Have you ever dreamed of seeing the Northern lights? Have you ever wondered what it would be like to visit what some consider the North Pole? Ever dreamed of dogsledding? Ever thought about cooking foraged mushrooms over an open fire? These dreams came true for me in a trip of a lifetime to… Finland!
A trip to Finland should be on your bucket list, if it isn’t already! We went in December, after booking just the week before (thanks to COVID changing our plans!), and we experienced all of the wintery romantic hol(L)iday magic! I was giddy with Christmas spirit the entire time, and I felt like I was living in a Hallmark movie. Keep reading to see what we did!
First things first: Bundle up!
First, we flew into Kittila. When we arrived I swear it was negative gazillion outside and the driver couldn’t even open our car doors because they were frozen shut! Oh my goodness thank heavens for my incredible winter coat (but actually… I’m a New Englander who has tried a lot of winter coats and this is by far my favorite; it’s animal friendly too!).
Where to stay in the Laplands
There are two big areas in the Laplands that people travel to: Levi and Rovaniemi. Levi has a small ski mountain that is apparently a big party scene, which we didn’t go to. The areas around that town, however, are gorgeous, remote, and tranquil, and that’s the feeling we wanted when we were traveling to the “north pole”. Rovaniemi is a busier town and famous for Santa’s workshop, so of course I had to go there as a thirty-something female whose favorite time of the year is Christmas-time and whose last name is Holliday! We spent three nights in Levi area and two nights in Rovaniemi, having a driver take us between the two spots.
Outside of Kittila, we stayed at Northern Lights Ranch, which has igloos (small little cottages) with glass ceilings. The glass ceilings are there so that you don’t miss any Northern Lights, even if they occur at 3am! The room itself was a designer’s dream and you are surrounded by Christmas trees everywhere you look. My favorite part of this hotel wasn’t the delicious, delicious, delicious locally sourced dinner and breakfast there every day, although that was a hugely unexpected perk. It wasn’t the fact that they provide showshoes for you to explore the property. It wasn’t the private relaxing sauna and hot tub that you can reserve or the ice skates you can borrow to skate on their heart-shaped skating ring. It wasn’t the crazy cool ice church and spying on the weddings that occur there (where the brides, by the way, enter not in a limo or a horse carriage but on a reindeer sleigh). My favorite part of Northern Lights Ranch was… you dine overlooking BABY REINDEER! Then at the end of each activity or meal or whenever you want, you can feed the BABY REINDEER! If this isn’t Heaven, I don’t know what is.
In Rovaniemi, we stayed at Arctic Light Hotel (https://www.arcticlighthotel.fi/), a four-star super modern and funky hotel with an insane spread for breakfast (my favorite part of it was the 15 types of smoothie shots).
Adventures and Activities in the Laplands
The activities we did from both locations were other-worldly. Here were my favorite activities in the Laplands! I would aim to do one to two activities per day.
1. Experience Authentic, Old World Finland at Sammun Tupa (near Levi)
Ride and feed reindeer, and enjoy a private smoke sauna overlooking a lake (*** This particular spot in the world is incredibly special. It was one of my favorite adventures, ever! And no one was there! It takes the staff at this farm 9 hours to prepare the smoke sauna because they use wood to heat it slowly over the day. Then when you’re tired of sweating in the sauna, you can dip in the ice bath in the lake and/or sit outside and enjoy some bubbly with gorgeous views! Then, head back to the sauna of course! It’s hard to put into words how unique this place is.)
2. Make new friends at Levi Huskypark (in Levi)
It’s a huskypark with a bonus of baby foxes and a reindeer that kisses you by taking a cookie directly from your mouth! And you can dogsled there!
3. Private Wild Food Cooking Workshop with Arctic Frontier (near Levi)
This experience surpassed all of the high expectations I had going into it! Kate pours her heart into this activity, and it’s incredible. She forages almost all of the food herself. We started with cocktails made of all local berries and snow, continued by cooking over her open fire, and ended the evening with me hiding homemade gingerbread cranberry ice cream in the snow overlooking the lake, for Greg to find. A foodie dream in a stunning log home, and we made a new friend in Kate.
4. Ice Karting (near Levi): Go-Karting on ice… harder than it looks! (near Levi)
5. Snow Hotel – Have dinner in an ice hotel (or even stay a night if you are brave! Near Rovaniemi)
6. Santa’s Village (the ‘official’ North Pole! Near Rovaniemi)
Visit Santa at his workshop! We were first in line LOL. We then sent my niece and nephew letters from the North Pole (seriously! There’s a post office in Santa’s workshop!) that they will get at Christmastime to tell them whether they have been good or bad… They’re perfect, always.
7. Ice Floating (near Rovaniemi)
Just as it sounds… and if you get lucky there might be Northern lights the night you do it!
What are you waiting for? Book your hol(l)iday trip now!
