Trip up north Finland, to Lapland, beyond the Arctic Circle boundary. After a 2-hours cruise from the Estonia capital Tallinn to the Finnish capital Helsinki, and after 7 hours of bus from Helsinki to Rovaniemi, here we are! Welcome to remote Finland, Santa Claus birth place! Good holidays I took during my university exchange in Tallinn, in the middle of the Scandinavian winter.
Chateau de glace
Beyond the Arctic circle
See you later Tallinn! We leave Estonia, next stop Helsinki, 2-hours boat from there. A huge ferry boat you can use to go anywhere in the Baltic sea, from Tallinn to Stockholm, from Helsinki to Riga! On top of that, everything is duty free in the boat, alcohol is particularly interesting…
Then we don’t stay too long in Helsinki to go straight to the north lands, Lapland! First stop over there is the ice castle, very impressive! After a few hours of bus in the middle of the Finnish woods, we finally arrive to this big ice castle which is also a hotel for people looking for a exotic stay! Why not having an icy wedding night there? Typical 🙂
Snow and woods
Ice castle, Santa Claus house, polar animals zoo and husky races, sledging fun and much more! The biggest city, Rovaniemi is quite interesting and funny even if it is also quite strict…but we were also surprised to discover a cosmopolitan town, as we noticed it when we went out to nightclubs. People go there for holidays and many students are also enjoying their studies to do a quick stop in Lapland and discover a unique way of living. Unfortunately, we were there in March but we didn’t see any aurora borealis, so if you go them, open big your eyes and be prepared!
We visit Santa Claus house! Many touristic, it is mostly for children of course, but it is good for the Rovaniemi capital in some way!
Various activities
Then we take the bus again, to the polar animals zoo, where we also take the opportunity to go on husky race and jetski. Quite fun and a good way to discover amazing pristine landscapes.
As a conclusion, go and discover Finnish Lapland, even if according to me the region around Rovaniemi is very touristic..but as always it is also possible to go somewhere else, provided you don’t get lost in the woods or anywhere else!