Best time to visit Wild Taiga in Finland

Wild Taiga is hiking terrain, particularly through its recently designated Hossa National Park. Hike along the shores of Lake Somerjärvi or the more extensive Itäraja Summer Hiking Route which starts in Hossa and links up with the UKK National Trail that continues to Kuhmo. You can even go hiking with huskies, keeping them busy and fit between winter sledding seasons.

In winter, don cross country skis or snow shoes, especially during February and March, when the trails are at their best. For full on wilderness you can travel from one wilderness hut to another, with your bags transported for you, as you ski through untouched heathland, snow shoe across frozen wetlands and through blanketed ancient forests of Hossa or Riisitunturi National Parks. And of course, you will always be in with a chance of catching the Northern Lights too. Read an interview with one of our travelers, Jay Sivell, on a snow shoeing vacation in the Wild Taiga.

Wild Taiga’s ancient boreal forests are habitat for brown bear, and are also well set up to host wildlife watching vacations, accommodating you in back to nature overnight hides with local naturalist guides. Because you definitely want to be in a warm, safe and hidden spot when the bears come out to feed, mate or just generally mark their taiga territory. Read more about the experience of bear watching from Responsible Travel’s founder, Justin Francis.

Assume it’s just for earthy hikers and birdwatchers. Wild Taiga is wonderful for family vacations where you want to detox from all things digital and just let your little ones find the feral within. Hossa National Park is all about staying in log cabins, canoeing across glassy lakes, snow shoeing and igloo building. And hiking or riding with huskies is one of the best ways to travel, too.

Ignore the fact that the Wild Taiga is seriously remote. You need to respect nature. In winter, you need snow tyres, preferably with studs. Engine heaters are the norm and be wary of black ice. But vacation companies are switched on to any dangers. Be wary of wildlife too, as collisions with deer are common and moose can do serious damage. So take it easy out there, and learn to be bear aware.

Forget to pack insect repellent. And a hardcore one, too. Mosquitoes in late June-July are vicious, so keep your body well covered, bringing a net for nighttime wanderings if possible. Be aware that some bear hides do not allow the use of mosquito repellent, or perfume, or any sorts of noise. Even noisy cameras.

Although unlikely if you are committed to responsible tourism, if by any chance you are tempted to buy Finnish fur as a souvenir, beware that it might be from one of Finland’s fur farms, which do not have good reputations for animal welfare practices.

“The entire week was an amazing experience, but I particularly liked the overnight stay in remote huts without electricity etc. Furthermore, seeing the Northern Lights was like a dream coming true. Even though the walks are not really very long and you may expect a more challenging week, you will be tired in the evening. So the amount of walks seems pretty right to me. Furthermore, do not expect sunshine all the time. We were very happy to have a day of sunlight in the one week vacations. But it may as well be that it is cloudy weather all the time. However, even if the forecasts are very bad, you still may suddenly have a sunny morning or star night "coming out of nothing", so never give up hope!” – Dani Rotzetter on a snowshoeing vacation

“Fantastic vacation for active families with young kids. The weather was excellent for us in early August, low 20's °C every day, hardly any rain but pack for all weathers just in case. Take plenty of insect repellent, there are millions of mosquitoes about in the summer months in the pine forests of northern Finland.” - Richard Mayneford on a self drive family vacation

“There were twelve of us, and most of them were older than me, and I am 57! And they were shit hot fit, all of them! I tell you what, hanging out with retired people is very bad for morale when you are self employed. I want to retire now... they are having so much fun out there! There was one 50-year-old, and the oldest was 70, and he was very fit….I expected it to be hard to make friends as a solo traveler. I was a bit concerned about that, as I normally travel with my husband. But it was fine, lovely in fact.”– Jay Sivell. Read our interview with Jay on her snow shoeing vacation

“Aki and Sovi have an extensive wardrobe of cold weather gear so apart from thermals and similar there is really no need to bring (or buy) lots of winter gear. For us, a 3-4 hours sledding trip each day was enough; if you want to have a tough experience than other operators can offer 24 hour a day wilderness, cutting holes in the ice for water and (probably) being pretty cold at night!” – Matthew Peek on a tailor made husky safari