Finland & Norway Trip Day 4 - Ounasvaara Lakituvat & Kakslauttanen

From Santa Claus Village, we went to a nearby K-Supermarket and bought some foodstuffs for our dinner tonight and breakfast tomorrow. I always enjoy going to local supermarkets to see the variety and brands of groceries that are available. It is already close to evening after our groceries shopping, so we decided to head straight to the place that we are staying for the night. Instead of staying at Santa Claus Hotel or Santa Claus Holiday Village, we choose to stay at Ounasvaara Lakituvat, a chalet near the Ounasvaara ski resort. It is much cheaper to stay at the chalet and rent a car to move around in Rovaniemi. In this way, our plans in Rovaniemi can be more flexible as we do not need to rely on the local transportation conditions. It is also fairly easy to drive in Rovaniemi.

We took some time to locate the chalet, and immediately did not regret our choice. At a very reasonable price, we got a double storey chalet with a spacious living room, kitchen, rooms to accommodate at least 6 person, 2 large bathrooms and a private sauna. Unfortunately, we were not too sure how to use the sauna and the lights doesn't seems to be working, so we did not utilise it.

We spent some fun time cooking our own dinner in the kitchen which is well equipped. We also took the opportunity to wash some clothes as the there is a washing machine in the bathroom.

Since we were in Northern Finland already, we were a little excited as the kp is high that night. We hoped that the skies will clear soon so that we were be able to see the Northern Lights in this capital of Lapland. After checking the weather forecast, we went for a nap, and woke up close to midnight to check the sky. Unfortunately it was still cloudy, but we decided to try our luck and drove out to Arktikum, a famous museum in Rovaniemi and a good spot (according to various websites) to see the aurora.

Arktikum at night

We were not lucky as the clouds were really thick, so we went back to our dreamland after this little adventure out.

After a simple breakfast the next morning, we set out to drive (aimlessly) around Rovaniemi just to take a look at the town, before going to a K-Supermarket to buy some bread so that we can it eat along the way later to Kakslauttanen. We also stopped to re-fuel the car, then 2 of us got off at the bus terminal together with all our luggage, while the other 2 returned the car at the train station, which is just a street across, and walked to the bus terminal to wait for our bus to Kakslauttanen.

Rovaniemi in the morning - view from Ounasvaara Lakituvat

Rovaniemi bus terminal

We bought our tickets at the counter, and since we had some time, I ordered a reindeer soup at the food store in the bus terminal to try, as the reindeer meat is a very common dish in the region. My friend ordered a pizza to share, and the pizza is surprising as good as those from restaurants.

The bus, which is equipped with wifi and individual charger, set off punctually and we reached our destination, Kakslauttanen, after a ~3.5 hours bus ride.

There is only 1 "attraction" in Kakslauttanen - the Kakslauttanen Arctic Resort, more famously known as the glass igloo resort. The bus drops us at the main road close to the resort, and we walked about 5-8 mins (as we were dragging our luggage in the uneven road) to reach the resort.

Up Next: Finland & Norway Trip Day 5 Part 1 - Kakslauttanen Arctic Resort
Previous: Finland & Norway Trip Day 3 - Santa Claus Express to Rovaniemi & Santa Claus Village

Finland & Norway Trip Day 3 - Santa Claus Express to Rovaniemi & Santa Claus Village

We took Intercity Train 273, also known as the Santa Claus Express, which departs from the Central Railway Station at night, reaching Rovaniemi, the capital of Lapland, in the morning the next day. There are many ways to get to Rovaniemi, and we choose to take this overnight train just for the experience, even though the train ticket does not come cheap as we choose to stay in a sleeping compartment with shower. However, considering that we save on 1 night hotel fee, taking the train is still an economical choice, although staying in a hotel and taking a flight to Rovaniemi will be much more comfortable. You can buy the train tickets online, and do remember to check for your compartment or seat number online or at the train counter (which is open only during working hours) before boarding the train.

