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From the dense forests of Lapland to the vast Bothnian Bay, journey in Finland is a examine in contrasts.
By Elizabeth Heath
“Reindeer!” A number of of us shout in unison at our first sighting of those boreal deer within the wild, an antlered duo blithely munching on dewy grass. We’re at Pohjolan Pirtti & Kievari, a historic lakeside farm that feels a great distance from anyplace. In actuality, we’re a great distance away—from airports, main cities, or city conveniences, and we’re nearer to the Russian border than we’re to the closest freeway.
We heat our bones with sizzling blueberry juice drank from picket Kuksa cups, rub palms over a wooden range, and bake conventional Lappish flatbread, which we’ll later eat with moose casserole. It’s a microcosm of Finnish Lapland in a number of hours—huge, distant, dazzlingly wild, far eliminated, each in geography and angle, and completely crammed with reindeer.
Reindeer Wranglers
The 2 deer we sighted early within the day have been simply the tip of the reindeer iceberg. By the point we arrive at Kujalan Porotila, a sixth-generation reindeer farm with a latest sustainable tourism bent, our driver has already slowed a number of instances to let these denizens do their gradual trot throughout the street. On the farm, herder Juha Kujala and his son stroll right down to greet us, every main a reindeer on a leash. The animals are as docile as well-behaved canine, and we every get an opportunity to stroll one, rub their furry antlers, and sink our palms into their dense coats.
A short while later, with reindeer furs rather than health club mats, we’re in an out of doors reindeer yoga class—making an attempt onerous to give attention to our asanas as grownup and child reindeer graze throughout us. They’re detached to our oohing, aahing and makes an attempt to pet them, displaying curiosity solely after we supply them a freshly plucked mushroom, which, together with moss and dozens of forms of foliage that sprout on the spongy forest flooring, make for tasty reindeer meals.
Seems that reindeer themselves are tasty meals, as we’ll study on the farm and through numerous different meals throughout the area. Reindeer meat is stewed, sauteed, dried into jerky and salted and cured like prosciutto. Reindeer fur and leather-based are used for clothes, rugs, and housewares, and reindeer antlers, which they shed and regrow yearly, are used for handicrafts and jewellery. And whereas it’s straightforward to anthropomorphize these light, cow-eyed animals—in any case, that is Santa Claus and Rudolph nation—Kujala describes a circle of life that’s each sustainable and wise in a spot the place winter meals provides as soon as spelled life or demise for Laplander households.
Each single one in every of Lapland’s greater than 200,000 reindeer—and sure, that’s greater than the human inhabitants of the area—are owned by herder-farmers. Each one in every of them is collared and earmarked with the person herder’s notch, and a few are outfitted with GPS trackers. Within the summertime, they wander freely throughout the territory, typically roaming greater than 100 kilometres from “residence.”
When winter comes, and heavy snow makes it more durable to graze, the herds arrive on their very own to the farms the place they know they’ll be fed and shielded from predators. People who stray from their herd are rounded up with snowmobiles. To regulate overpopulation and supply one in every of Lapland’s staple meals, a set quantity is culled annually, after which the cycle begins once more.
Subsequent Cease for Our Journey in Finland—Russia
By the point we’re paddling canoes alongside the Oulangan River, the reindeer we cross as they lounge on sandy seashores appear outdated hat. It’s a difficult 16 km of rowing on a windy day, however on calmer stretches of the winding river, we will relaxation our paddles lengthy sufficient to marvel on this broad expanse of undisturbed wilderness and marvel if we’re nonetheless actually in trendy Europe.
At lunchtime, we’re led to a lean-to shelter and firepit, one in every of dozens of free-to-use refuges within the park. Tommi Kallberg, the proprietor of Oulangan Taika wilderness actions, presents thermoses of his selfmade reindeer stew as information Mikael chops wooden for the fireplace. Quickly, we’re ingesting campfire espresso, the grounds settling within the backside of our Kuksa mugs, and consuming grilled juustoa, which is aptly often known as “Finnish squeaky cheese,” served with cloudberry jam. We pack out each single factor we pack in—there are not any waste bins at these refuges, and nobody would assume to depart behind any rubbish.
