A Breathtaking Trail in Lapland Where Snowshoes Aren’t Needed – The Aurora Trail in Saariselkä

The Aurora Trail is a just over two-kilometer loop through the nature of Lapland. The trail starts from the new, impressive gateway of Urho Kekkonen National Park in the village of Saariselkä, which is also accessible by bus from the directions of Rovaniemi and Ivalo. The wide path runs along the edge of a fell gorge and stops by the Aurora hut, which has several fireplaces in its yard.

Starting point on a map

My mother, grandmother, and I decided to enjoy the Aurora Trail in Saariselkä at the very beginning of the polar night. A gently dim twilight accompanied our walk on this mini-hike in Urho Kekkonen National Park, which, despite its short length, offered us a lot.

Starting the trip to the Aurora Trail was convenient from the new gateway of Urho Kekkonen National Park at the edge of the Saariselkä village center. At the gateway, there was an abundance of winter joys as tourist families relished in sledding. The shouts of joy and bursts of snow accompanied us along the path, over the ski track, and down to the valley of the stream, and before we knew it, we were already in the national park!

The Aurora Trail is a two-kilometer long, easy-to-walk local trail right next to Saariselkä. The path is wide and as mentioned, easy to walk, but this relatively short route has quite a few ups and downs. It is accessible with strollers, but not with wheelchairs. In our group, my grandmother had equipped herself with walking poles, which were of great joy! On the bridge at the bottom of the stream valley, the ends of the walking poles occasionally got stuck in the bridge’s grating, but we managed that too.

About halfway along the route is the Aurora Hut. The modern-ish structure has two sides; one is open for continuous day hut use, and the other serves as a reservation space. A large glass wall provides an unobstructed view of Urho Kekkonen National Park and protects from wind and snowstorms. The hut has a large terrace with great views over the small canyon in front. Inside, there is a wood stove fireplace that creates a cozy atmosphere and a bit of warmth, which on our visit was rather reluctant to burn. Whether it was a cold chimney or something else, it seemed to only get enough oxygen when the stove door was slightly ajar. There were plenty of excellent firewood in the adjacent woodshed.

Next to the woodshed, there is also a dry toilet, and in the yard of the hut, under the shade of pine trees, there are no less than three open fireplaces! So, the break facilities are in excellent condition. Apart from us, only a few random tourists were marveling at the winter wrapped in polar night – we saw more red squirrels, Siberian jays, and Siberian tits, all of which were hopping and fluttering around the hut in abundance.

The Aurora Trail meanders through the nearby forests of Saariselkä, and yet it feels like you’ve delved surprisingly deep into the forest. The snow-covered landscape was completely silent a few dips away, and not a sound from the village’s winter festivities could be heard when we specifically stopped to enjoy the silence. The northern forest gradually took on wintry, Moomin-like shapes, and only the tracks left by animals in the snow told of the presence of the local inhabitants.

According to the instructions, it is advisable to allocate about an hour to walk the route. It took us quite a bit more since we stopped to make a fire, feed the Siberian jays, and simply enjoy the scenery. And we didn’t even have snacks with us!

I consider it very valuable that in addition to the long wilderness trails, there are also these lighter paths available, so that even more people have the opportunity to enjoy the wonders of nature.