Moving spruce-covered hills with every strokes of the sail, our little boat mission glided across the clear waters of Oulanka, one of the longest rivers in Finland’s northern Lapland area that’s known for its great wilderness areas, never-ending summer sun, and lovely Northern Lights displays. The river, which flows north of the Arctic Circle and passes through remarkable canyons and old boreal forests in the southeast region of Lapland known as Ruka-Kuusamo, eventually makes its way into Russia’s Karelia through wild rapids and quiet shoals.
We took a 10-mile kayaking trip through some of the calmer riverbeds under the direction of Oulangan Taika, a local business that provides guided wilderness excursions through the 100-square-mile national playground and beyond. Although I felt like we were alone on the river, this is one of Finland’s most famous national parks, receiving more than 175, 000 customers next year. While this may not sound like much, the whole Ruka-Kuusamo region is home to just over 15, 000 persons in an area the size of Delaware. ” In Finland, we say that if there are more than 10 people in your method, it’s crammed”, mused Kallberg.
Just as we passed another valley stretch where a deer, one of the area’s more widespread residents, seemed oblivious to our team’s sailing efforts, Kallberg motioned toward a sturdy house on the beach. These empty wilderness houses, he explained, can be found every five yards, making it easier for hikers to include multi-day camping experiences.
By the time we had dumped our canoes onto the dust of a nearby beach, Kallberg had stopped by one of these huts to make firewood for our lunch at the campground. ” When we visit these houses, we trim enough wood for our requirements”, he said. And we make sure to keep some behind for the next person.
This is a trait of Scandinavian tradition that I have encountered in Ruka-Kuusamo many times. I care about exotic places and share them with others. Being in essence is a common occurrence in Finland, according to the media. Most Finns often spend time outside walking, riding, picking wild fruit, or hunting. There’s also a legal concept that ensures everyone – visitor or resident – can climb, camp, or obtain nature’s bounty in any Scandinavian land, regardless of the land’s ownership status.
Adventure Apes, a full-service Scandinavian DMC and experience company that pioneered visible nature tours in the area, led our new AdventureWeek Finland journey to this less well-known region of Lapland. ” Nature belongs to no one, but all belongs to nature”, said Heidi Savolainen, user and direct experience link of Adventure Apes, as we sipped our first glass of vitamin-C-rich black currant drink, a local mainstay. It was obvious that having access to the great outdoors has forged in the Finnish DNA a deep connection to nature and the desire to preserve it, from Adventure Apes providing our group with refillable water bottles at the start of the trip and using trains for our cross-country treks, to Ruka Ski Resort, the region’s largest employer, heating nearly all of its properties with geothermal energy.
In this region, it’s an urgent task. The Arctic’s climate is already warming three times faster than the average global average, which has an impact on both the local industries and nature as well as the Finnish way of life itself. The country’s ambitious goal to be carbon-neutral by 2035 was signed into law by the 2022 national Climate Act. And unlike other similar pledges made around the world, the Finnish one is supported by action.
Liisa Kokkarinen heads Sustainable Travel Finland, a first-of-its-kind comprehensive sustainability program developed by Visit Finland, the signatory of the Glasgow Declaration on Climate Action in Tourism, in the last few years. Kokkarinen shared that 80 % of Finland’s landmass is covered by forests at the AdventureWeek wrap-up event held in the nearby city of Oulu, which is scheduled to become the European Capital of Culture in 2026. ( This works out to about 15, 000 trees for each Finn. ) With water that is so clean you can drink it, the nation has 188, 000 lakes and the richest freshwater resources in the European Union. ” These are the ingredients that make Finland”, Kokkarinen said. And these are also the justifications for our actions, because I genuinely want both my children and the next generation to have the same opportunities to enjoy it.
The Sustainable Travel Finland (STF ) initiative stands out from its competition. First, it approaches sustainable tourism development from a holistic perspective, focusing on cultural, social, and economic sustainability in addition to environmental responsibility. Kokkarinen stated to me that the goal is to create an inclusive tourism industry that supports the viability of local communities while also reducing economic disparities. That means understanding how to best manage the fragile land of the Arctic Finland and protecting the rights of the indigenous Sámi people.
And second, STF is a multi-partner collaborative effort where businesses – including hotels, tour operators, restaurants, and harbors – destinations like Kuusamo, and institutions like the Sámi Parliament and the Finnish wildlife management body, have all come together to determine what sustainability means in the Finnish context. ” No one can be sustainable alone”, explained Kokkarinen. ” With sustainability, you really need your partners and you need the whole value chain”, she added.
Moving beyond a label, STF is an educational sustainable development initiative that provides partner organizations with toolkits like this free carbon footprint calculator to help them incorporate sustainability principles into daily operations. To date, five destinations in Finland and more than 400 businesses have earned the STF accreditation. Some nonprofits that are eligible for the free-to-the-industry program may not be able to meet all the requirements for certification, but they still want to take the necessary steps. ” The most important is, of course, not the label”, Kokkarinen told me,” but that you change your actions”.
Monica Malpezzi-Price of Italy-based ExperiencePlus!, which organizes bicycle tours across Europe and Latin America, was impressed by how many accommodation providers on our trip, from the wooden cabins in Ruka-Kuusamo to the Radisson Blu in Oulu, were not only documenting their daily food waste, but also communicating it with their guests. ” From an industry perspective, Sustainable Travel Finland is one of the best programs I’ve seen of any destination. It’s wonderful to see how much work and effort Visit Finland is putting in to make every aspect of the tourism supply chain extremely ethical and sustainable, she continued.
Mariyana Castleberry founded YOLO Dream Adventure Travel in the US to organize active adventure trips all over the world. She informed me that she is already thinking about including this region of Lapland in the offerings of her business. The fact that Finland is not well known on the adventure scene is a plus, she said, because many people today are looking for great sustainable experiences in lesser-known locations.
William Vazquez, who offers trekking and photography trips to remote destinations like Bhutan with his US-based company, Camera Voyages, echoed Castleberry’s sentiment about the region’s potential. ” You can have an amazing adventure in what feels like a truly wild place in both summer and winter, but still have European-style comforts”, he told me. ” It is a rare combination, in most wild places, comfort is not readily available”.
Our group spent two nights in a row watching an aurora borealis performance on the 50-mile Karhunkierros ( Bear Circle ), the most well-known trail in Oulanka National Park, and taking a traditional Finnish sauna plunge into icy lake waters. I had some of the best sleep I’ve ever had in a while here, despite the jet lag and the demanding schedule. Perhaps this region has the cleanest air in the world, according to the most recent World Air Quality Report, had something to do with it.
Thanks to the partners we met in Finland during AdventureWeek, there’s a good chance it will stay that way for years to come.