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

From dusk till dawn in Trentino

In Spring 2017 we were invited to go and explore Trentino, Italy together with Samuel and Hildengunn for a nice ski and adventure trip. None of us had ever been in that area, so it was really nice to go and have this opportunity. 

Our first destination was Cavalese. My arrival there was a few hours earlier, so I was able to go and do some sightseeing around in this gorgeous village. Almost every town around here are surrounded by mountains, which makes it very very nice. Later that evening when Samuel arrived, we were taken to a nice pizzeria in the centre. Italian food and the eating culture is just marvelous. We got to enjoy that since day one. Although we actually knew that already! On our first dinner I even got to try an amazing Michelin restaurant dish due to my allergies as they brought my food from the next door Michelin restaurant.

As we were in the alps and it was still winter time, so what would an evening be without a spa. Luckily all the hotels we were at had their own spas. Going to a spa became our daily routine. No wonder since it felt amazing after our long days of adventuring and we were here to enjoy the full experience anyways.

We didn’t come here just to enjoy the amazing food and other nice city activities. There are mountains and ski hills everywhere, so we needed get some action on the slopes for sure. Our first full day we went to a ski hill called Bellamonte, where we enjoyed the slopes and to make it even a better experience we had a local lunch up on the hill. Funny thing is that it was a buffet and me and Samuel ate way too much as the food was amazing, so our snowboarding was over for the day. As we were returning our rental equipment we saw that there was an amazing looking luge run. They also had luges for rent, so we needed to go and give it a try! I think we’ve never laughed so much that we were laughing while riding.

Hildengunn finally joined us for the rest of the trip and we got to go for a nice hike in Val Di Fassa, where we moved from Cavalese. We took a lift up to the ski hill and made our way to a nice mountain hut by walking. The weather was amazing and it was a perfect time to enjoy a nice cup of coffee. We were really slow as we were taking photos on the way once in a while. We tried to be fast as we wanted to take a gondola to an amazing lookout place before it closed for the day. We made it just in time and got some nice photos from the amazing mountain top.

We had few days of nice guided snowshoe/mountain adventures. The first hike was to visit Malga Canvere where on the way our guide showed us all these interesting things about the local nature and surroundings. The area there is just amazing and the weather was incredible that day! Our other hike in San Martino wasn’t as lucky as we experienced a huge snowstorm. Despite the weather we still had fun and made the most out of it! Later in San Martino we took a cable car to Altopiano delle Pale di San Martino which would’ve offered an amazing view over the valley. This time we were not that lucky, but I guess we need to come back for that!

Our week went by so fast. We definitely got to see a lot, but there’s so many places I really want to see and experience again.

We highly recommend making your way there and experience the Italian side of the Alps. 

Our trip was made together with:
https://trentinolife.visittrentino.info/en/winter-l1

Destinations:
http://www.visitfiemme.it/en/winter 

http://www.sanmartino.com/?l=en

http://www.fassa.com/?l=en