In paid collaboration - Visit Salla - Koronaexit -project
Salla is a beautiful outdoor destination located in Eastern Lapland. Its diverse nature and great services makes it a perfect environment to enjoy a special getaway all year around!
I got an opportunity to take a few of my friends and go have a fun long weekend in Salla. The activities on our visit would take us to enjoy parts of the new National Park area. The days are quite short this time of the year, so we needed to plan the activities wisely. Good thing about winter though is that it doesn’t really get dark at all as the snow illuminates the nature. Some activities are a lot better in daylight, but some are possible to do in the dark as well. More on them later…
Time of the visit: Mid December Weather: Cloudy/Snow Temperature: -1 to -9 Length of stay: 3 days
4 Activities in 3 days
E-MTB (electric mountain biking)
This year the winter has been a challenging one due to the unusually warm start. Most of the longer trails for biking weren’t open yet. We ended up staying on the trails close to the ski hill which still served the purpose and we definitely had a fun time. E-MTB’s are a fun and fairly easy way to get to the nature even in the winter. I highly recommend trying them!
More about the bike trails here!
Skinbased
Next on our list was Skinbased-skiing to the top of Iso-Pyhätunturi. I’ve done this quite a lot the past few years and it’s always as fun. There are a few things to take into consideration when it comes to the routes and it was nice to have a guide with us along the journey, showing the best trails to go on. We made it to the top and had a quick cup of coffee before skiing back down to the starting point. It’s good to bring your head lamp to provide more contrast when it gets darker.
Starting point: Itäkota-Cafe Distance: 4.6km Elevation gain: 140m Time: 2h
Winter Walking
Nice relaxing walk in the woods is amazing for the whole family. Salla has really nice maintained winter walking trails with beautiful scenery and good places for a bonfire. Definitely a good option for an easier day in between harder activities. The trail was nicely marked and well maintained. No need for snowshoes on these trails! Remember to bring your headlamp also for this one as most of the winter walking trails are not illuminated! We only ended up doing a 4km trip including a nice bonfire stop at Kontiolampi lean-to.
Starting point: Salla Reindeer Park Stop 1: Kontiolammen laavu (950m) Firewood: Yes
Cross-country skiing
Salla has really nice cross-country skiing tracks that partly enter the future National Park. There are tracks that are illuminated in the dark, so we had to give it a go. The terrain was fun and had a good variety of uphills and downhills. It was really nice to get some kilometers in before the sauna.
See more on the tracks here!
Resources for Salla
For dinner - Restaurant Kiela
For lunch - Keloravintola
Groceries - 10 km in downtown Salla
Rental equipment - Salla Ski Resort
Cabins - Pan Village
Other things to do or visit
Salla Reindeer park
Kaunisharju - Viewpoint
Napapiirin Safarit - Snowmobile safaris
Salla Ski Resort
