greetings all, and a belated happy new year!
my husband and i want to take a few days (4?) and go up to the Arctic Circle/Lapland sometime in the next month or so. we've only been in finland for a few months and this would be our first real touristy type of excursion.
anyone have any particular great experiences that they can recommend? is it better to go way up north or limit ourselves to rovaniemi for our first such adventure? any places to avoid?
we're accustomed to rather frigid temps and loads of snow. we do not speak finnish (which we know limits us in some respects...). any recommendations are greatly appreciated!
thanks in advance!
Recommendations for a 4-day visit to the Arctic Circle?
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kitty wonka
- Posts: 79
- Joined: Sat Jan 06, 2007 11:52 am
- Location: Moscow
Re: Recommendations for a 4-day visit to the Arctic Circle?
Hi,
I guess it depends a bit on what you want to do.
There are three options:
1. You stay in Rovaniemi the whole time
2. You go to a skiing center
3. You rent a cottage in the middle of nowhere
Option 1 is in my very personal opinion bad. I think Rovaniemi is quite a boring city, the only real sight is the Arktikum museum, the Lordi square
and maybe Santa's village a few kilometres from Rovaniemi, although it is very commercial.
Option 2 could be the best one. There are many skiing centers in Lapland, and they all have cottages to rent, and most have a few companies offering activities for tourists. You can choose between going to big centers (Levi for example, probably the center with most partying going on) and small ones (such as Pyhä or Olos). There is a list of the skiing centers at www.ski.fi.
Option 3 would be more do-it-yourself kind of trip. Good option for some people, bad for others.
I spent a week at Olos a couple of weeks ago, and it was great. However, the place is quite dead between mid-January and mid-February, the skiing lifts are closed etc. We spent one day at Levi, and it was quite different and a bit kitsch, but at least you have a lot of people around you. Ylläs is another big place (the biggest skiing center in Finland), I have the feeling that it's less of a party place than Levi. I don't think there are any really bad options if you choose a skiing center, but you might want to check that the place you are going to is open, since some small ones are closed.
Another thing to take into consideration is the timing. Finnish schools have a one-week vacation in February-March, it depends on the municipality when that week is. In Helsinki it is week 8 (February 18-24), so you can expect most of the places being fully booked then.
Good luck with the planning!
I guess it depends a bit on what you want to do.
There are three options:
1. You stay in Rovaniemi the whole time
2. You go to a skiing center
3. You rent a cottage in the middle of nowhere
Option 1 is in my very personal opinion bad. I think Rovaniemi is quite a boring city, the only real sight is the Arktikum museum, the Lordi square
and maybe Santa's village a few kilometres from Rovaniemi, although it is very commercial.Option 2 could be the best one. There are many skiing centers in Lapland, and they all have cottages to rent, and most have a few companies offering activities for tourists. You can choose between going to big centers (Levi for example, probably the center with most partying going on) and small ones (such as Pyhä or Olos). There is a list of the skiing centers at www.ski.fi.
Option 3 would be more do-it-yourself kind of trip. Good option for some people, bad for others.
I spent a week at Olos a couple of weeks ago, and it was great. However, the place is quite dead between mid-January and mid-February, the skiing lifts are closed etc. We spent one day at Levi, and it was quite different and a bit kitsch, but at least you have a lot of people around you. Ylläs is another big place (the biggest skiing center in Finland), I have the feeling that it's less of a party place than Levi. I don't think there are any really bad options if you choose a skiing center, but you might want to check that the place you are going to is open, since some small ones are closed.
Another thing to take into consideration is the timing. Finnish schools have a one-week vacation in February-March, it depends on the municipality when that week is. In Helsinki it is week 8 (February 18-24), so you can expect most of the places being fully booked then.
Good luck with the planning!
Re: Recommendations for a 4-day visit to the Arctic Circle?
I went there for a week this Christmas and had a very good time. You can try and book some activities here http://www.arcticsafaris.fi then if you want some night fun you can go to the crazy reindeer. Happy trip!