A MAGICAL WEEK IN LAPLAND

Lapland is another location that I ticked off my bucket list this year. I spent 7 nights with my family in Nellim, which was a real treat and I will tell you all about it. Lapland was very different from other travels that I have done. I also love to ski, so I am somewhat used to cold, but in Nellim it was -15 degrees almost every day. The activities were also very different than when having a traditional skiing holiday. It was a super special holiday which I would recommend to people who like to be active, love to take walks in a beautiful scenery and are able to relax/read a book when it gets dark quickly.

Location

We stayed at the Nellim Wilderness Hotel in February 2019. Nellim is a really small town in the North of Finland (population 156). Because Nellim is a very remote location, there is hardly any light pollution, which makes it a really good spot to spot the Northern Lights. The transfer from Ivalo airport takes about one hour. When we arrived the road was full of snow and the road ended at our hotel.. Just to give you an idea of the remoteness of Nellim..

The Wilderness Hotel has apartments with private saunas that fit up to 8 people and has hotel rooms as well. We were with a party of four and have booked two hotel rooms, as we liked having the privacy of separated rooms. This meant no private sauna, but you were able to use a shared sauna, for which you could enroll via a list (which worked fine).

The hotel was not very luxurious; the TV did not work and there was only internet in the main building. However the hotel had a really cozy interior with lots of lovely places where you could snuggle up next to a fireplace, for the ultimate Lapland feeling. When you had no activities it was lovely to be in the main building, reading a book, enjoying the snowy view, watching husky dogs pass by with their sleighs… This makes it one of the most romantic places I have ever been to, perfect for a honeymoon in wintertime.

The hotel offers a lot of activities within walking distance, which makes it really easy to participate. When you book a package deal, they are included in the price. The price of the package deal is highly dependent on the season, with Christmas being one of the most expensive weeks.

Food

When you book a package with the hotel the food is included (breakfast, lunch and dinner, and some snacks during activities). We were really happy to have the food included as you are not very “mobile” in Lapland. The dining room of the hotel was quite big, but it did not feel overcrowded. I also don’t mind having other people around and most people in the hotel were really kind which makes for some good conversations. I think there were about 100 guests in the hotel. The food contained a good variety in meat, fish, veggies and carbs, the cooking was classic but tasty. The variety in the food was sufficient to keep me entertained for 7 days. I did not expect them to have lactose free yoghurt, but apparently it had been in the breakfast section the whole time. They also had delicious wine, which cost € 7 per glass, but alcohol is really expensive in Finland.

During daytrip they often made lunch in the open hair or in a hut (depending on the temperature). This felt super adventurous without putting in hard work yourself.
During aurora camp we had a fun bonfire

Weather

In Lapland it is on average -10 degrees during the day and -20 at night in wintertime. We experienced temperatures varying from -25 (at night) to -1 (our last day).

Luckily the hotel gives you warm clothes to borrow during your stay: a big suit, a baklava, boots and huge gloves! It was not extremely cold each day, so I also used my ski suit (which was more fashionable 😉).

These are the suits that you receive from the hotel

In some months there is only daylight for 6 hours a day, so this is something you have to take into account. In February sunrise was at around 8AM and sunset was at 16.30PM, which gives you sufficient time to undertake activities during the daytime.

Activities

Northern Lights: One of the reasons we came to Lapland was to see the Northern Lights. There is a website with Northern Lights predictions (link), which showed that our chance was not very high the first few nights. Lucky we still had several nights left and were able to see the Northern Lights! We hired a Northern Lights alarm from the hotel, which started buzzing on our third night. As all people staying in the hotel would love to see the Northern Lights, this adds a nice excitement to your trip. Everyone was so excited when the alarm started buzzing! As you never know how long the Northern Lights will be visible, we left our rooms immediately in the warmest outfit we could find, and we started running towards the lake where you would have a unobstructed view! The Northern Lights slowly intensified and moved around the lake like a ghost, which was really special to see. We brought a tripod, which helped us take amazing pictures of this phenomenon. (camera instellingen delen). In the pictures the Northern Lights are even more visible than while actually being there, because of the long shutter time that was used. We stayed outside for almost two hours, with a small break to warm up, to enjoy the beautiful Northern Lights. We got to see the Northern Lights for 3 out of our 7 nights, which was a good score as not everyone always gets to see it. If it is really important for you to see the Northern Lights I would recommend you to stay in the region for at least 4 nights and be mindful of the season. You can only see the Northern Lights from September to April, it needs to be dark at night and there needs to be sun activity during the day. I did research and concluded that February would be a good period to go and we were lucky enough to see it.

Husky ride: Another popular activity is doing a husky ride. A must do when you are in Lapland! We met the dogs at the Husky Farm, where they were barking super load and behaving like extreme alpha males 😉 They get really fired up before taking you out with the sleigh. You form a couple for the ride and actually need to learn some commands/be active, which is a lot of fun and keeps you warm, but also felt as a responsibility. The landscapes that you pass on your way are breathtaking and in combination with the dogs made this a perfect activity. The ride itself takes about 2 hours, which is long enough, because the wind can make you really cold.

Snow scooters: We got to ride the snow scooters for two days, this was also super exciting. I must admit that I found it quite hard to control the scooter and thought it was pretty suspenseful riding it on full speed on the frozen lakes. I even fell over with the scooter once, luckily I did not seriously hurt the scooter or myself. We also visited the Russian border and a little church in Nellim and we made some stops along the way to have lunch in a little cabin and go ice-fishing. Having lunch was part of the fun, as the guide will make you something like reindeer soup which is heated by  the fire, which was super cozy.

Having tea in a hut

Reindeer visit: We got to cuddle with the reindeers a little, while visiting the reindeer farm. When you would feed the reindeers, they got super close. The reindeers were really photogenic as well 😊

Cross country skiing and snowshoeing: We did cross country skiing and snowshoeing several times during our stay. You will be taught the basics and after that you can go skiing yourself in the case that there are skis available. We expected these activities to be kind of boring, but really enjoyed ourselves during these days out. It is the perfect way to enjoy the beautiful landscapes, while being active and staying warm.

Family pic!
Trying to do a dance in the uncomfortable snow shoes

Walkimng and sleighing: You will have plenty of opportunity to take walks and go sleighing, which was really relaxing (I must be getting old). We also had a lot of fun taking pictures in the snow and practicing with our camera.

Alternative group picture, can you spot us?

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