Top 5 Things to do and experience in Utsjoki, Northernmost Finnish Lapland

We often hear the question, what are the best things to do and experience in Utsjoki? Here is our list of Top 5, and please keep reading forward to understand why:

1. Slow lifestyle
2. Wilderness areas and untouched nature
3. Life in an Arctic village
4. The 8 yearly seasons and their splendor 
5. Sámi culture and reindeer herding as normal part of life

We decided to put our thoughts about the best things in Utsjoki in a blog, so you can read what we, as a local reindeer herding family, think are core elements in a holiday in Utsjoki. It was difficult to find only 5, so as you can read in this blog, some things on our list are more umbrella terms, not just singular places or singular activities. But we hope this blog gives you an idea of what are the top experiences in our arctic village! For each topic, we have also put a few tips of activities, places or accommodation, so you know how to include these experiences in your holiday in Utsjoki!

Keep reading and send us email for more information about the area and travel services in Utsjoki!

1.Slow lifestyle

You will be traveling here for your holiday, so one thing in our lifestyle has been very important to many travelers and it is also to us: slowing down. City life and working life can be very hectic, especially in bigger cities, but here in Utsjoki Sámi village, our life rhytm goes with nature.

We don´t work with minute schedules, we don´t have artificial lights everywhere from cars and shops, and we don´t have lots of people everywhere, hurrying from one place to another. How we live, is in a very peaceful and quiet village, surrounded by untouched nature, on nature´s terms.

For most of our guests, their top experience in Utsjoki has been the silence, feeling of not being in a hurry, being able to focus in the moment and feeling relaxed when breathing in the world´s cleanest air in our forests and wilderness areas. This is something you can experience by just spending at least a few nights in Utsjoki in a comfortable accommodation and not being in a hurry to go anywhere, taking relaxing walks in the nature or participating in a guided nature tour.

Tips for cozy accommodation: Lomatärppi, Villa Aitti, Alissande Lodge

Tips for guided experiences: Snowshoeing, Snow Safari, Guided hikes

2. Wilderness areas and pristine nature

More than 90 % of the land area in Utsjoki is part of the Natura 2000 protection sites. Natura 2000 is a network of protected areas covering Europe's most valuable and threatened species and habitats. In Utsjoki, there are Kaldoaivi and Paistunturi wilderness areas and the Kevo strict Nature reserve. As some of the last and largest untouched wilderness areas in Europe, these nature areas are really unique in their landscapes, flora and fauna. On guided tours with local companies, anyone can easily enter these magnificent land areas!

The villages of Nuorgam, Utsjoki and Karigasniemi, are all located in the gorgeous Teno river valley, so even from the villages and road sides you get to witness the beauty of nature. The villages have no high buildings, only have low houses. Village structure fits in the landscape, and wilderness trails start right from the village. In Utsjoki, you you truly understand how it is to live in close contact with nature, and even with a short walk you can enter untouched nature.

Paistunturi wilderness area is where most of our guided experiences take place, and we hope you join our guided tours to this land area that we think as the most beautiful place on earth! In this 1500 square kilometer large wilderness area, stunning sceneries after another are exposed, as the gentle rolling fells are crossed by deep carved river valleys. From the highest fell tops, you get a great view over the entire wilderness area, as far as to the fells in Norway. With a local guide, you also gain a deeper understanding why the wilderness that seems like untouched nature, is actually active and living Sámi cultural landscape of reindeer herding, fishing, foraging and hunting.

Tips for guided activities: Snow safari, Snowshoeing, guided hikes

Tips for places to see: Route 970, Áiligas fells

3. Experiencing an Arctic Village

Our everyday life is actually an interesting experience for many travelers coming from bigger cities. Our village is small, only about 600-700 people, but we have everything we need here. We have a shop, a library, bus station, cafeteria, school, daycare, health care center, a few hotels, a pub, garage, municipality services, bank, swimming hall, post office, ski tracks, skating rink, wilderness trails, rivers for fishing, electric car charging station, gas station, snowmobile trails… And the most spectacular beauty of nature all around us. This is all we need.

Everybody knows each other and neighbors always help out. Here people are genuine and live their normal everyday lives. As Utsjoki is not a tourism center built for entertainment (like many other destinations in Lapland have sadly turned into…), here travelers really get to experience how normal people live in the Arctic.

Utsjoki did not get a road connection and electricity until early 1960´s. In a way, life in Utsjoki almost feels like time has stopped here, as our remote location and protected wilderness areas have prevented many big construction in this region.

