Finland wilderness vacations

The Peter Parker Principle runs as follows: with great power comes great responsibility. Which could be a neat summary of Finland’s Everyman’s Rights, the equivalent of Scotland’s Right to Roam. Anyone can walk, snowshoe and forage almost everywhere (though fires are prohibited). But you have an obligation to landowners and other people – to treat wild places with respect.

“This did become a bit of a problem during Covid,” says Riitta Kiukas, founder of our Finland vacations partner, Skafur Tours. “We saw inexperienced people going into the wilderness alone and not behaving responsibly, leaving waste behind for example.” Anyone offering nature-based tourism on state-owned land in Finland must cooperate with Metsähallitus, the enterprise that manages their usage and conservation, to ensure their practices are sustainable.

Organised activity tours in Finnish Lapland such as Riitta’s are the best way to explore Finland’s majestic wilderness. They follow the rules to protect these precious landscapes, but they also give you a deeper connection to them through cultural and nature-based experiences. 

Finland has 12 wilderness areas, spanning 15,000km², all of them found in northern Lapland and maintained by Metsähallitus. These are strongholds of indigenous Sami culture, and only their traditional means of livelihood, such as hunting, fishing and reindeer husbandry, can be practised here. But with cities offering more attractive employment prospects and an ‘easier’ lifestyle, many Sami communities are dwindling. Responsible tourism in Finnish Lapland that puts an emphasis on showing travelers authentic Sami culture and supporting their lifestyle can encourage younger generations to stay.

In Finnish Lapland, winter vacations in wilderness areas tend to be all about the activities, both physical and cultural, with the occasional wildlife sighting in the forest a happy by-product. You’ll be out and about every day, whether it’s snowshoeing, fishing through holes drilled in frozen lakes, or husky sledding. Evenings are sometimes spent in cabins deep in remote areas, watching the skies for the Northern Lights. Finnish Lapland is a perennial favourite for family wilderness vacations, especially in winter. The wilderness is easily accessible although, as Riitta points out, it’s important to know that transfers from the airport can take up to a few hours.

A typical wilderness vacation in Finnish Lapland might see you arriving into Inari, the Sami cultural heartland, then traveling out to the Arctic Hills on the outskirts of Urho Kekkonen National Park. From there, you have everything right on your lodge’s doorstep: cross country skiing, snowshoeing, snowmobiling, reindeer farm visits, husky sledding and even ice swimming (many lodges also have a sauna, thankfully).

You can explore Finland wilderness areas all year round. Winter wilderness vacations in Finnish Lapland, which run between December and April, are popular with those seeking an antidote to saccharine Santa tours in Rovaniemi. And, of course, if you’re out in the middle of nowhere you stand an excellent chance of seeing the Northern Lights (aurora borealis) during your trip. Finland in winter can be astonishingly beautiful, with pristine forests draped in blankets of snow.

The summer months between May and September are ideal for wildlife watching in the Wild Taiga region, with bears mating and wolves at their most active. These are the days of midnight sun, with virtually round-the-clock daytime in northernmost Lapland.

“I think autumn, from late August through September, is a good time to visit Finnish wilderness areas,” says Riitta Kiukas. “There are lots of routes around Finland where you can enjoy hiking, canoeing, mountain biking and fat biking in this season. And I think the Northern Lights are even more beautiful at this time of year, when you can see them reflected in the lakes before they freeze over.”