If you want to do more than just skiing during your winter sports holiday and are looking for a different winter sports experience than in the usual Alpine countries, then you have come to the right place in Finland. Holidaymakers who don't feel the need to spend the whole day on the slopes can enjoy themselves with many other activities. How about a silent snowmobile trip on an electric snowmobile, a visit to the sauna in a gondola lift, a boat trip on a real icebreaker or floating ice in lakes or rivers, a visit to a mobile sauna festival, a day of wellness, a husky tour, ice fishing , a snowshoe hike or cross-country skiing through a fairytale snowy forest. Finland is in the highest regions in terms of diversity of winter sports activities.
Sauna in a gondola lift
The 5.5 million Finns love saunas, there are about 3 million. If you want to experience an amazing festival once, you should travel to Teuva in Western Finland on 27 July 2020. The festival started in 2006 with about 18 crazy mobile saunas, but now there are about 50 unique ones every year. There are only 2 rules; the sauna must be mobile and there must be room for at least 1 person. In the winter season you can use the sauna throughout Finland. A sauna in a gondola lift in the winter sports area of Ylläs is very special.
A sauna in an ice hut can be found in the Arctic Sauna Experience resort in the Apukka Resort in Rovaniemi.
You will find a special sauna complex in Harriniva:it is the Arctic Sauna World in Muonio next to Lake Jeris, based on the four elements water (Vellama), earth (Tapio), air (Ilmatar) and fire (Ukko). One of the saunas – Repo – has been specially built to spot the Northern Lights:the relaxation area is built entirely of glass in the shape of a teepee.
Icebreaker cruise
You can sail through the frozen Gulf of Bothnia with a former icebreaker with the MS Sampo. The ship originally served as an icebreaker but has been sailing as an icebreaker for tourists in the Gulf of Bothnia since 1988. The ship breaks effortlessly through thick layers of ice, clearly visible from the foredeck. After a visit to the bridge and the impressive engine room, another highlight follows:floating around in the icy sea in special thermal suits. There are 3 or 4 hour cruises, and even an option to drive a snowmobile from the mainland across the ice to the ship. Departure port is Kemi.
Electric snowmobiles
A snowmobile safari is high on every tourist's bucket list to Finland. And rightly so, because driving through fairytale snowy forests is a magical experience. From an environmental point of view, the petrol engines and the associated noise are not really ideal, so entrepreneurs are looking for alternatives. The Finnish company Aurora eMotion developed and produced electric snowmobiles under the name eSleds itself and now offers various thematic safaris.
Ice floating – a cool Zen moment
You look a bit like a teletubbie, but it's an amazing experience:floating ice in a creek, lake, or river. You get a special orange-red waterproof suit over your own clothing that keeps you warm and floats on the water. The excursion is offered in many places in Lapland, including Ylläs and Rovaniemi. Because it gets dark early in the winter months, you can gaze at the starry sky and with a little luck the Northern Lights while floating on ice.
Build your own igloo
Plenty of snow in Lapland, the ideal building material to build an igloo. And you can do that with the organization Lapland Welcome in Rovaniemi that offers this activity. With the help of a guide you can build an igloo in a few hours with walls about 30 to 40 centimeters thick.
