Winter trip to Vuokatti
In paid collaboration with - Vuokatti
Time of the visit: February Weather: Cloudy Temperature: -12°C Length of stay: 2 nights
After our awesome trip to Kainuu, we got to stay in Vuokatti for a few extra days. I had never been there before, so I was excited about our stay.
Vuokatti is best known for its ski tunnel which enables skiing throughout the year and many other fantastic training facilities for athletes. There’s also a wide range of winter activities and services from spa and sauna world to downhill skiing and different safaris. This means that it is an excellent winter holiday destination for families and groups.
Have a look at what we were able to include in our visit!
Haapala B&B
We woke up in our cozy accommodation at Haapala B&B, which is in a nicely renovated old farm. The farm has been in the Korhonen family for five generations. Nowadays Haapala has a fantastic restaurant, accommodation, saunas and a brewery.
Our day started with a breakfast buffet in the restaurant, which actually shares the space with the brewery. Afterwards Craig gave us a tour in the brewery and told us about the beer-making process. It was nice to get to know how things work behind the scenes and how much time and knowledge it all requires. They have included ingredients and flavours from Finland in a cool way in their products.
Now we had gotten a pretty good image of what Haapala is about. Such a nice place to come for meals or for the whole experience with accommodation and sauna.
Husky adventure
After a delicious lunch, we needed to rush as the huskies at Vuokatti Safaris were eager to go on an adventure with us. As we arrived, I think we were as excited as the huskies. We couldn't wait to get the briefing done and get going on the sleds. It’s funny to see how the dogs are jumping and barking before the departure as they can’t wait to go!
Once we took off, all the dogs got quiet and super focused. There's a beautiful bond between you and the huskies during the adventure and you definitely need to work together and respect each other. What a nice way to enjoy nature!
Snowshoeing
There was still a bit of daylight left after the husky safari, so we decided to pick up snowshoes from Vuokatti Ski Service. We got a good tip to visit a neighbouring fell to have a peek at the scenery towards Vuokatti. We also found a trailhead, where no-one had been since the last snowfall. We decided to go for a little hike along the trail.
It felt like we were on another planet with the snow giants and no one else around. We had time only for a little tour before it got completely dark. It was definitely a good workout to make our own path in the deep snow. There was no need to hit the gym after.
Glass Igloos
Later that evening, we were able to sit down in a restaurant for the first time in a long while due to the restrictions. Even just that felt amazing! We had a wonderful service and a very tasty meal at Amarillo!
Afterward, we continued to another superb accommodation, Arctic Lakeland Igloos. They are unique mirror glass igloos with outside hot tubs by the lake Sapsojärvi. These igloos and the hot tubs are a nice way to witness the northern lights if you're lucky with the weather.
Snowmobiling
Our last day started with an exciting snowmobile adventure with Vuokatti Safaris. We joined a tour with a guide to get familiar with the area. After a coffee break in a cozy cafe Heikkilän Pirtti, we continued the adventure on our own. It was time for Macarena to take control of the snowmobile, which she handled well. It took us a while for us to make it back as I wanted to stop and take photos of the snow-covered trees all the time. After we got back, you could see that she really enjoyed riding the snowmobile, as the smile didn't leave her face for hours.
All in all, we only got to see and experience a tiny part of what Vuokatti has to offer. We enjoyed every part of it and realized that everything you could ask for in a winter holiday can be found here!
Daniels top 3 tips for Vuokatti:
Haapala B&B
Vuokatti Safaris - Snowmobile tour
E-Bikes
Other things to do in Vuokatti:
Spa & sauna world
Amazing tracks for nordic skiing
Ski & Snowboarding
Multiple nice restaurants
Arctic Adventure
We have been camping in Scandinavia quite a few times during the summer and fall. This time we wanted to do something different and we called few of our friends to join us for this Arctic camping trip to Lofoten. The idea came when we wanted to see the mountains of Lofoten covered in the snow.
It was obvious that sleeping in a tent during the winter is totally different compared to nice and warm summer nights. We got equipped for this trip and our friends over at Bayerncar Oy offered us a nice BMW X5 that fit all of our gear for the drive to Norway.
We headed up towards Kilpisjärvi for the first night. On the way we stopped by at our friends grocery store Jounin Kauppa in Ylläs. He was kind enough to offer us the food for the trip! We didn't quite make it all the way to Kilpisjärvi for the first night, but near Kaaresuvanto we found this awesome Laavu to sleep in.
The actual adventure started the next day and we didn't have to worry about the time any longer. We stopped once in a while for photos and cooked some nice meals with our camping cookers. We almost made it to the Lofoten Islands on the second day, but we decided to stop in Målselva for a dinner and enjoy the Northern lights. The day had been so long, that we decided to pull our tents out and stay there for the night.
On our third travel day we made our way finally to Lofoten and everyone got super excited. The weather changed drastically every fifteen minutes and we stopped the car almost as often, since everyone went crazy with their cameras. We made it to near Leknes, where we were based pretty much for the rest of the trip.
We drove around every day to different photo locations including Reine, Haukland and Uttakleiv. Even though the weather wasn't the best possible, we were able to capture some nice images.
Our best part of the trip for sure was our hike to Kvalvika beach. We went there with our tents and rest of the equipment as we wanted to spend the night there. The weather was crazy again, as it changed from huge snowstorm to sunshine and partial blue skies. We lit up a bonfire and kept it going as the sun went down. We enjoyed our time in this quiet and beautiful beach and it definitely gave us a nice ending for the whole adventure.
Here are some photos from the trip!
Road trip to Lofoten - Daniel & Dad
It was a regular thursday noon few weeks ago and I was having lunch with my dad. I happened to look at the weather app on my phone and it showed near perfect blue skies to Lofoten for the next 4 days. I said to my Dad that I'm leaving to Lofoten today! Then I realized that my dad had never been there and he had always enjoyed our photos and stories from our Lofoten road trips. Kind of as a joke I said to my dad that take few days off from work and come with me! My dad said that I really can't, I need to work and I have some meetings the next day. My dad started smiling and you could tell that he had already made a decision to go with me. He went back to work and arranged the meeting for next week and at 4PM we started our journey towards Norway, as I had packed everything while my dad finished his work for the day.
We had a car, tent, camping food and no plans.
-Daniel
