7 daily Activities to enjoy Lapland

How does the perfect day living in the Finnish Lapland look like?

Explore my list of the best activities to fully enjoy a traditional day in the winter wonderland above the Artic Circle. Like an (almost) real local!

1) kickstart the day with an ICE SWIMMING

the first point of the list is probably the less common even among locals, but I’ve tried it out following some proud finnish friends to the small lake close to our home, and I couldn’t recommend it enough! Taking a towel and walking in the snow with your flip flops until the spot, then break the ice on the water and slowly go inside, can probably not look like the most comforting activity when just woke up, but I can ensure the feeling it leaves for the whole day totally worth the effort!

Just remind to don’t do it alone, especially for the first times, breath deeply, relax and move very slow; once you get out the water will instantly dry, and it’s fun to walk back in the freezing cold air without feeling cold at all. Then, fully enjoy the amazing breakfast you deserve! This morning habit really seems to be an useful methabolism booster, other than a good energizer and a way to increase the resistance to the cold. And I would add it’s also good for the spirit, once you realize how brave you’ve been jumping inside.

It’s amazing being able to go pretty
much everywhere with the skies, even more than walking or by car, and
how finnish people also use them as a prooper transportation method,
with just one rule: NEVER go skiing after the Sauna.

2)Crosscountry Skiing

for finnish people skiing is not just a sport to do in the free time, but it can be a proper way of moving around, especially in Lapland. Just in Saariselka, the small town where I was living, there are about 200 kilometres of tracks, some of them looking more like proper illuminated and perfectly mantained highways. Something very helpful especially during the month of POLAR NIGHT, when the sun never shows up, and it’s only possible to see the sky slightly lighter during the central hours of the day, even if skiing through the forest with the headlight on is simply enchanting.

After the bit of struggleing of the first attemps, I litterally felt in love with this tiring but in my opinion very rewarding sport, ending up spending nearly all my free time exploring all the area’s and the national park’s tracks.

But if you’re not up to go skiing be very careful when moving around: even if the Finns are pretty well known as calm and polite people, you really don’t want to find yourself walking on a track when a local skier is coming. I’ve seen tourists getting yelled at and even hitted by ski poles several times.

3) Snowshoeing

Explore the Artic nature with the Snowshoes is the way to go Hinking in the Lappish winter! Wearing this particular gear under your nomal shoes or boots is essential to walk in the deep snow without sink in it. But don’t expect to go as fast or as far as during your normal hiking trips, as their size does not really make walking around the most comfortable experience.

A valid alternative with similar purpose but definitely more fun when it’s about going down (and I believe also easier to use) are a special kind of wide and short skies, even if sliding downhill is not really as easy as with normal alpine skies.

The best hike in the area where I was living is surely the one to the top of Kilopaa Hill, reachable in about 3 kilometres and overlooking the whole area

4) Have a break in a small hut

feeling hungry, tired, or just willing to warm up in the middle of your skiing or hiking trip? The finnish have a solution also for that! Along the trails in the national park is pretty common to find small and welcoming huts with a fireplace inside, which locals typically use for roasting sausages and warming up their drinks (tea or berry juice), before keep going with the trip

5) Drink MINTTU

A Warming Hot chocolate with a hint of this typical Peppermin Liqueur really is another local must do, especially after a day of skiing. The contrast beteen the hot temperature and the peppermint freshness creates a drink warming and refreshing at the same time, making even a non-drinker like me really love it (even if just for a few sips). The best way to check it out is surely in one of the small pubs located along the ski-tracks, serving hot drinks with or without alchol paired with traditional music and people dancing, and usually open only during the daytime.

If you are more up to something different, among other typicities you’ll find hot berry juice, both in the traditional or vodka reinforced version, Minttu with black coffee, or the …. with its very stong liquorice taste, pretty common as well.

6) escape the cold in a Warming Sauna

probably the best-known Finnish tradition and a proper institution all over the country, enjoyable at his best after a cold and tiring day of skiing. Someone told me that when finnish people build their house, they basically design it around the Sauna, an unmissable element especially for those lucky enough to live not far from an iced bathing place.

In most places saunas are wooden rooms with a stove and an water bucket inside. Once you’re inside you can simply adjust the temperature by throwing water on the stove, letting the generated vapor warm up the enviroment. I suggest to first try adding a bit of water at time, and to avoid experiencing your first sauna together with finnish people: especially for the older and most trained ones, it’s never enough hot, and I’ve seen soo many time tourist run away from the room after some locals threw buckets of water like crazy. I’m still wandering if it was because they just returned after the ice swimming or because the room was getting to crowded.. they know how to manage their stuff.

An amazing sauna variation is the SMOKE SAUNA, the most traditional one, wich I’ve had the pleasure to experience three times at week in Kiilopaa.

7) Hunting the Northern Lights

See the fascinating Aurora is surely one of the highlights of any Artic trip, but it’s definitely not as easy as it can seem. Since I was going to live above the artic circle for two months, I was almost sure to be able to see the lights pretty much every day, but it turned out definitely not as easy.

First of all the sky has to be completely clear, because is definitely not possible to see the Aurora above the clouds; but a clearer sky, usually means a colder night, as the clouds usually tend to keep a bit of warmth.

If the sky is clear, you can check the solar activity, and in particoular the KP index: there are some useful location-based apps, even if they’re not always 100% accurate.

Then, if it’s meant to be a good night, just go ouside. If possible in the complete darkness, as the light pollution is the Aurora’s main enemy.

Finally just wait, and is all about luck: as a natural phenomenon no one has the ability to switch them on or off as desired (like some tourists seem to believe), not even the most expensive tour’s providers: even if driving to to the darkest and most remote corners can surely increase the possibilities to spot them, if there are no lights or the weather is not good, there is not much to do.