Again on the water, we conclude our paddle just some kilometres shy of the Russian border—an idea that’s each scary and engaging. Finns have all the time lived with this proximity, and whereas relations would possibly by no means have been described as heat, there’s actually a newfound sense of ominousness given the latest geopolitical panorama.
We really feel it once more at Isokenkäisten Klubi, a gloriously rustic, distant wilderness lodge the place indicators warn errant hikers and canine walkers to not wander into the border zone—the three km buffer between the 2 nations. We’ve received little purpose to stray although, given the hearty wild meals dinner that awaits us—extra reindeer on the menu!—inside the comfortable lodge, which is run by sisters Katja and Sirpa Kämäräinen.
The unique saunas, cottages and essential lodge are mighty log-cabin affairs constructed by the Kämäräinen’s father, Aimo. They have been as soon as frequented by heads of state who meted out diplomacy within the Finnish custom of bare sauna classes —apparently an awesome equalizer of males, no matter stature.
Saunas and Northern Lights
We didn’t get to attempt the saunas at Isokenkäisten Klubi, however we didn’t should look far to seek out our löyly—the new steam that rises when water is ladled over the new rocks of a Finnish sauna. Marjo Määttä, one of many “sauna elves” at Pyhäpiilo Sauna World, guides us by means of the normal smoke sauna rituals, which embrace gently batting one another with bundles of birch and juniper, in addition to asking permission to pour extra water to stoke the löyly. Tip to sauna newbies: In the event you can’t stand the löyly, it’s time to take a break from the sauna.
From the roughly 80°C sauna, we dip into the bracing water of the close by lake, then to the ready sizzling tub, then again to the sauna. It’s an invigorating ritual that I may get used to, and one we’ll repeat at a number of stops alongside the way in which.
On two events, our late nights of saunas, swims and sizzling tub dips have been rewarded with probably the most lucky of treats—early-season appearances of the Northern Lights. For me and others in our group, our first time seeing the Aurora Borealis was each bit as magical as we would have hoped.
Even with the “minor” exhibits we noticed, it’s straightforward to grasp the mythology surrounding the lights, which the Indigenous Sami folks regard because the souls of the useless or the spirits of animals. Because the lights undulated in inexperienced, purple and magenta, they appeared each bit alive—highly effective, mysterious, and concurrently comforting and disconcerting.
As we journey southwest to town of Oulu, on Finland’s Bothnian Bay, the panorama adjustments from primordial woods to farmland, managed forests and shortly, the principally trendy structure of Finland’s fifth largest metropolis.
The settlement dates to at the least the 1300s, although few historic picket buildings survive, resulting from a sequence of fires over the centuries. Right now, Oulu—a European Capital of Tradition in 2026 and the house of the Air Guitar World Championships—is a centre for prime tech and innovation, a college metropolis that feels clear, younger, brainy, and environment friendly.
Our final sauna is one for the bucket checklist, and tops among the many only-in-Finland experiences of a busy week. The Koivurannan is a sauna boat, a floating cottage of kinds that chugs alongside Oulu’s broad Oulujoki River, the winding physique of water that defines town. On a twilight cruise, we ladle on the löyly, pour a number of drinks, and soar into the chilly river, its water clear sufficient to drink but darkish sufficient to vanish into.
Sauna, river, sauna. Sizzling, chilly, sizzling. Consolation, discomfort, consolation. Have been we leaping into an abyss, or into nature’s loving arms? If you take the leap in Finland, the reply, it appears, is sure.
The author’s journey was organized by Journey Apes, a woman-owned journey tour operator that gives genuine out of doors and cultural journey experiences throughout Finland.
Elizabeth is a broadly revealed journey author residing in Umbria, Italy, the place she additionally runs Villaggio Excursions, a small-group tour firm providing genuine native experiences from the bottom of a medieval hilltop village.