Finnish Lapland, from Rovaniemi to Lake Inari
Forests, lakes and treeless hills, reindeer on the road and Sámi country around Lake Inari. A one-week loop from Rovaniemi, under the midnight sun or in the snow.
Fells, lakes and forests of the Far North
The loop starts from Rovaniemi, on the Arctic Circle, and climbs north to Lake Inari, more than 300 kilometres away. It crosses pine and birch forests, bogs and lakes. Now and then, a fell, a rounded hill with a treeless top, rises above the forest. Villages are few. The reindeer, for their part, cross the road without warning.
You walk through the Isokuru gorge at Pyhä and look for amethysts at Luosto. Above Saariselkä, a road climbs to the top of Kaunispää, with views over the fells of Urho Kekkonen National Park. Further west, you walk the waymarked trails of Pallas.
The season changes the whole trip. Around the summer solstice, the midnight sun lets you drive at 11 pm in full daylight. In mid-September, the ruska turns the tundra red and yellow. In December, around Inari, the sun does not rise for several weeks, and you watch for the northern lights from the hilltops.
Inari, in Sámi country
Inari is the heart of Sámi Finland. The village lies on the shore of Lake Inari, the third-largest lake in the country. The lake has more than 3,000 islands and stays frozen from November to early June. About ten kilometres away by boat, the island of Ukonsaari is a rock some thirty metres high. It was a sacred place: the Inari Sámi left reindeer bones and antlers there as offerings to Äijih, their god of thunder. In summer, cruises leave for the island from the shore by the Siida museum.
Siida is the national museum of the Finnish Sámi and the nature centre of northern Lapland. Close by, the wooden Sajos building, opened in 2012, houses the Sámi Parliament. Three Sámi languages are spoken in Finland. Inari Sámi, the language of the lakeshore, was revived by immersion nurseries opened in 1997.
At the entrance to Lemmenjoki National Park, you can visit the farm of Kaapin Jouni, a reindeer herder who settled there in 1905. He is said to have owned more than 3,000 reindeer. He sang joik, the traditional Sámi song, on the radio.
About a hundred gold prospectors still work there every summer, with shovels and gold pans.
The Lapland gold rush
In 1868, an expedition discovered gold in the Ivalo river, and the rush began two years later. Sámi also came across gold at Tankavaara in 1934, beside Route 4, where you can visit the Gold Museum today.
The Lemmenjoki yielded gold in its turn in 1945. The river gave its name to Finland’s largest national park, created in 1956. Machines have been banned there since 2020. About a hundred gold prospectors still work there every summer, with shovels and gold pans. In summer, a boat goes up the river from Njurgulahti to their cabins.
Pielpajärvi Church
A log church completed in 1760, alone on a lakeshore, on the site of an old Inari winter village. No road leads to it: allow half a day there and back along the trail, on skis or snowshoes in winter.
Practical notes
- When to go
- June–July for the midnight sun, mid-September for the ruska, December to March for snow and the northern lights. The boats only run in summer.
- Getting there
- Direct flights and night trains from Helsinki to Rovaniemi; some trains carry cars.
- Access
- Everything is tarmac, except about sixty kilometres of gravel on Route 955, between Pokka and Köngäs. The tarmac detour goes via Sodankylä.
- Sleeping in a van
- Campsites in Rovaniemi, in Inari and near the ski resorts. In the national parks, you may only sleep at designated sites.
- Worth knowing
- Winter tyres are compulsory from November to March when road conditions require them, and headlights must be on at all times. Fill up in Inari before Route 955.
- Allow
- A week for the loop of about 1,000 km, plus half a day for Ranua Wildlife Park.
What not to miss
- 1ArktikumIn Rovaniemi, a 172-metre glass tunnel and two museums about the Arctic.
- 2The Isokuru gorgeAt Pyhä, a gorge 220 metres deep between quartzite fells.
- 3The Old Church of SodankyläA wooden church completed in 1689, one of the oldest in Finland.
- 4TaivaskeroThe highest peak of Pallas (809 metres), where the 1952 Olympic flame was lit by the midnight sun.
- 5PakasaivoA lake 60 metres deep which, according to Sámi beliefs, opened onto the world of the dead.
- 6Santa Claus VillageOn the Arctic Circle, with its post office, 2 kilometres from the airport.
Finnish Lapland in pictures
Santa Claus Village on the Arctic Circle, under snow.
Food in Lapland
Reindeer is the meat of Lapland, served in thin sautéed strips with mashed potato and lingonberries. Lake Inari provides whitefish and Arctic char, often smoked.
For dessert, there is leipäjuusto, a grilled cheese that squeaks between your teeth, with cloudberry jam. In a kota, the Sámi hut, you drink coffee boiled over the fire.
Loop from Rovaniemi
+18stops- 1Arktikum · Jätkänkynttilä · Ounasvaara
- 2Pyhätunturi · Luosto · Sodankylän vanha kirkko
- 3Kultamuseo · Kiilopää · Kaunispää · Saariselkä
Free, no account needed — start from its places and make it yours.
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