The journey is about 12 hours, and a towel and a bottle of water is being provided. Each bunk is also equipped with its own charger for you to charge your electronics devices.

There is also a restaurant car on the train, and we had our breakfast there. The cinnamon roll was surprisingly fantastic, and they also serve free oat porridge. 

Upon reaching Rovaniemi, we picked up our rented car from the train station, and drove straight to Santa Claus Village, one of the highlights of our tour. 

We were extremely delighted as it started snowing as soon as we reach this magical location.

The first thing that we did was to visit the Santa Claus Office to meet the legendary Santa Claus (or rather, the man's whose only occupation is to be the Santa Claus). It was quite magical to have a chance to chat with this famous man, and he promised to see us in Singapore during Christmas!

After having lunch in 1 of the restaurant in the village, we went to the Santa Claus main post office to buy and write on postcards, and send it out from the post office. There are options for you to choose whether you want to send out the postcards immediately, or wait until its near Christmas before the postcard will be sent so that you will receive the postcard during Christmas.

Another "must-do" thing to do in Santa Claus Village is to cross the Arctic Circle Line. For regions located on the north of the Arctic Circle, the midnight sun phenomena, where the sun does not sets, will happen at least once per year.

Just like amusement parks, there were many souvenir shops around and we spent the rest of the afternoon going from shop to shop, grabbing cute Santa related souvenir to be bought back home.

Up Next: Finland & Norway Trip Day 4 - Ounasvaara Lakituvat & Kakslauttanen

Previous: Finland & Norway Trip Day 2 - Hotel Arthur, Porvoo, Helsinki

Finland & Norway Trip Day 2 - Hotel Arthur, Porvoo, Helsinki

Since we will only be staying in Helsinki for 1 night before heading to Lapland, we searched for a hotel which is close to almost everything while not making a hole out of our wallets. We manage to find Hotel Arthur after some research, and booked a room which 4 of us can stay together. Although it is quite an old hotel, it is reasonably clean and spacious and within walking distance to the Central Raiway Station, Market Square, and the shopping districts in Helsinki. Typical Finnish style breakfast is also included in the hotel room rates.

Day 1 ended quite early as we were all too tired after the red eye flight, and we started Day 2 fresh and excited, as my friend's friend, who lives in Helsinki, will be picking us up and bringing us to Porvoo, a scenic old town some 50km away from Helsinki.

After an hour's drive, we arrived at this quiet town and headed uphill to the old town.

Porvoo Musuem

Our first stop is Porvoo Cathedral, 1 of the oldest and largest church in Finland. We were told that this Cathedral was destroyed quite a few times, and it took years to restore the Cathedral to its former glory.

After a long coffee break to keep ourselves warm and to listen to stories from the friend on how living in Helsinki is like, we walked towards the Porvoo River to see the famed red wooden houses.

Next, we browse through some local shops, before having lunch at a local restaurant.

One of my friend expressed interest in picking wild berries and mushroom, so our friend drove us to a nearby hill after lunch for a hike.

As it is already late autumn, there were not many berries around, but we still managed to find some bilberries (looks & taste very much like blueberries), and lingonberries (red version of bilberries).

There were also some mushrooms around, but they are not edible.

*Disclaimer: As our friend is very knowledgeable on such berries & mushroom, he is able to distinguish what can be eaten and what cannot be eaten. Pls do not attempt to pluck and eat such berries & mushroom even though they look similar, unless you are able to distinguish the berries and mushrooms!

After some hiking exercise, we made our way back to Helsinki, stopping by Sibelius Park to see the Sibelius Monument, a sculpture dedicated to a famous Finnish music composer, Jean Sibelius.

We bade farewell to the friend, and went to Stockmann to do some shopping. Our dinner was settled at Hard Rock Cafe, afterwhich we headed back to the hotel to pick up our luggage to begin our journey to the Lapland.

Up Next: Finland & Norway Trip Day 3 - Santa Claus Express to Rovaniemi & Santa Claus Village

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