Ivalo
Go north for errands, food, airport runs and a different kind of local life.
Exploring Lapland
Back to Exploring LaplandSaariselkä
More than the place you work.
When you spend a whole season here, it is easy to keep saying ‘some other day’. Don’t. The fells, ski slopes, national park, sauna evenings and some of the best views in the area are already on your doorstep.
FellsSkiingNational parkLocal lifeAfter work
Core area / everyday fell base
Finnish Lapland
Photo: Jaakko Kemppainen / Unsplash. Cropped and optimized for web.
01 / Why Saariselkä
The good stuff starts close.
- 01
The everyday advantage
Your commute gets a lot easier.
When you work a season in Saariselkä, a car is not only for days off. On dark winter mornings and the coldest days, being able to drive directly between home, work, groceries and the rest of the village can make everyday life noticeably easier.
- 02
The fells
Kaunispää is the obvious first climb.
Walk, drive or take the lift up. The point is not how you get there — it is finally stopping long enough to look properly across the surrounding fell landscape.
- 03
The national park
The wilderness begins almost beside the village.
Urho Kekkonen National Park gives Saariselkä something unusual: you do not need a long drive before the landscape starts feeling properly wild.
- 04
The slopes
A ski day is already on your doorstep.
Saariselkä Ski & Sport Resort sits between the fells and makes it easy to turn an ordinary free afternoon into a few hours on snow.
- 05
The easy escape
Kiilopää changes the mood quickly.
A short drive takes you to more fell routes, another gateway into the national park and one of the area’s most memorable sauna experiences.
02 / Saariselkä at a glance
Your after-work playground.
- Best for
- Work commutes · skiing · national park · short adventures · sauna · evenings out
- Feel
- Outdoor-first · easy-access · social · fell-side
- No big plan needed
- A lot of the good stuff works in a couple of hours.
Our take
If you live here for a season, don’t save Saariselkä only for your days off.
03 / Do these before the season ends
Four Saariselkä experiences worth actually doing.
- 01
Go up Kaunispää
Start with the obvious one.
Drive or take the lift up, look around properly and stay for something warm. It is touristy for a reason — the view is worth seeing at least once when you live here.
See Kaunispää & Huippu - 02
Take the toboggan run
Yes, actually do it.
You will see the toboggan run all season. Don’t be the person who leaves Saariselkä without ever trying it.
Check tobogganing & current opening - 03
Walk Aurorapolku
The easy answer when you only have an hour.
No safari, no full-day plan. Put on proper clothes and go. The short trail gives you an easy way into the national-park landscape without turning the evening into an expedition.
See Aurorapolku - 04
Go to Kiilopää for sauna
Hot smoke. Cold water.
After enough days of seeing Kiilopää on road signs, make the drive and actually go in.
See Kiilopää smoke sauna
04 / Local picks
A few places we’d actually send you to.
- For a proper dinner
Laanilan Kievari
Make dinner the plan. Laanilan Kievari is one of our picks when you want the evening to be about the food itself rather than simply finding somewhere to eat.
Northern ingredients, game, fish and a meal worth leaving the village centre for.
See Laanilan Kievari - For a Saariselkä night
Teerenpesä
One you’ll probably get to know anyway. Food, drinks and karaoke in the centre of Saariselkä. Teerenpesä is one of our familiar choices for an uncomplicated evening out.
See Teerenpesä - For a livelier pub night
Kaunis Jorma
When you’re not ready to call it a night. Kaunis Jorma is another popular Saariselkä option for a relaxed pub evening, with food and karaoke. Check what is happening when you go — the evening matters more than trying to plan it too precisely.
See Kaunis Jorma
05 / If we had a free afternoon in Saariselkä
Here’s how we’d use it.
If it’s a workday, start simple: drive home, change clothes and go back out before the sofa wins. Walk Aurorapolku or head up Kaunispää if the weather is good.
On a day off, give yourself more time — ski, take the toboggan run or head toward Kiilopää.
Finish with dinner at Laanilan Kievari, or keep it casual in the village at Teerenpesä or Kaunis Jorma.
The point is not to fit everything into one day. The point is to stop postponing the things that are already next to you.
06 / When you want more than the village
Step into the national park.
Short version
Aurorapolku
A short, accessible way to leave the resort atmosphere behind without committing the whole day.
Longer version
Iisakkipää
When you have more time, follow a marked route toward Iisakkipää and let the landscape open properly around you.
See Iisakkipää route
You don’t need to become a wilderness expert. Start with a marked route and learn what the landscape feels like outside the resort.
07 / Check before you go
Conditions matter here.
08 / Go further
When your day off needs a road.
Explore Ivalo
Inari
Keep going for Lake Inari, Sámi culture and a completely different northern landscape.
Don’t save it for later
Make more of the place you already live in.
A car makes it easier to turn an ordinary afternoon into something worth remembering.