Raise both hands if your childhood dream was to spend a white Christmas at Santa Claus’ cottage and to feel snowflakes melting at the tip of your tongue! Lucky me, I got to do just that! Santa Claus lives in Lapland which is located at the northernmost region bordering Sweden, Norway, Russia and the Baltic Sea. Covered in thick white snow throughout the year, Lapland is ephemeral! As daylight only lasts 4 hours in December, we tried to make the most of our daytime there.
Travelling 18 hours on a tour bus to Lapland from Helsinki might be one of those experiences that would stick with me for life. Prior to the bus trip, we stayed overnight at the Amsterdam Airport due to miss flight. Without much sleep and shower, we took a 2 hours flight early in the morning to Finland, trudged a long distance with our heavy backpacks to the bus interchange, boarded the bus and slept the whole journey with occasional toilet trips when the bus driver stopped to rest. We definitely stank but nobody seemed to care as we were too used to the smell.
However, the beautiful sight that unfolded before us at Saariselkä made all the mishaps worth it.
Before returning to our log cabin, we were brought to the Ranua Wildlife Park. Looking at the polar bears enjoying their natural habitat without green moss growing on them was indeed a great feeling! 🙂
Happy was an understatement to describe how we felt the first time stepping on white blanketed ground! Seeing snow and feeling snowflakes dissolving in our hair are some of the things that many people living in tropical countries dream of. We were in awed by the beauty of what greeted us and like babies who had just opened their eyes to the world, ran around crying…for joy!
When day quickly made way for the night, we set off to a village that everyone wanted to go – Santa Claus Village! It was pretty magical to come to this place even though deep down we all knew that Santa Claus was a mythical figure made up to discipline naughty children.
Just to answer your question, no, we did not sit on Santa’s lap! Instead we sat by his side, took a picture with him and touched his beard. Contrary to what we have in mind, Santa Claus today focuses his time on greeting guests and taking pictures with them to earn his keep. So every photograph the elf took for you cost quite a bit! That’s why you don’t see me posting our 60 seconds with Santa because we did not buy it.
At the backyard of Santa’s cottage, there were his legendary reindeers waiting to pull his sleigh. So much for animal activist groups advocating reindeer protection in Finland, they are still being used to make an income.
Fascinated by their spectacular horns, we just had to take picture with them regardless of how fearful we were!
After our very fruitful day, we went back to our cabin for some rest before setting off to the Inari village, the heart of the Sámi homeland. The Sámi is a group of indigenous people living in Lapland doing traditional trades such as reindeer management, hunting and handicrafts. Visiting Inari village exposed us to not only their culture but also their way of life in the modern world.
The next morning, we woke up early to go skiing. I had a difficult time getting a grip of my ski and fell multiple times along the way. After embarrassing myself a few times, I kind of get an idea of how to move forward and not fall. The trick is to lean forward so that your legs will be placed directly under your torso. Leaning too much forward or backward will not do you much favour as the ski will work against you. Though I sort of know how it works, that would probably be my first and last time attempting to ski. Nevertheless, it was a brave venture and I had given myself a tiny pat on my back for that!
There is always dessert after the main course. Following our very adventurous skiing attempt, we went snow walking into the forest. It was an amazing opportunity as we got to explore the places inaccessible on foot!
Since it was Christmas Eve, we decided to celebrate it with a sumptuous feast. Staying with us in the same cabin were people from Belgium and Spain who quickly became our friends after the first night of drinking. Alcohol always does the trick! What made the whole experience unforgettable was that all of us managed to whip up something unique to our countries and everyone was very spontaneous in trying the dishes.
Dinner was quickly followed by another karaoke and drinking session before we set out to hunt for the Northern Lights (that’s one of our aims in Saariselkä). Unfortunately, for the 5 nights, we did not manage to catch it as the sky was too cloudy. It was quite a disappointment.
The next day, we went to the Arctic ocean situated at a tiny fishing village called Bugøynes across the border in Norway for a dip in subzero temperature. The drive there took around 4 hours along a snow covered narrow road.
Swimming during winter had never crossed my mind before the trip. Everyone dreaded taking off their clothes as we felt really cold even with layer of clothing on us! It was the thought of sauna that made the swimming more bearable.
We could stay inside the sauna for as long as we wanted to keep warm before jumping into the ocean. The maximum time each person spent in the freezing water was probably only 1 minute.
Since the sun does not rise (Polar Night) during winter (November – January) in places that are near the Arctic Circle, the roads are very difficult to navigate without street lights. On our way back, as the beam from the bus was the only source that lit up the road, the driver missed a crossing reindeer and hit it by accident. Reindeers in Lapland are semi-domesticated as each deer is owned by a herder. In situation where a reindeer is being hit, the owner will be informed and the driver has to account for his action as all reindeer are rounded up for earmarking and counting heads twice a year. Interestingly, reindeers management is still a major source of income in Lapland. As such, there is really no way to run from your responsibility if you killed or injured a reindeer. Its owner will hunt you down and make sure you pay for it.
Winter set the stage for a lot of activities in Finland including one of the Finnish favourites – sledding down the snowy slopes! We tried that on our last day of stay and despite the cold, we had a lot of fun.
Anyone with sled (liukuri) can join in the fun as the activity is free. For us, we went to a shop nearby to rent a few plastic sleds before proceeding to the slopes. If you are lucky, some people may abandon their sleds at the foot of the hill and you can just use them.
There are two different types of sleds – the ahkio and liukuri. Based on experience, using the ahkio will be better if you are bigger and taller as it can hold more weight and will not break easily when you slide down the slope.
Spending Christmas in Saariselkä was a magical experience. The intriguing arctic animals, the fascinating landscape and the amiable locals had me longing to go back. Somehow, I had left a little part of myself there…
*Travelling to Saariselkä is a pretty expensive and tedious affair if you don’t join a tour group. Since I was an exchange student in Maastricht, I had gotten a good package deal that cost around 335 Euro for 6 days 5 nights.
If you are a student on budget:
https://www.timetravels.fi/tours-to-lapland.html
If you are a working adult and don’t mind spending a bit to experience wonder:
https://lapland.nordicvisitor.com/travel-deals/christmas-tour-packages/#all-christmas-tours.