This winter we were lucky to be able to spend quality time with family vacationing in Northern Finland. We flew all the way up to the Arctic Circle! It’s holiday season so we went to Lapland to enjoy the christmas holiday break in a winter wonderland white scenery. Lapland is truly a wonderful and magical place. I wanted to share with you ten very cool things we experienced on our Lapland trip.
You’ll notice most of the images don’t have much sunshine in them and the images are blue. This is due to the fact that the sun doesn’t rise very high above the horizon during winter months. In the northernmost parts of Lapland, inside the Arctic circle, they actually experience two entire months of darkness. In other words, there’s no sunrise at all during that whole period of time! But this only makes the place even more magical to me.
During the Finnish summer on the other hand, the situation turns upside down and the sun doesn’t set for two months, which is what we call the ‘Midnight Sun’ phenomenon. To discover the beauty of Finnish summer, read this post.
The constant darkness can also affect your mood. Days might seem to never start and then suddenly, they’ve ended because by lunchtime it’s dark again! I never understood how people cope up there during those loooong winters. At least the snow makes it white and creates more light. If the skies are clear at night, the moon reflects more light from the snow, making it surprisingly bright and easy to navigate outside.
Lapland is the place to be to watch the famous spectacular Northern Lights (Aurea Borealis). Unfortunately the skies were cloudy the entire week we were there and we didn’t get a chance to see the Northern Lights this time.
10 COOL Things from Lapland..
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2. Meet the locals! This is what the Saami people, the original inhabitants of the Northernmost parts of Finland, Sweden and Norway traditionally wear. They use lots of reindeer fur in their clothing.
3. Natural snow sculptures. I love seeing all the different shapes that snowfall creates, especially on the trees it seems brings them alive. This one is definitely a bunny sitting on top of the tree!
4. Skiing, not only downhill but cross-country skiing is big and highly recommended in Lapland, the scenery is so serene and peaceful. All of the ski resorts in Lapland will rent cross country skiing equipment and even give you lessons how to do it. It’s possible to do up to 50 km of cross country skiing in the trails that go around the fjells.
5. Huge icicle formations can be seen everywhere. Here’s our cabin roof.
6. Husky sleigh rides are so much fun for the kids and adults too. You could even go on a overnight husky safaris and stay in a “laavu” or then just try it out for a short run. Some Husky farms will let you drive your own sleigh and dogs.
7. Visiting reindeer farms is one of the kids favorite things to do. there are plenty of farms that welcome visitors and do tours and reindeer sleigh rides. Reindeer are very cute but also quite shy natured.
10. And finally, it might sound very strange to you, but Finns LOVE to walk outside in any weather and we always take the babies with us. There have been studies which found that babies sleep much better and longer outside in the freezing temperatures! P.S Don’t worry, we dress the babies in clothes that insulate all the cold, they’re all snuggled up and comfy in there, remember that Finnish saying!
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Hello there! I’m Laura, the founder of Blue Abaya- the first travel blog in Saudi Arabia, established in 2010. Travel has always been my passion- so far I’ve visited 75 countries and I’m always on the lookout for new adventures inside and outside of Saudi Arabia! Follow my adventures in Saudi and beyond on instagram: instagram.com/blueabaya
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I love your pictures mashAllah it reminds me of home so much. We live in the country and got snowed in a lot. We do not have reindeer but we have deer :)
Just fabulous Layah.
Ann
İ love your pics and miss Finland during this season! Lapland is so beautiful. Here in Turkey people think it’s crazy to sleep babies in cold weather, oh well me and my baby girl are doing things our way even here :) Greetings from Turkey, your blog is great!
Noor-Thanks! Where was this? did you guys used to eat deer lots, we like reindeer its very tasty!
Stephi-yes its really gloomy but also if theres a starlit sky you have a better chance of seeing the aurora borealis up there!
Ann-thank you :)
Petra-thanks for your comment and so nice to hear from Finns around the world, we like to keep our crazy habits I guess! But hey did you hear abut the study that PROVED children sleep much better outdoors? So we have known all along ;)
Love love love your blog and your photos. I wish I could share it to my FB page. The only downside is, they always make me homesick for my country.