This Sámi region was quite isolated until the road connection, and this is why our region has also preserved its Sámi majority in population and not had the western colonialists migrating to the area as much as in more Southern regions of Lapland. Utsjoki is the only municipality in Finland with a Sámi majority in population.

This region has so much interesting history to tell, from the ending of the last ice age 10.000 years ago and the ancient living grounds, to the history of the Sámi population and how they adapted well to the arctic conditions, the establishment of western kingdoms, modern nations and assimilation politics, the new rise in Sámi languages and politics in late 20th century and how all this has affected the local culture and life in the village today.

Tips for guided experiences: Past and present in Utsjoki village, Arctic Ocean & North Varanger, guided snowshoeing tours, guided hikes

Tips for accommodation in the village: Hotel Utsjoki, Camping Lapinkylä
Tips for places to visit: Onnelantörmä and Salmon Trail, Arctic Time Trek, Utsjoki Church and church huts

4. The 8 yearly seasons and their splendor

Finland is known for its four seasons: spring, summer, autumn and winter. However, in Utsjoki, we have 8 seasons: mid-winter, spring-winter, spring, spring-summer, summer, late summer/autumn-summer, autumn, autumn-winter.

All of these seasons differ from each other with temperature, amount and shades of light and what is going on in nature that spesific season. And what goes on in nature, directly affects what local people are doing each season: are they fishing, hunting, foraging berries and mushroom, working with reindeer, or making firewood for the winter.

For most travelers, the best seasons to visit are summer, autumn-summer, mid-winter, spring-winter and spring.

Snow-free seasons

In summer and autumn-summer and autumn, Lapland is known for the midnight sun and autumn colors (ruska). In Utsjoki, the nightless night with midnight sun starts in late May and the sun does not set until late July.

Before Lapland became famous for Santa and Northern lights, the Midnight Sun was actually the thing that attracted people to the North, to see the magical shade of light at night, from the sun shining extremely brightly from a very low angle. The midnight sun also makes many outdoor sports much easier, as there is no need to make any schedules for your hikes, fishing or other water activities, as it never gets dark in summer.

In August, there is still plenty of light hours in the day. In September, the nature starts to prepare for the coming winter, and as evenings get darker, plants recognize that winter is approaching and turn into purple, red, yellow and brown for a few weeks, before they drop their leaves. This season is called the ruska season, which is the most favorite hiking season for many Finnish people. The colors of nature during ruska are so beautiful that if you witness ruska at its best, it will become something you want to come back to every year.

Snowy season

The most popular traveling season to Lapland nowadays is mid-winter, spring-winter and spring, mainly because of the snow, northern lights and Santa, or course.

For us locals, the best of mid-winter is not the northern lights, but the beautiful day-time colors during skábma, polar night. Polar night is the time when sun does not rise above the horizon, so during day time, the light is different shades of blue, purple, red and soft orange. Nature is very quiet and peaceful.

Spring-winter and spring are the best outdoor activity season: skiing, snowmobiling, ice-fishing and working with reindeer on the fells, so most locals would say that is the best time of the year! We also have the northern lights dancing on the sky in the evenings and nights throughout winter, but actually the northern lights are at their best in September, October and in late March.

Tips for guided tours for admiring these natural wonders: Guided hikes, snowshoeing, Snow safari, Northern lights programs, Northern Trails midnight sun hikes

Package holidays for northern lights: Aurora Holidays, Aurora Service Tours, Holiday Village Valle, Nuorgam Holiday village, or request a tailored all-inclusive package holiday from us

5. Sámi culture and reindeer herding

When traveling abroad, learning about new cultures is very interesting. Utsjoki is a Sámi village and about 20 % of the population own reindeer, so both the Sámi culture and reindeer herding is integrated in the everyday village life. Utsjoki is the only municipality in Finland with a Sámi majority.

As most of reindeer herding happens deep in the wilderness area, we have integrated a lot of information about local culture, history and reindeer herding in most of our guided tours. Meeting tamed home reindeer is possible on a home farm visit,  but the most you learn about reindeer herding by participating in our real working day in reindeer herding in spring-winter, where you also get to meet several hundred reindeer!

Our interest is not to have Sámi culture displayed in tourism activities like some show object, but to actually tell about the region and culture and share about what we love here the most and how we live our everyday lives.

As a hybrid Sámi and Finnish family, we are happy to tell about Sámi and Finnish cultures and how these cultures interact and co-exist in our region, with reindeer herding being in the center of everything we do. We are also very happy to learn about the region where you come from!

Tips for guided tours: Day with reindeer herder, Cultural landscape tours, Snow safari, Holiday Village Valle Fállegoahti Sámi dinner