Most people fly into Rovaniemi, see Santa and fly home. An hour east, Kemijärvi sits on its lake at a much slower pace. Further north, around Inari, the heart of Sámi Lapland, a wooden church stands alone between forest and lake, and the Muotkatunturi fells go on for hours without another hiker. The road ends at Utsjoki and Nuorgam, the northernmost village in the EU, on the Norwegian border.
Download on iOS
Elinor and Jake (and Mac the penguin) are a couple based in Spain with, in their words, a serious Arctic problem. They drove from Rovaniemi to the top of Finland in ruska season, staying in lakeside sauna cabins, and their blog covers Finnish Lapland in depth: when to go, where to stay, hiking and the northern lights.
The Arctic Circle's busy gateway, and the lake towns an hour beyond it where the crowds thin out.
The heart of Sámi culture, on a lake with over 3,000 islands, with trackless fells to the north.
The top of Finland along the Teno River, where the road runs out at the Norwegian border.
Elsewhere in Finnish Lapland.
