Stepping off the overnight ferry in Helsinki, the harbour was a slurry of ice.

When we visited Helsinki in the summer of 2022, the city was sunny and skies were blue.

Very different now.

Next day we flew to Ivalo, 300km north of the Arctic Circle and spent two nights in nearby Saariselka.  It’s the beginning of spring and locals kept saying how warm it is.  Newsflash: Just because it’s no longer -40 Celsius doesn’t mean it is warm!  A few degrees either side of zero is still cold to us.

March is said to be the best month for seeing the Northern Lights, but of course it depends on the weather. When we arrived they had not been seen for two weeks due to cloud cover. We’d factored in eight days up here to maximise our chances, which gave us the opportunity to try out lots of winter activities we’ve not done before.

Husky sledding 

Nothing like the hardcore mushing John’s sister and brother-in-law did in Alaska a few years back but a fun spin around back country tracks with a team of five beautiful Siberian huskies.

These dogs just love to run.

They are super friendly and keen for pats once the work is done.

It was at a husky ranch and the dogs each have their own house.  But just like the locals, they think it’s getting warm.  Most of them prefer to sleep outside or on the roof.

Reindeer farm

Reindeer are the only deer species ever to be successfully domesticated.  Around 200,000 of them roam the forests of Finnish Lapland.  Thats about 10% more reindeer than people.

The earliest written records of reindeer domestication by Lapland’s indigenous people, the Sami date to the 800s CE and the practice was well established by then.  Reindeer herding is central to Sami culture and apart from the introduction of snowmobiles and ATVs to round up the herds, little has changed in the way they are managed.

Each year, calves are born in May.  In June, the herds move out of the forests onto the open tundra to avoid mosquitoes and biting insects.  Herders round them up and the young are tagged.  All reindeer are owned, and the young belong to whichever herder owns the mother.  The reindeer are then released to roam for several more months.

Reindeer meat is still widely consumed in Lapland.  And these days, strict maximum limits apply to herd populations to ensure environmentally sustainable levels aren’t exceeded.

In November, the herds are again rounded up.  Some are chosen to ‘go on the meat truck’ and the herders keep the rest in pens over the winter.  It’s said the reindeer enjoy wintering in the pens – kindly humans collect lichen for them so they don’t have to dig through the snow or pull it from tree branches.  In April, the herds are again released and the cycle begins again.

Reindeer are the only deer species in which the females grow antlers. The males shed theirs in the autumn, while the females keep theirs until spring.  So you know this is a female with males behind.

Traditional Christmas images always have reindeer with antlers pulling Santa Claus’ sleigh, so they must all be female!  Maybe that’s the real reason the other reindeers laughed at Rudolph – pulling Santa’s sleigh is a job for the chicks.

Through the winter, tourists can visit reindeer farms to pet and feed the young ones, learn about the Sami methods of traditional reindeer management, and go for sleigh rides.  We visited a farm at night and couldn’t sleigh ride because the ‘warm’ spring has melted too much snow, but we got to lead a few that were being taken out of the pens and tethered in the woods for some free range grazing.

Reindeer feet look over-sized for their skinny legs but there’s a reason.  Their legs are slim to facilitate slinking through thick snow while their splayed hooves act like snowshoes in lighter conditions.  And in All I Want for Christmas when Mariah Carey sang about not staying awake “to hear those magic reindeer click”, she wasn’t wrong.  Reindeer make a distinct click-click sound when they walk due to a tendon which snaps over the bones in their back hooves.

And furry noses for warmth, complete with unique nasal veins that warm the air before it reaches their lungs.

Cute!

Glass Cabins

We headed south to Äkäslompolo, where we spent two nights in a glass cabin.  Modern glass ‘igloo’ inspired cabins have become popular in Scandinavia.  Perfect for a 270 degree view of the snowy landscape while staying warm as toast.

And a glass roof for watching the stars from the comfort of your own bed.

The property consisted of 10 glass cabins discreetly positioned in the forest.  No vehicular access, so they supply a sled to drag your luggage to and from your cabin in the slippery conditions.

Snowmobiling 

Now this was a heap of fun.  A bit like riding a jetski, only on snow and through the forest.  The speed limit on these trails is 60kph.  The conditions were a bit icy but John managed a top speed of 50kph.

There were seven of us on four snowmobiles, plus a guide since the trails are not signposted.  One couple went a bit wide on a curve and ploughed into a snow bank, narrowly missing a tree.  No injuries, just a little damage to the snowmobile.

