Finnish Lapland travel guide

There is a good reason why we can’t pin down where Lapland actually is, and it has nothing to do with Santa Claus. It’s because these are homelands of the semi nomadic Sámi people for whom borders have long been as fluid as the melting snow. This region, stretching across Northern Finland, Sweden and Norway, is called Sápmi in the Sámi language, translated as Lapland, although the term Lapp or Lappish is considered derogatory these days. In Finnish Lapland the Sámi languages became official in 1991 with three main ones, Northern, Skolt and Inari. There are 9.300 Sámi people in Finnish Lapland and their culture, lifestyles and spiritual connection with wilderness is what life is all about here. So don’t thank Santa for vast forests, remote lakes and traditional cabins with transparent roofs that look up to the Aurora. Thank the Sámi who have been the real stewards for generations. The Sámi word for ‘thank you,’ by the way, is giitu (pronounced ‘kiihtu’).

Thankfully much of Finnish Lapland's wilderness has been protected. You can zip through the boreal beauty of Pallas-Yllästunturi National Park on a husky safari, or see the Northern Lights from the remote dark skies of Urho-Kekkonen National Park where there are superb snow shoeing and cross country trails, such as the circular 40km Nuortti Hiking Trail. Lemmenjoki National Park has immense Sámi heritage and is a wonderful spot to go on reindeer safaris, with reindeer herding an important Sámi tradition. This is a region that feels as if it goes on forever. And when the skies light up, you never want it to end.