Lapland Summer Road Trip
I recently (August 2020) went road tripping through Finland, more precisely in Lapland. I have been in Lapland multiple times, but only during winter. Now it was time to see the beauty of Lapland in summer. And boy let me tell you it was beautiful indeed! I was speechless so many freaking times! What was so special about it? Well, let me tell you and show you the beauty of Lapland. This is my Camping Story in Finland!
”Now I’m home and I’m so happy I went on this road trip! And I think you should head to Lapland too!”
Helsinki to Lapland
I live near Helsinki, so the drive to Lapland was LONG! But I like driving very much so it wasn’t a problem. My friend, whom I traveled with, drove fifty/fifty so we didn’t get too tired. Anyway, our trip to Lapland started at 5:30 in the morning, on Monday 17.8.2020. We began our drive towards Oulanka National Park in Kuusamo. So technically Oulanka isn’t in Lapland, or well only the most northern part of the national park but let’ s pretend otherwise. It was a 10-hour drive from home to Oulanka. We had one stop on our way they (if you don’t count toilet stops and our lunch break). Where did we stop? We stopped to see The Silent People (in Finnish: Hiljainen Kansa).
The Silent People, Suomussalmi
Okay, again, The Silent People isn’t in Lapland, but it is a sight worth seeing. What are The Silent People? They are scarecrows, made by a Finnish artist named Reijo Kela in 1988. The scarecrows are dressed in all kinds of clothing, and their clothing changes with the seasons. There are hundreds if not a thousand of them, standing in a field next to the highway. Why? We don’t really know.
After seeing The Silent People it was time to continue driving toward Oulanka National Park. It was a 1h50 minute drive, which felt so short after over 8 hours of driving!
Oulanka National Park
We were tired after waking up early and driving 10 hours, so we didn’t feel like hiking and finding a place for our tent that day, so we drove straight to Oulanka Camping. Best choice ever! The campsite was amazing! They had places for tents, caravans/campervans, they rented out cabins, kitchens for the campers, toilets (they were a little nasty but what can you expect), sauna, shower, and the list goes on! In short, if you plan on visiting Oulanka, stay here!
The following day we went on a hike in the national park. We hiked one of the most famous hiking routes in Finland, Pieni Karhunkierros. It is a 12 km hike thought the most beautiful sights in the park (at least in the southern national park). The hike had multiple laavu (lean-to shelters with a campfire), three suspension bridges, multiple flights of stairs (yes my legs hurt after the hike), and as said beautiful views!! It took us about 4 hours to hike the route which was to our understanding fast (it takes between 4-9 hour depending on if you stop to grill, as we did, or if you walk the whole hike in one go). Here are some pictures from the hike!
After hiking it was time to continue our road trip in Lapland, Finland. It was time to head more north. And so, we drove to Ivalo, where we stayed the night.
Ivalo and Lake Inari Kayaking
We stayed at Ivalo River Camping,. which I do not recommend for camping (with tents). If you rent one of their cabins or stay in a campervan it’s okay. But all that said, we had did have a great evening. After our 12km hike we were tired and hungry. We made pancakes in our tent, at 10:30 pm, in the rain. I had never had as tasty pancakes before! It’s so different eating out when you are camping than if you ate at home.
The next morning, we woke up somewhat rested and headed towards Inari. The distance between the cities isn’t huge. It took us about 30 min to get there. Why did we stop? Well, Lake Inari is one of the biggest lakes in Finland, so we thought it was worth exploring. We found another campsite (Uruniemi Camping) who rented kayaks, and in an hour after leaving Ivalo River Camping we sat in our kayaks and started our little adventure on Lake Inari. We spent over 3 hours kayaking, and my poor body was hurting when we got back. Not only did I mess up landing my drone which ended up slicing my finger, but my upper body muscles were so sore!
After kayaking we headed toward Norway. Yes, we drove to Norway. We went to Nordkapp and back, but that is a different story, so we can skip a few days to when we arrived back in Finland!
Kilpisjärvi to Pallas-Yllästunturi National Park
Driving around Lapland is just so relaxing and the views are so beautiful. Flatlands, big forests, long straight roads (you can literally see kilometers ahead!), reindeer on the side of the road. Just love it! Our drive from Kilpisjärvi, where we crossed the Norway-Finland border, to Pallas-Yllästunturi National Park, took us about three hours and we drove through semi-high mountains (Finlands highest peak is located in Kilpisjärvi), bog after bog, forest after forest. Sadly, it was raining so our views were somewhat limited, as the visibility was low.
Arriving to Pallas-Yllästunturi National Park
The national park is big and finding a place to stay, well it isn’t exactly hard, but we had our preferences on where we would like to stay. So, for us, it was hard to decide where to stay.
Anyway, we did find an AMAZING place to stay at, for free I might add. As the park is big and we didn’t feel like hiking through it all to find a good place (with a view, because views are important xD). So while my friend was driving I went Google Maps hunting, as we called it. This means I search through Google Maps small roads and then looked at the 360˚ view and the at photos posted by others. AND THEN, I found it! When I zoomed in at Lake Pallas I saw this little “museum” symbol and was like “hmm this looks interesting”. Well, it ended up being a sight to see in the Pallas-Yllästunturi National Park. So I started looking at the photos of the place and found out that someone else had put up a tent there, and just like that we found our place.
Punainenhiekkaranta (The Red Sandy beach)
It was only about half a kilometer hike to the beach from the parking (you park just at the side of the road). And the beach was beautiful! At the red(ish) sand beach was a campfire/grill and a little cabin that you could use for free. The cabin was an Autiotupa (eng. wilderness hut) so you were free to stay there if you wanted, but the cabin was just full of benches and a fireplace, so we stayed in our tent. But we did use the campfire/grill to make our dinner, which was noodles and grilled sausage.
And how could you stay at a beach without going for a swim? The water was kinda cold, but that wasn’t the biggest problem. The biggest problem was that the water never got past your knees! It never got deep enough to swim! And I wasn’t gonna walk hundreds of meters into the lake just for a swim. So, I sat down in the water (not fun).
After our night in Pallas-Yllästunturi National Park, we headed south, towards home.
On our way home, we stopped by the Center of Finland. Yes, the Center of Finland. It was a stone that said “Suomen keskipiste – the Center of Finland”. It’s right next to the highway, so it will add a maximum of 5 min to your trip.
Now I’m home and I’m so happy I went on this road trip! And I think you should head to Lapland too!
⇒ Story & Images By Ronja Talala/ Ronja Goes Abroad ⇒ Follow her on Instagram
