Lapland boasts the most magical winter holiday in Europe. Photo / Getty Images
Lapland boasts the most magical winter holiday in Europe. Photo / Getty Images
Lapland may have more reindeer than people, but it also boasts the best winter adventures in Europe for a magical, snow-covered holiday, writes Ginny Prior
Not only does Santa Claus make his home in Lapland, herds of arctic animals feed in the snow-covered forests while sled dogs pull fur-hooded mushers across the frozen landscape.
If you love winter and really want to embrace it, this region of Northern Finland is for you. Not only is it a magical Christmas setting, with Santa residing in the enchanted village of Rovaniemi; Lapland offers skiing, sledding, snowmobiling and more, all in the mystical light of a sparse, seasonal sun that hovers just above the horizon. It’s known as Europe’s last real wilderness; wild and undeveloped where many animals are born and die without ever seeing a human being. It’s great birch, pine and spruce taiga forest is part of the largest biome in the world.
A short Finnair flight from Helsinki to one of six regional airports in Finland takes travellers to a land of marshland, mountains and pines, home to the indigenous people who’ve tamed these wild environs.
Visitors to the town of Sirkka and the Levi Ski Resort will find exhilarating downhill and cross-country skiing, boarding and snowshoeing. Cabin-like accommodations often come complete with saunas, a Finnish staple. The resort’s latitude, north of the Arctic Circle, means a long winter season with lots of snow.
Lapland’s Levi Ski Resort is the largest in Finland, offering downhill skiing and snowboarding for all skill levels. Photo / 123rf
In Levi, a typical winter wedding may include a reindeer-drawn sleigh; the happy couple gliding across the snow in a kaleidoscope of colour from the Northern Lights. The local bars serve martinis made with lingonberries, a prolific pod that grows in mosquito-laden bogs and requires protective clothing to be harvested in summer. Without the bothersome bugs in winter, visitors are free to enjoy the fruits of this labour, over ice with hyper-chilled vodka.
The Lapland Hotels Snow Village, 45km out of Levi, is where visitors can dine in an ice restaurant and even sleep overnight in ice suites. The SnowVillage is built from more than 20 million kilograms of snow and some 300,000kg of ice each November. This winter’s theme celebrates the area’s diverse marine life and includes a number of fanciful ice sculptures.
The SnowVillage in Lapland is rebuilt every year using over 20 million kilograms of snow. Photo / 123rf
Another frosty destination where you can embrace the ice is Arctic Resort Kakslauttanen in Saariselka, known for its glass igloo holiday village. The glass-roofed igloos are a good way to see the Northern Lights. The dwellings have their own bathrooms and sleep between two and six people. Overnight guests can take husky and reindeer safaris, ride snowmobiles, hunt and ice fish.
Glass igloos in Saariselkä offer a warm place to view the snow-capped surroundings and Northern Lights from your bed. Photo / 123rf
Hearty meals of deer meat and a native stew made with cod provide energy for Lapland exploration. Yes, there are restaurants; but a more authentic experience takes visitors to native villages where reindeer stew called Poronkäristys is served with mashed potatoes, pickles and lingonberry sauce. Another Finnish favourite is Kalamojakka; fresh fish simmered with potatoes, leeks and spices in a cast-iron pot over a wood fire. Guests sit in canvas teepees on animal skins. warming their hands around mugs of savoury stew, listening to native Sami storytellers.
Outside the dwellings, wolf-like dogs with piercing eyes are hitched to sleds to pull intrepid travellers on once-in-a-lifetime rides across the Arctic Circle. It sounds dangerous; but these animals are sure and steady, and respond to even amateur mushers who’ve been taught how to use the reins. The rides are raw and exhilarating as you fly along snow-crusted trails, huskies howling and sled runners crunching.
The Finnish word for reindeer stew, "Poronkäristys," is a traditional dish served with lingonberry sauce and mashed potatoes. Photo / 123rf
One of the epic winter adventures, featured in the book 100 Things to Do Before You Die, is the Icebreaker Sampo. Leaving from the northern port town of Kemi, guests board steel-hulled ice-breakers for an adventure cruise deep into the Arctic Gulf of Bothnia. Portside, the water is navigable for normal boats, but these ships are designed to clear shipping lanes in winter, and soon enough their metal blades are grinding through thick ice. This is when the fun really begins. Passengers who’ve had an hour or so to imbibe at long tables in the belly of the boat are now squished into unwieldy black wetsuits – the kind used to work on ocean oil rigs in winter. The neoprene body suits are so thick, you waddle through the ship like a walrus to get to the plank that aids you in entering the water.
One of the epic winter adventures, featured in the book 100 Things to do Before You Die, is the Icebreaker Sampo. Photo / Getty Images
A giant slushy awaits you. It’s a swath of water and ice that’s been cleared by the cutter for an adventure you can have nowhere else – bobbing in the freezing, steel-grey sea with a dozen of your now-closest friends – and no shoreline in sight.
The first thing you hear is the giggles – laughter and musing in multiple languages from people who’ve travelled the world to experience this unusual activity. Then you notice the buoyancy of your wetsuit, which keeps you warm even as it makes treading water somewhat like navigating a rudderless dingy. When it’s time for the next group to enter, you may be so giddy, you won’t want to leave the water.
While most winter fun may seem tame in comparison, there are other activities that are uniquely Lapland. Take the region’s 200,000-plus reindeer, for example.
You can spend the day interacting with these caribou creatures in the forests of Salla Wilderness Park. Santa isn’t the only one who can drive a reindeer-drawn sleigh as visitors to this protected wilderness can take a one-day Reindeer Safari with or without a guide.
Lapland is home to more than 200,000 reindeer. Photo / 123rf
Santa Claus Village in Rovaniemi, has the distinction of being the official home for the big guy and Mrs Claus, especially as it’s located directly over the Arctic Circle. Visitors can purchase Lappish hand-crafted gifts and even reindeer hides in the Christmas shops. A bustling post office sells unique stamps and cards, which can be sent out to every corner of the world. Rovaniemi is also home to a popular science and history museum on Arctic life, Arktikum, that highlights the history of the indigenous Sami people, along with the animals and vegetation in the world’s northernmost regions.
Santa Claus officially resides in Rovaniemi, the capital of Finnish Lapland. Photo / 123rf
By all accounts, Lapland is so beautiful in winter, that it takes your breath away. It’s also true that it’s cold; but perhaps not as cold as you think. Daytime highs are often in the 20s and 30s with a dry, crisp air that’s said to have a moderating effect on the temperatures. And while the days have limited sunshine in winter, there’s a certain magic to the dusk and darkness. The moon casts shadows on the glistening white snow, the stars twinkle like precious gems in the sky and if you’re lucky – the Northern Lights shimmer and dance across the horizon. No wonder Santa lives here. There’s no more magical place on earth in winter.
Lapland’s Northern Lights, or Aurora Borealis, can be seen up to 200 nights a year. Photo / 123rf
Checklist
Lapland, Finland
GETTING THERE
Fly from Auckland to Helsinki. From Finland’s capital, connect with your choice of several flights daily to six regional airports in Lapland; Rovaniemi, Ivalo, Kuusamo, Kemi-Tornio, Kittilä and Enontekiö. Flight times are between one hour and 90 minutes in length.
