Finland Day 1

Finland is one of the most beautiful places I’ve visited and unlike anywhere I’ve been before! A few people have asked me why we visited Finland, and it was really because of the Northern Lights. Seeing the Northern Lights has been on my bucket list for years!

I came across an article on the best places to view the Northern Lights, and saw that in the Lapland area of Finland, they can be visible around 200 nights a year – I was sold! Next up was deciding where to stay. The article mentioned the Nellim Wilderness Hotel as a hotel option in the area. After doing some research, I found that this hotel comes highly recommended from visitors as well. What I especially loved about Nellim Wilderness Hotel is that they offer package deals that include all of your activities, meals (the food was delicious btw!), winter clothes (sadly, not the ones pictured in this photo haha), and transport to/from the airport. We chose the 5-day Arctic Explorer package and we loved it!

Our activities on this package included snowshoeing, dog sledding, snowmobiling, a visit to a reindeer farm, and two aurora excursions. We loved all of the activities, but my personal highlights were snowshoeing, dog sledding, and getting to see the Northern Lights, of course! Stay tuned because I’ll be sharing more on all of the activities in future posts.

These photos were all taken on our first day there. We arrived in the afternoon on St. Patrick’s Day on a direct flight from London. After settling into our room (loved the rustic chic vibe – above), we immediately pulled on our winter coats and snow boots and set out to explore the property. The property is quite large with walking trails that lead you through the forest and to the nearby frozen lake. You can also borrow snowshoes and cross-country skis from the lodge, if you’d prefer to get around that way.

We enjoyed walking around, playing in the snow, and taking in all of the magic that Nellim had to offer. We kept commenting on how pristine the landscape is and how it’s the most peaceful place we’ve ever visited. It really was a trip unlike any other! As the sun started to set, the clouds started to drift in and the temperatures quickly dropped. With the cloudy weather, our hopes of seeing the Northern Lights on our first night swiftly dropped. Instead, we headed back to the lodge in search of warmth and called it an early night.