As seen on
Grace's Finland & Norway adventure
Lapland
From
This trip supports
- Overview
- Itinerary
- Esential info
- Reviews
- Packing list
Grade:
Entry Level
Type:
Cultural
Transfers
Duration:
10 Nights
6 - 6
Group size
Leaders
Tour Highlights
- Experience the Northern Lights
- Tour northernmost of Europe in Honningsvåg, Norway
- Sightseeing in Helsinki & Turku, Finland
- Overnight cruise through the Norwegian fjords
- Beautiful lakeside hotel in Inari, Finland
- Aurora hunting photo tour
Experience the very best of Northernmost Europe on this private group adventure holiday
This bespoke private adventure combining both Finland & Norway takes you right up to the northernmost wild region of Europe through stunning scenery with fjords, endless ocean and cliff coast. The scenery offers breathtaking views of the mountain plateau and endless ocean whilst you cruise along the Norwegian fjords like the Vikings of old.
The natural environment in Finland is unique and plays an incredibly important role in the lives of Finns. Known as the ‘land of a thousand lakes’, Finnish Lapland has one of the largest archipelagos in the world. With the forests considered as ‘green gold’ beneath the majestic luminescence of the Aurora Borealis, it is indeed a magical land.
Back in the days before any of the main religions reached Finland, people believed in the Gods, spirits, and elves living in the forests – perhaps you will meet them.
Finland was named the happiest country in the world for the fourth time in a row in 2021, and this is no accident: Lapland’s incredible natural beauty is where people go to relax and take time off from their busy schedules, calming them down. Experience the Finnish way of bathing and relaxing in a sauna - with even an icy plunge in a frozen lake! - finding happiness in your everyday life as the locals do.
Day 1 - Tuesday 22 Oct 24 - Arrival in Helsinki, Finland
Flights
Transfer
Breakfast
Boutique Hotel
Welcome to Helsinki!
You will be greeted at the airport and transferred to your hotel
No. of room(s): 3 Twins
Overnight: Original Sokos Hotel Albert (Centrally located)
Day 2 - Wednesday 23 Oct 24 - fly to Kittilä, Finland, for the Northern Lights
Flights
Transfer
Breakfast
Boutique Hotel
We transfer you back to the airport for your flight north to Kittilä.
We then transfer you to your hotel in Levi before your three-hour night drive begins to experience the Northern Lights:
Immerse yourself in the mesmerising world of the Northern Lights on our unforgettable Lapland adventure. As night falls, we’ll pick you up from your accommodation and embark on a thrilling journey to witness this spectacular natural phenomenon. Our experienced tour guide will lead the way, utilizing their expertise to find the optimal spots for spotting the awe-inspiring Aurora Borealis.
Our Northern Lights search takes place in the heart of Lapland, nestled within the Northern Lights belt. From the enchanting autumn darkness to the vibrant spring, this extraordinary phenomenon can be observed throughout the season. Stay awake, embrace the beauty of the Northern Lights, and create memories that will last a lifetime on this captivating tour in Lapland.
No. of room(s): 3 Twins
Overnight: Break Sokos Hotel Levi (Countryside location)
Day 3 - Thursday 24 Oct 24 - Alta, Norway
Transfer
Breakfast
Boutique Hotel
We transfer you to Alta over the border in Norway to explore this stunningly picturesque coastal city.
No. of room(s): 3 Twins
Overnight: Thon Hotel Alta (Centrally located)
Day 4 - Friday 25 Oct 24 -Honningsvåg tour & cruise, Norway
Boat/Ferry
Overnight Ferry
Transfer
Breakfast
Dinner
Private transfer by bus Alta - Honningsvåg which departs at: 07:30
Activity • Honningsvåg Private North Cape Tour start: 11:15 and ends: 14:15
Join the North Cape Winter Tour to the northernmost of Europe. The journey goes through stunning scenery with fjords, endless ocean and cliff coast. There will be great photo opportunities at the North Cape. You get to explore the North Cape Hall with its rich variety of sights. Immersed into the mountain cliff awaits a spectacular panoramic film that takes you on a journey through four seasons in a landscape full of contrasts, light and breath taking scenery. The scenery offers stunning views of the mountain plateau and endless ocean. You will also find an exclusive gift shop, historical displays, a post office, Thai Museum and the St. John chapel with its unique architecture. At the end of the journey we bring you back to your ship in good time before its departure.
