Autumn in the Heart of Finland’s Lapland

It’s September here in Finnish Lapland more than 150 miles above the Arctic Circle, but autumn is in the air, tinting the leaves and heather.

As we approached a small lake in the reindeer forest of Lemmonjoki National Park, our footsteps sent two birds with a touch of crimson on their wingtips skimming over the water. The trail through the forest was marked by orange bands on the tree trunks.

It was our initial stop after driving off into the Lapland forests and lake country. We began talking with Marketta Jomppanen and her sister Joanna after we stopped for lunch at their Cafe Ahkun Tupa, close to the national park.

When we told them we were from Manhattan Beach, Calif., Joanna smiled and startled us with her reply: “Oh, I know Manhattan Beach very well. I’ve spent several wonderful months with our cousin’s family in Rancho Palos Verdes.”

We were greeted with similar doses of friendship and welcome wherever we stopped in remote Lapland.

Reindeer Farm

We spent the evening at Inarin Porofarmi, a family reindeer farm where 300 reindeer are cared for. After being allowed to pet and help feed the reindeer we had our evening meal in a tent around an open fire.

The next morning we were at the Semekki Arts and Crafts Center, getting to know young Lapland artist Petteri Laitin and his wife Tuovi. Their center is becoming internationally known for the quality of their creations in reindeer horn, wood, gold, silver, knitwear, weaving and leatherwork, carrying forward old Sami concepts.

In the village of Sodankyla, which hosts a summer film festival, we were welcomed into the home that has become a museum for the paintings of 87-year-old Sami artist Andreas Alariesto.

Northern Lapland has lakes and streams for fishing and canoeing, forests and hillsides laced with hiking trails. There are up to 16,000 accommodations at campsites and in cabins, cottages and gracious small resorts that will be winter centers of cross-country and downhill skiing, reindeer sledding and snowmobile safaris.

Largest Province

Lapland is the largest and most northerly of Finland’s provinces, a wilderness bordering Norway, Sweden and the Soviet Union above the Arctic Circle.

The province is home to about 300,000 reindeer and about two people per square kilometer. About 30,000 of the 200,000 inhabitants live in the provincial capital and cultural city of Rovaniemi, right at the Arctic Circle. Santa Claus presides over his Arctic Circle Workshop near Rovaniemi.

We traveled by train and lake boat, then flew from Tampere in central Finland aboard a twin-prop Finnair plane 600 miles to the village of Ivalo, northernmost airport in Finland.

From the Ivalo airport we continued north by car for about an hour to Inari. This community is on Lake Inarinjarvi, an inland sea 50 miles long with more than 3,000 islands. Inari is Finland’s largest municipality, covering more than 10,000 square miles. The population is 7,200, including 1,500 Sami natives.

We checked into Inarin Kultahovi, which has 27 double rooms, three larger rooms to accommodate four guests each, a sauna beside a stream, a bar lounge and a restaurant that offers, among other items, reindeer and fresh fish. Double rooms, with breakfast and dinner, are about $85 U.S., with weekly packages all year.

Activities All Year

The range of activities around Inari illustrates why Lapland has long been a year-round destination for Finns, West Germans, Swedes, Norwegians and other Europeans, and is being discovered by U.S. travelers. Finnair has nonstop flights from Los Angeles and Helsinki. Check with your travel agent or phone Finnair toll-free at (800) 223-5700.

The sun never sets between mid-May and mid-July. There was still daylight after we had lingered over a late supper of reindeer stew and foaming mugs of Finnish beer.

The twilight period called kaamos lasts up to 50 days after the sun sets at the end of November, but northern lights often illuminate the sky in shimmers of green, yellow, red and white. From March to May the ski season has up to 16 hours of sunlight daily. There are seven scenic and moderate slalom slopes around Inari.

Slopes are challenging along the Road of the Four Winds in northeast Lapland near the Swedish border. That area also hosts one of the longest and toughest white-water canoe races. In addition, as many as 15,000 skiers take part in the cross-country Finlandia Ski Race.

Hiking trails from Inari lead out over the fells of rolling forests and hills, with overnight huts on the longer trails. One trail of less than five miles leads to a wilderness church built in the 18th Century. There are fishing and gold-panning boat trips on River Lemmenjoki. A water bus on the lake goes to the ancient sacrificial village of Ukonkivi.

Cafe Ahkun Tupa, where we met Marketta and Joanna, is next to the 10 Lemmenjoki cottages, where a cottage for two is about $25 a night. Among the menu choices at the cafe, reindeer stew is about $9, whitefish around $8. Even with the latest decline in the exchange rate for the U.S. dollar, the far north of Lapland is inexpensive.

This is even more noticeable if you can arrange to have dinner around the open fire in the tent on the Inarin Porofarmi reindeer farm owned by Into Paadar and his wife Maarit.

Farm Home and Life Style

Reindeer ranching is what has built their comfortable farm home and life style. It means year-round herding, feeding, rounding up, branding and raising reindeer. As a specialty they raise some racing reindeer in their herd of 3,000, and have had many winners in the 20 Lapland races held every winter.

Preparing and serving Lapp dinners, while wearing traditional Sami garments, has become an additional family enterprise. They don’t advertise it; there’s not even a sign along the road to indicate the turnoff to their farm. But the word is out, and you can phone to find out if dinner in the tent is being served on a particular night, and if space is available. Call 9697-56-512.

Dinner was served for five the evening we were there. The open fire felt cozy, even in early September. An opening at the peak of the yurt-like tent allowed the smoke to get out. Fresh whitefish was charbroiled and served with new potatoes, salad, home-baked bread, cheese, beer and coffee. Dessert was pancakes covered with cloudberries. The price was about $10 per person.

The Paadars are one of about 100 reindeer farm families in the area. Reindeer wander in both directions across the nearby Soviet border, and the Finnish and Russian farmers get together in periodic roundups to sort out their brands.

Returning by car for the 150-mile ride toward the Arctic Circle and Rovaniemi, we discovered that Tankavara is famous for winter nights of international jazz as well as for the Goldpanning International Championships in August. The village of Kemijarvi stages international wood sculpture contests in the summer and ice sculpture competitions in winter.

In Rovaniemi we visited galleries, museums, theater and concerts. We dined at Hotel Ounasvaara, overlooking the city and beside the ski lift that operates during the summer for roller-coaster toboggan runs.

For more information on travel to Lapland, contact the Finnish Tourist Board, 655 3rd Ave., 18th Floor, New York 10017, (212) 949-2333.