Spend your summer holiday in Finland under the magical Midnight Sun
Finland is a place where you can truly put your relaxation mode on. Finns are passionate about summer. The summer in Finland is short but the Finns really know how to make it as sweet as possible.
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It is impossible to say really, what is the best thing about the Finnish summer. Summer in Finland offers so many sweet treats and stunning surprises. White nights at a cosy Finnish summer house right by the water, relaxing baths at the sauna, skinny dipping in the clear lakes, magical moments in nature glowing in 50 shades of green and many more.
Here are our five tips on how to adore and make the most of the Finnish summer.
Enjoy the iconic white nights
Finnish summer speciality is the fascinating natural phenomenon called Midnight Sun. Inside the Arctic Circle, the sun doesn’t set beneath the horison from May to August. In the southern parts of Finland, the sun is visible almost around the clock from June to July.
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When nights are as bright as the day, you can do the same things you would like to do during the day. Go outside the house and enjoy the light and the calm. The purely magical moment is when the sun tries to set, and it paints the horison from red to yellow and pink to purple. Everything around you is surrounded by beautiful bright light.
The best time to experience the phenomena is Midsummer, which is the Finns’ favourite holiday besides Christmas. The Finnish Midsummer is full of traditions. One of the popular traditions is that when a young unmarried lady collects seven different flowers under her pillow, she will see her future fiancée in her dreams.
Celebrate the easy breezy summer days at a cabin
The best way to spend your summer holidays is to escape the usual hustle and bustle and go to a summer house. Finns love cabins and many families have their own cabin by a lake. There are actually over half a million summer cottages in Finland. With our 187,000 lakes, we have plenty of room for a lakeside vacation.
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To copy the Finnish lifestyle rent a log cottage near a waterfront and relax in a peaceful hideaway. Book your stay preferably in Lakeland, a Finnish lake district in the eastern part of Finland to enjoy the breathtaking views.
Remember to grill a lot and try tiny and delicious new potatoes, tasty sugar garden peas, and fresh strawberries – the sweetest strawberries you have ever tasted.
Relax at a sauna
Finns cherish their saunas and sauna culture. The Finnish sauna culture has actually been added to UNESCO’s Cultural Heritage List. For Finns, the sauna is not only a place for cleansing it is also a place for relaxation and meditation. To get a full sauna experience gather a birch whisk and beat your skin gently to improve your circulation. To cool down dip into the lake and grab a cold drink.
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There are over three million saunas in Finland alone and almost all the cottages in Finland are equipped with their own saunas. We promise that you will enjoy your sauna experience everywhere, but if you want to experience something really unique, try, for example, the Arctic Sauna world by lake Jerisjärvi in Lapland. In the five saunas, you can relax with a beautiful view between the stunning fells next to the Pallas-Ylläs national park on the shore of the glistering lake near Kittilä.
Try the lakefront activities
The thousands of lakes in Finland offer plenty of fun activities to spend your summer day with. Besides swimming, you can do watersports from sailing and jetting to canoeing and stand-up paddling.
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Explore the beautiful Lake Saimaa by canoeing. Rent your canoe online to have a trip to Kolovesi National Park, Linnansaari National Park, or the wilds surrounding Joutenvesi. For the full experience, you could try the official Midnight Sun Canoe Route in Lapland. The route is nearly 160 kilometres long and offers experiences from smooth paddling to more extreme ones.
Go hiking
In the summertime, Finnish nature is covered with all shades of green. Alongside the beautiful scenery, you can enjoy the freshest air, which makes Finland a one-of-a-kind destination.
To admire the stunning but peaceful nature, try exploring it on foot. Finland has plenty of places you can explore on foot. And on the paths, you will most definitely face loads of places you can camp (even for the night if you wish!). Enjoy your packed lunch at a campfire and spent an unforgettable summer day in the woods.
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Kuusamo located Karhunkierros Trail (the Bear’s Trail in Finnish) is the most popular hiking trail in Finland. The 80-kilometre route twists and turns through the graceful landscape of Oulanka. The 12-kilometre-long Pieni Karhunkierros Trail (the Little Bear’s Trail) is a great place for a day trip, as the route includes spectacular rapids and great suspension bridges.
Near Kittilä, at Pallas, you will find a breathtaking national landscape. The legendary Hetta-Pallas hiking trail passes through the national park. In the middle of the wilderness, you can find the Hannukuru wooden sauna which serves you a unique way to chill between the hikes.
When exploring Finnish nature, you are welcome to pick and snack on sweet berries including blueberries, cloudberries, and more sour berries like cranberries and lingonberries. Due to Finnish ‘Everyman’s Rights’, you can pick your berries as much as you want, as long as you don’t destroy the habitat and leave enough for others.
Why not start planning your trip to Finland today?