their two toddlers; and Janne’s parents, the ones who started the accommodation business. The new generation stepped in a few years ago when Vilho and Milka Sammalkangas, the original proprietors, handed the business down to their son.

Janne Sammalkangas accepted the award at the Finnish Hostel Managers' Meeting in Helsinki

Visatupa provides its guests with a full experience of Finland that even many native Finns may not yet have encountered. In addition to nature, one of Visatupa’s greatest charms is its excellent food. Janne describes it as ‘simple home food’, but having reindeer, venison roast, or salmon and perhaps some home-made cheese for lunch is far from the regular Finnish fare. Picking berries in the woods is another tasty experience.

For years, Visatupa’s customers have praised the peaceful and cosy atmosphere, the proximity to nature, and the delicious food. Many of them, however, find that the most memorable experience has been the warm and friendly welcome given to them by the Sammalkangas family.