IVALO – FINLAND | AN ANNIVERSARY STORY
If someone had told me a decade ago that I would one day cross a frozen river flanked by reindeer, be pulled through a snow blanketed forest by a pack of wild eyed huskies, and watch the sky burst into green, yellow, and violet at midnight, I would have laughed off the delirium!
.
And yet, here I am.
-38°C outside but a warm happy heart inside!
A woman who has done all of those things, and more… who has literally fallen off a sledge and sunk waist deep into the snow and been hauled back up by a rope, laughing and half-frozen, wondering how on earth this became her anniversary celebration!
This is our story of Finnish Lapland, a place that was, not so long ago, a mythical whisper on the edge of the map. Today, it is one of the most sought after destinations on the planet. And if you haven’t been here yet, I am here to tell you – it deserves every bit of the hype, and then some more!
Ivalo, where we stayed, is one of Finland’s northernmost towns, sitting just 26 km from the Russian border. It’s the kind of place that gives you a true feel of Arctic sisu (unique Finnish spirit of resilience and quiet strength). Santa Claus’ official hometown of Rovaniemi, it is roughly 3.5 hours away, close enough for a day trip, yet far enough that Ivalo retains its own unhurried, wilderness soul.
We deliberately choose to stay away from busy tourist centres, favouring the untouched wilderness of places like Inari, Saariselkä and Pello.
Casually rolling in knee deep snow in Ivalo
Gearing up for the husky ride
The Call of the Wild White North
Finnish Lapland sits above the Arctic Circle, a vast wilderness covering nearly a third of Finland’s total land area. It is a region of extremes: in summer, the Midnight Sun never sets for weeks; in winter, the Polar Night (known locally as kaamos) cloaks the land in a deep, pink tinged dusk for nearly two months. It is during this darkness that the Aurora Borealis performs its most breathtaking theatre.
- Finnish Lapland covers 100,366 km² (larger than Portugal), yet is home to just 180,000 people.
- There are more reindeer in Lapland than people, approximately 200,000 reindeer roam freely across the region.
- The Aurora Borealis is visible from Lapland on approximately 200 nights per year.
- Lake Inari, which we crossed by snowmobile, is Finland’s third largest lake and sacred to the indigenous Sámi people, who have called Lapland home for over 10,000 years.
- Each winter, architects and artists construct entire hotels from locally harvested ice and snow. The temperature inside stays at a steady -5°C, warm enough to sleep in thermal sleeping bags, cold enough to keep the walls solid.
Huskies, Chaos & a Forest Full of Snow
Let me set the scene: it is -38°C. The kind of cold that freezes your eyelashes within minutes and makes you feel like a dragon every time you breathe! We are about to embark on a four hour husky sledge ride through a snow forest so dense and so silent that you forget the rest of the world exists.
The huskies are delightful. Pure muscle and joy, straining against their harnesses, absolutely ready to run. And run they do. For four hours, we are pulled through some of the most treacherous and spectacular terrain I have ever witnessed, narrow forest paths, and open snow fields that seem to stretch to the edge of the sky.
When we reached the location, we had no idea we had to man the sledges! When the trainer started explaining us the rules, my mind drifted off to the huskies and I forgot everything else! Thank god Sam was paying attention! Of course you can do it with a guide driving the sledge, but we want to make lives a tad bit difficult for ourselves because the stories are better! 😜
And then, just when you think the wilderness couldn’t possibly offer anything more, we stopped. In the middle of nowhere we enter a warm hut, a warm crackling fire and a pot of salmon soup bubbling on top of it…. creamy, fragrant, deeply warming. And the moment my frozen fingers wrapped around that bowl, it was quite possibly the best feeling ever!
The Night the Sky Came Alive
Aurora Borealis captured on my an I-Phone!
There are moments in travel that photographs cannot hold. The Aurora Borealis is one of them. We tried. I want to tell you we captured it beautifully. But we were so transfixed, so completely swallowed by the spectacle above us, that the cameras stayed in our pockets.
