The magic of Finnish Lapland
Sunsets during Kaamos in Lapland.
It all begins with an idea. For me it was to visit Finnish Lapland and see what the buzz is about. If you read this and haven't heard the “goshing” about husky rides and “aweing” over northern lights, then I don't know what rock you've been living under to have missed out on that. Even Ronaldo took a break from football and made his way up to visit the ever so famous Santa Clause Village in Finnish Lapland - Rovaniemi. So let’s dig into the magic of it all!
As this brilliant idea, that truly had my inner child sparkle and giggle, started to take shape it became time to plan the flights, accommodation, and activity for the trip.
If I'm being strip down honest with you, my biggest wish wasn't to kiss Santa Clause (despite that being my holiday greeting as I left the office and headed to the airport). My biggest wish was to see the Northern Lights on my very Birthday in Lapland. As long as I can remember I’ve dreamt of standing on that open field watching up the sky where the various colours make their way through the night. Feeling the frisky icy air on my cheeks yet being warm of probably adrenaline pumping through my body and all whilst enjoying one of natures greatest spectacle.
If this is what you also want to experience, then follow along as here comes the gist to making the Lapland dream reality.
Your flights:
Trust me on this, you want to book your flights as early as possible, better yet if you score on special delas like black Friday or season sale, even better. I booked my tickets 3 months ahead of time and that was the very last minute I'd recommend to book as the prices afterward only goes up.
Accommodation:
If you fly into Rovaniemi you have lots of options to stay local to the city. However, don't fear booking your accommodation a bit further out of Rovaniemi city. The local hotel busses and ski transfers are working as hotel shuttles that transfer you from the airport to various hotels further out of Rovaniemi itself.
I’d even recommend you to book something a bit out of Rovaniemi as this will allow you to be in the most magical winter wonderland. I will always stay true and trusted to Pyhä inn Hotel for it's location and offers at site. Perhaps as a yogi a bit bias, but at this hotel they offer you Yoga and a gym at site and you have hand full of activities just at your doorstep which makes your stay there just that more comfortable.
Activity:
For your activity you will surely not run short of options in Lapland. Beside the traditional Reindeer rides and Santa Clause visits I’d also recommend to think out of the box. Why not try out Ice wall climbing, Snow mobile driving, and snow angle hikes. Here's some of my favorite activities that filled my cup, made me feel most alive, and that purely made me fall head over heels in love with Lapland.
Ice wall climbing
Cross country and slope skiing
Depending on how long you stay in Lapland and what the weather conditions are like, you can get up to a lot of other events as well where as the hotels often collaborate together to bring you the best experience. Over on my Instagram you can also get into the visual vibe of Lapland. The north is a place that you have to experience to fully understand the magic of it.
Post returning home from Lapland I was sad in that way that, I was so aware of just having had the most memorable and extraordinary experience in Lapland. The one that we all dream of and will feed your cup for many moons to come. To top this experience… well I don’t know what it would take to do so. I hope you get inspired and eager to explore Lapland too, it’s definitely where winter get’s the best and you start to long for the season to come around again.
To get even more inspired you can read in more detail about the activity experiences I had in another blog post.
If you do end up heading to Lapland, I would love to hear about your experience as well. Feel free to connect with me always.
Big hugs, Natty