Incredible photos, thank you for bringing Lapland in to my little room all the way on the other side of the world (Australia).
Best wishes
Thanks anonymous, I just noticed that the share to facebook button was missing for some reason but I added it now so you should be able to do it easily :)
Thanks anon from Australia!
Actually the share buttons did not show up! Does anyone have any idea how to fix it?
Wow lot´s of snow, nice! The last one is extra nice. These winter pictures must be very exotic for your Saudi friends and relatives. I am also impressed by your enormous energy of travelling around! By the way, are you connected to Spotify in SA?
Wonderful views. Daughter grows, that is from she it lady .
Absolutely enchanting. I wish that I could go there as well and just soak in the incredible magic that is in a place like that. What an amazing world that God made.
Beautiful photos! I love the snow lanterns and I think that tree looks like it has a rabbit on the top. You have a gift for photography and do capture a magical feeling with those photos of a winter wonderland.
Sofija-thank you, yes she grows so fast!
Jenny-yes it looks like a bunny on top doesn’t it!I’m glad someone else saw it too so I don’t feel like I’m a little bit cuckoo for seeing that! LOL
Proud Muslimah-enchanting is a very good word to describe the place!
Sandy-thank you! The cold is really not that bad when you’re properly dressed I swear :)But anything under -15c starts to be unbearable, though Finns will go out even in -30c! (not me)
That is sooo unbelievably beautiful! And magical! I wish I handled cold better I might try to go! Thank you so much for sharing these. I’ve never seen anything like it.
mashaallah your pictures are so well done… pretty. No snow here in west germany, well maybe this month…
These pictures look so magical Laylah! When do you get back! You’re missed <3
The picture of the man in the traditional cap is my favorite. He looks like someone out of a storybook. Such beauty, Laylah. Thank you for sharing with us your world. I wish I had access to such a lovely place.
Those pictures make winter look its best too ;) Usually I groan at winter, but these scenes are why winter has a beauty of its own.
hind-thanks! There’s not much snow in southern Finland either, I guess it’s the global warming!
Om Lujain-I have to change our flights because we can’t fly tomorrow with the baby still being very sick :( So next week.
Proud Muslimah-thank you! Winter time can be really nice, but as long as there is enough snow :)
I agree that fluffy clean snow is just nice but not when it’s melting, etc.
We just pulled through last few days here of -30 degrees C (with wind chill of -43 degrees C) with snow. Thankfully dry prairie air sucks up the melting snow fast. We were able to bike around last few days @ -14 degrees C.
I love your Lapland photos. Yes, the land of the midnight sun is also in the Canadian Arctic. There’s a photo when I was in Nuvavut on Baffin Island in the Canadian Arctic:
http://cyclewriteblog.wordpress.com/2010/01/29/hello-world/ It was twilight blue at 1:00 in the afternoon.
[…] 20. 10 AMAZING THINGS FROM LAPLAND […]
[…] 20. 10 AMAZING THINGS FROM LAPLAND […]
[…] Whether people have travelled to Finland in order to experience Aurora Borealis or have seen them in photos or videos, Northern lights – as they’re also referred to as – are spellbinding for almost everyone. Here are ten interesting things you might not know about the amazing auroras, written by Thomas Kast, Aurora Borealis photographer and enthusiast living in Finland. All images on this post were provided by Thomas Kast, check out more of his amazing imagery of Finland’s Northern Light’s and guides on how to photogprah them at his website Salamapaja.fi. If you’re interested in Finland’s Arctic Circle and Lapland, check out this post for more breathtaking images and information: 10 Cool Things from Lapland […]
[…] I actually bought some Bisht and farwa for myself and family as gifts, which I’m going to take with me to our winter holiday in Finland! This also means the Saudi farwa will be going through vigorous testing in extreme Finnish winter weather conditions, ya’ll. I promise to report back how they perform. You can check out some pics from our previous winter holiday in Lapland here. […]