The Northern Lights that night danced in full colour, not just the pale green shimmer you see in the image here! The deep crimson, the stunning violet and the gold yellow filled the entire sky from horizon to horizon! An we just stood there completely awestruck! The only other sound was of a group of girls crying loudly, not able to contain their emotions for what they were witnessing!
Reindeer, Lake Inari and a Snowmobile
Lake Inari in winter is a different planet entirely. Frozen solid to a depth of nearly a metre, it becomes a vast, smooth highway stretching 80 km in length. We took a snowmobile ride across the lake and it is probably one of my fondest memories!
During the ride, out of nowhere, a herd of reindeer appeared. Dozens of them, padding across the ice with a grace that seemed impossible for such large animals, utterly unbothered by us, moving at their own ancient pace.
Reindeer herding is not a tourist attraction here, it is a living culture. The indigenous Sámi people have been semi nomadic reindeer herders for thousands of years, following the animals across seasonal routes that span hundreds of kilometres. When you see a herd in Lapland, you are witnessing a relationship between people and landscape that is older than written history.
Anniversary experience at the end of the earth
Of all the extraordinary things that happened on this trip, perhaps none surprised me more than the day of our anniversary.
In the morning we took a snowmobile and went into the middle of nowhere by the side of Inari lake. A private picnic in knee-deep snow, surrounded by pine trees and just pin drop silence! Our guide cleared off a small patch and started a crackling fire! There we had warm blueberry juice and sausages toasted on the fire! That was our anniversary morning!
A picnic of a lifetime!
At night, our host made us the most delectable dinner at the resort – white vanilla and chocolate cake, fresh caught salmon flowers and reindeer meat with local berry sauce! I’m waiting for the day when that will top this anniversary and tis dinner experience!
Why Finnish Lapland is unlike anywhere else
A few things that will genuinely astonish you:
The Sami Culture
The indigenous Sámi people are the guardians of this landscape. Their traditions like reindeer herding, the joik (a deeply personal form of vocal improvisation), their handicraft tradition of duodji are woven into the very fabric of Lappish life. We absolutely advise to seek out opportunities to experience these directly from them; it will be one of the most meaningful encounters of your trip!
The Sauna & the Avanto
No Finnish experience is complete without the sauna and in Lapland, it reaches its most elemental form. The ritual is simple – heat yourself to the very edge of comfort in a wood fired sauna, and then walk out and plunge into an avanto (a hole cut into the frozen lake). The cold hits you like a wall, and then an intense, tingling warmth floods through the entire body. It’s the most exhilarating feeling in the world. We did it. We loved it and have done the avanto every opportunity we have gotten since!
Cross country skiing
Finland has over 80,000 km of marked cross-country ski trails — more than any other country in the world. So we obviously decided to give it a try! And very quickly discovered that I am absolutely not a winter sports person, it’s brutally hard work. In that biting Arctic cold, I could feel beads of sweat forming inside my jacket and turn into crystals every time I stopped to catch my breath. And yet, gasping and laughing, it was one of the most joyfully ridiculous things we have ever done.
A traditional woodfire sauna
My brother pushing me into the snow
The blue hour in the Arctic
One Story for our grandchildren
There is an old idea that every person deserves at least one story to tell with warmth and wonder for the rest of their lives. A story of the time they were brave, or ridiculous, or transported so far outside their ordinary self that they came back changed.
For me, this is that story!
And for everyone reading this I will say – go sink into the snow. Let the huskies pull you somewhere wild. Stand under the aurora and be awestruck! Lapland is a spectacle worth experiencing at least once in your lifetime and a story worth sharing for all of the rest.
Ready to Write Your Own Story?
At Masala Chai Travel, we craft bespoke winter journeys to Finnish Lapland built around slow travel, genuine cultural immersion, and the moments that become memories for life. We will design a journey that is entirely, unmistakably yours.
