Finland
Glass igloos, -30 degrees, snowmobiles and the snow-laden fairytale forests of Riisitunturi: Our winter adventure in Finnish Lapland.
- Posts
- 8
- Photo spots
- 2
- Travel years
- 2024
- Latest
- 09/02/24
Finnish Lapland in February is another world: Temperatures down to -33 degrees, powder snow like we had never seen before, and forests whose snow-laden trees look like frozen sculptures.
Around Kuusamo and Ruka we slept in glass igloos and design cabins, hand-fed reindeer, rode snowmobiles at -30 degrees and hiked through a pink dusk in Riisitunturi National Park. All posts from our Finland trip are collected here.
- Photo spot
- Stage
- Route (straight line)
This sends your IP address to the OpenStreetMap Foundation. You can change it any time in the .
7 stages as a list
Posts from Finland
· 2 min
From Kuusamo via Helsinki and Oslo to Bodø
-33 °C while scraping ice, then a cancelled flight: Via Helsinki and Oslo we work our way to Bodø, taking a whole day for an hour's worth of flying.
· 2 min
Snowmobile tour at -30 degrees
30 kilometres in convoy through snowy forests and across frozen lakes, at -30 °C with an iced-up visor, and finally to the fire in a snow tipi.
· 2 min
Riisitunturi National Park at dusk
A second hike up Riisitunturi rewards us with a surreal pink spectacle: Fog, setting sun and frozen eyelashes at -25 °C.
· 3 min
Reindeer farm & Riisitunturi National Park
Feeding reindeer at -25 °C: The animals eat their lichen dessert from our hands. In the afternoon, Riisitunturi with trees that vanish completely under snow.
· 3 min
Oulanka National Park
Through glorious powder snow to the old Myllykoski mill and its suspension bridge, accompanied by the low sun and, at night, by faint northern lights.
· 2 min
Out of the glass cabin, into the villa!
A snowshoe trail through snowy forests, then a move from the glass igloo to a cabin with a huge window front, fireplace and sauna. No northern lights.
· 2 min
Of Magical Ponds and the tripod hunt
Snowshoes, a reindeer and husky farm and then a tripod hunt through Ruka and Kuusamo. The very last shop really does have exactly one.
· 2 min
Zurich to Kuusamo
The very first Edelweiss flight to Kuusamo, a drum welcome on landing and our first night in a glass igloo at Magical Ponds.
2 photo spots
All on the map →Myllykoski, Oulanka National Park
66.2606° N 29.4169° E
Best time: Winter mornings · autumn colours in September
An old mill and suspension bridge above the roaring Kitkajoki rapids. In winter, deep-snowed forest frames the open channel.
Riisitunturi National Park
66.2280° N 28.5060° E
Best time: Twilight · December to March
Lapland's famous "tykky" trees. Spruces bent under their snow load that look like frozen sculptures at dusk.