WALKING IN A WINTER WONDERLAND

Words & photography by Mari Aho

As summer draws to an end, Santa’s elves start gearing up for the busiest season of the year. The Christmas fairy tale comes alive in the Finnish town of Rovaniemi, the gateway to the more rural parts of the unspoilt landscapes of Lapland. With some of the world’s most spectacular winter landscapes, undisturbed wilderness, and the spectacular show of northern lights that appears between December and March, Rovaniemi has all the magic of a perfect winter holiday.

Twinkling lights among blankets of snow, reindeer and huskies pulling sleighs, and a real-live Santa Claus surrounded by his little helpers make the perfect backdrop to a Christmas Village, known among the Finns as home to Santa Claus. Though Rovaniemi may seem to hibernate for most of the year, it comes alive at the darkest time of the year. The Christmas Village is where you can meet the King of Christmas himself – bookings are made online, and he’s available any day of the year.

To keep in the spirit of Christmas, why not catch a reindeer ride or husky sleigh and enjoy the sights, or get up close and personal with the animals, feeding and petting them. If you’ve ever wondered where your childhood letters to Santa end up, this is it. The post office of Rovaniemi displays letters from children from all over the world. See if you can find your own or send a postcard with a special Arctic Circle post mark. While there are bigger and glitzier Christmas parks around the world, the one at Rovaniemi has a little bit more of a rustic feel and can claim the prize for authenticity.

The city of Rovaniemi acts as a gateway to the larger, more rural region of Lapland, which spans across the northern parts of Fennoscandia, made up of Norway, Sweden, Finland and parts of Russia. This large city (over 8000 square kilometres) with a small population (a little over 60,000 people) is the place to stay if you want to wander the vast wilderness of the north. The abundance of space is characteristic of Lapland, so much so that you can roam around for days without encountering another soul. Lapland’s forests and fells remain largely untouched, and can be described as the last of the world’s true wilderness.

The Arctic Circle marks the point where the polar night occurs. In Rovaniemi, there is one day a year when the sun does not rise above the horizon, though there are still a couple of hours of twilight. The further north you travel from the city, the longer and darker the polar night, with some regions experiencing darkness for several months at a time. Though this may seem like a dreary prospect, but it does draw in the tourists, for while there is darkness, there is also the possibility of seeing a different kind of light. The phenomenon of aurora borealis attracts tourists from all over the world, but even though this is normally visible most nights of the year – longer nights give you a longer window – you can go for a stretch as long as two weeks without seeing a glimmer of light, even when the skies are clear.

Travel a few hundred kilometres north of Rovaniemi, and you’ll come to the lively ski resort of Levi, a tourist destination both for Finns and international tourists. Although the beauty of the slopes in Levi are not the dizzyingly high mountain resorts of the rest of Europe, they are still some of the most picturesque in the world. Lapland’s hills are not very high, but they are extremely cold, with temperatures reaching -30°C in January. The cold temperatures and lack of strong winds allows snow to accumulate in the trees, giving them the appearance of abstract sculptures in a fantasy world. With 17 floodlit pistes, skiers can make the most of the day right into the evening. Close to the ski resorts on the highest of the hills are a number of smaller hills that are best conquered on snowmobile or, for the more adventurous, in snowshoes. Though you can’t expect to reach the heights of other European ski resorts, the views from the top of these hills are stunning, with untouched frozen landscapes stretching as far as the eye can see.

Lapland has a magic to it that leaves people who visit with an urge to return, or reminisce fondly for the rest of their lives. Lapinhulluus, an inexplicable obsession with Lapland, has been described in Finnish literature throughout centuries. It’s the yearning to experience Lapland’s peace and beauty one more time. For the ultimate winter experience, pack your coat and head to the winter wonderland between December and March.

 @mari_ahoy