Finnish Sauna and Ice Swimming 

After a couple of hours snowmobiling we stopped by a frozen lake.  The national park authority manages huts in forests throughout Finland where visitors can stop, make a fire and relax.  Some, like this one, have a sauna.

First, you build a wood fire to heat the sauna rocks in the hut.  Then collect a few buckets of water from a hole cut in the ice on the lake.

Take the water to the sauna to ladle over the heated stones to generate some humidity and extra heat.  Ideal temperature is between 80 and 100 degrees Celsius.

You relax in the sauna until you are well and truly broiled.  Then scamper down to the ice hole.  Which sounds easy but as we had no shoes and the path was frozen ice and extremely slippery, our feet were painfully cold by the time we got there.  Anyway, then you slither through the hole into the icy waters, immersing your body up to your neck for as long as you can.  Which is generally about 15 seconds.

Then you haul yourself out, if your limbs still have any power, and totter back to the sauna to warm up again.

John swore there was “no f’ing way” he was getting in the lake, but relented when Julie said she would give it a go.   We agreed afterwards it was strangely invigorating.

Snowshoeing 

We went night snowshoeing in Yllas National Park hoping to see the Northern Lights.  More on those in our next post.

Snowshoeing has been described as tramping through snow with tennis racquets strapped to your feet, and it did feel a bit like that. Or giant crocs.  Nowhere near as smooth as we expected, and very noisy crunching on the snow.  But we covered a decent distance on mushy snow so we understand the efficiency aspect.

English is widely spoken in Finland but there can be confusion.  Our guide commented that spring has come earlier than usual this year and that we were her last customers for the season.

Julie:  “Is snowshoeing finished?”
Guide: “No, it’s Swedish.”

Santa Claus Village

Travelling further south we stayed a couple of nights in Rovaniemi, the capital of Finnish Lapland and the “official” home of Santa Claus.

Santa Claus Village, 7km out of Rovaniemi, right on the Arctic Circle, is as lame and commercialised as you could imagine.  Parents can be nagged into paying €42 for their child to get a photo standing next to Santa.  He’s probably decided it’s no longer wise to have kids sit on his knee.

You can stop by Santa’s office, which is really just one of umpteen gift shops selling similar stuff.  Christmas decorations, snow globes, reindeer skin rugs, seal and blue fox fur hats, plush toys in the form of huskies, reindeers and other random animals, and lots of sweets.

Or take photos of each other standing on the Arctic Circle line.

Santa has his own post office.

If you have small children in your life, they might get a thrill if you purchase a letter from Santa and pop it in the mailbox which guarantees it will be sent to them just in time for Christmas next.

And here we found evidence that elves do exist.  Apparently they’ve opened more than 20,000,000 letters to Santa, who clearly doesn’t care enough to open them himself.

Ice Floating 

Our dip in an ice hole in a frozen lake as part of the sauna ritual was almost therapeutic, so how about an ice float.  This involves donning a dry suit and floating in a frozen lake, where a gentle agitator keeps an area of water moving just enough to stop it freezing.

We did it at night.  In the dry suit you are cool but not cold and if you are careful, you don’t get wet.  The suits are extremely buoyant and it’s quite a meditative experience just floating around in the dark gazing up at the sky.

This next grainy photo might look like the opening scene of a crime drama, but it’s actually John, now a total convert to ice swimming.

Ice Hotel

And for a totally different way to finish, we spent a night in Finland’s only ice hotel.

The Arctic SnowHotel has glass igloo accommodation open all year round, but every winter they build a seperate ‘hotel’ entirely of ice.

It has an ice bar.

Shots are served in glasses made of ice, which you can then throw against the wall to smash once you’re done.

Also an ice restaurant.  Even the tables and chairs are carved from ice and diners sit on reindeer skins.

An ice chapel.

And 20 or so guest rooms which are ice caves.  The bed is a solid block of ice with a sleeping pad covered in reindeer skin on top.

As we snuggled into arctic-grade sleeping bags for the night, we wondered if we’d become used to the cold.  With only nose and mouth exposed, it was surprisingly warm and we both got a good night’s sleep.

It snowed heavily overnight and in the morning everything was an icy wonderland.  A beautiful way to finish.

“But what about the Northern Lights?”, I hear you ask.  A post is coming soon.

But for now, a big thank you to Moonika at MonMon Travel, without whom we could not have done all of this so seamlessly and in such a short time.   If you are headed to the far north, we’d highly recommend her.