Tag Archive for: polar night

Christmas in Finnish Lapland

After 3 months of being on student exchange, the time had come for me to embark on a long-awaited Christmas adventure to snowy Finnish Lapland. This experience is literally the polar opposite of what it’s like in my home country, sunny Australia. I was especially looking forward to the untouched nature and of course the […]

The polar night is not pitch black, it’s magically blue! See what Kaamos actually looks like

While walking my son to school yesterday morning we noticed a peculiar phenomenon – the Sun was rising! Living in Finland teaches us from the birth that winters are long. Not because of the cold and snow but because of the long darkness. Kaamos is a Finnish word for polar night. It’s a beautiful word […]

Greetings from Santa’s homeland – this is what winter in Lapland actually looks like!

Greetings from Santa’s homeland! See what winter in Lapland actually looks like. These 12 photos were taken in different parts of Lapland and were specially selected for you. Merry Christmas, everybody! Read also 5 + 1 things that Nature can teach us about spending Christmas Christmas in Finnish Lapland Finding Santa’s Childhood Home

How does it feel when the temperature is below -30C?

There is only one way to describe it: it feels cold, at first, but then after you’re getting warmer you realize it becomes the thing you’ve been missing your whole life. After ten hour drive we finally reach our destination at the edge of the Pallas-Yllästunturi national park. The latter hours of driving were battling […]

Exploring the harsh beauty of Kaldoaivi

This time we took Ulla, our alaskan malamute puppy to Kaldoaivi. Kaldoaivi is the largest wilderness area in Finland. It is not only the largest, but it is one of the northernmost wilderness areas as well. During the winter the northernmost parts of Finland fall under the complete polar night, meaning that the Sun won’t […]

Ylläs is heaven for snowshoeing

Hiking up fells with snowshoes is fun and good workout. Ylläs has around 50 km of marked snowshoeing routes to keep everybody happy and fit. You don’t need prior experience, just good spirit and a camera to capture the breathtaking nature around you. My first encounter with snowshoes was sweaty but left me infatuated. Marking […]

Pink skies and freezing cold: this is what’s going on in Lapland right now

The temperature dropped in a matter of days. First, it was -5 degrees Celsius (23°F), then -12°C (10.4°F), and then -18°C (-0.4°F). Although it has hardly snowed so far, we can say that winter has taken over the vast commune of Kittilä in western Lapland. The river Ounasjoki froze overnight. Everything froze. Now you can […]

Planning on visiting Finland? Here’s what you can expect!

When travelling around the world and talking to people about Finland, they have heard about polar bears and northern lights. Well, we do have northern lights but no polar bears. None. Except a few in zoos. Those white bears live on the ice pack of the Arctic Ocean, but in Finland we have the Baltic […]