Now it is time to set sail aboard your Hurtigruten Cruise from Honningsvåg to Kirkenes!
Departure: 14:30
Arrival: 09:00
No. of cabin(s): 3 Twins
Overnight: Hurtigruten Cruise
Day 5 - Saturday 26 Oct 24 - transfer to Inari, Finland
Transfer
Breakfast
Boutique Hotel
After debarking your cruise ship we will take you via private transfer from Kirkenes back over the Norwegian border to Inari, Finland, and your beautifully situated hotel by the lake.
No. of room(s): 3 Twins
Overnight: Wilderness Hotel Inari (Countryside location)
Day 6 - Sunday 27 Oct 24 -Inari Aurora hunt!
Transfer
Breakfast
Boutique Hotel
Aurora Hunt by Car is one of our well-known aurora gazing activities. We will try to hunt down the Auroras with a car. In good weather, we will head for one of the specific camp spots, to try and photograph this phenomenon. If the weather doesn’t look so promising, we’ll head further out in search of clearer skies. During the trip, the guide will serve some warm drinks and snacks. This relaxing trip is suitable for everyone!
No. of room(s): 3 Twins
Overnight: Wilderness Hotel Inari (Countryside location)
Day 7 - Monday 28 Oct 24 - Rovaniemi, Finland, Aurora hunting photo tour
Transfer
Breakfast
Boutique Hotel
Your group will take a public bus from Inari to Rovaniemi
Departure: 07:22 Wilderness Inari
Arrival: 12:15 Rovaniemi
After you have checked in to your hotel and had a nice rest in the afternoon, you will join the Rovaniemi Aurora hunting photo tour, for approximately 4 hours:
Our bus will take you to several different spots to give you the best change to chase the northern lights. Our guide will take some nice photos of you during the tour, playing with light for funny photo effects. You will also get tips on how to set up your own camera for night photography. If we are lucky we may see the aurora dancing in the sky. In any case, you will experience a lovely night with great photos as a memory. Hot drinks and gingerbread cookies are included.
Included: Driving to best aurora spots (about 200 km) with a bus, hot drinks from a thermos with gingerbread cookies, photographing and online link access to the photos, winter clothing if needed, guiding in English
Please note: The Northern Lights are an unpredictable natural phenomenon and our evening safaris are made to give you a chance to observe them, but unfortunately, we cannot guarantee that they will appear.
No. of room(s): 3 Twins Aurora suite
Overnight: Nova Skyland Hotel (Regional location)
Day 8 - Tuesday 29 Oct 24 - Rest day in Rovaniemi
Transfer
Breakfast
Boutique Hotel
This is a day for you all to relax and take in the beautiful atmosphere and enjoy the facilities of the hotel.
Optional Activity • Rovaniemi (NOT INCLUDED IN THE FINAL PRICE. LET US KNOW IF YOU WISH TO ADD IT) Aurora ice floating, 3 hours
Dip yourself into frozen lake under the Auroras and let your mind rest, sounds bizarre doesn’t it! Tonight this is possible! This guided floating is totally safe with a high quality rescue suit that covers your whole body and keeps you dry. As you have your own clothing under the suit you will not get cold even in the open 0 degree water. The circumstances are truly arctic! If the weather is clear we can see beautiful stars and may even get to marvel magnificent Northern Lights.
Supp. Price: GBP£: 100.00 per adult
No. of room(s): 3 Twins Aurora suite
Overnight: Nova Skyland Hotel (Regional location)
Day 9 - Wednesday 30 Oct 24 - Train to Helsinki, Finland
Train
Transfer
Breakfast
Boutique Hotel
Catch the train for a scenic journey back down to Helsinki and take a taxi to your hotel.
No. of room(s): 3 Twins
Overnight: Original Sokos Hotel Albert (Centrally located)
Day 10 - Thursday 31 Oct 24 - Return train to Turku for walking tour
Train
Breakfast
Boutique Hotel
Take the train to the picturesque ancient town of Turku where you will be met by your local guide for a two hours for walking tour.
Turku, a city on the southwest coast of Finland, straddles the Aura River. Dating from the 13th century, it's known for Turku Castle, a medieval fortress with a history museum, perched at the river mouth. Restaurants line the cobbled riverside streets. On the eastern bank lies the Old Great Square, a former trade hub, surrounded by grand buildings.
After some delicious food take the train back to Helsinki.
No. of room(s): 3 Twins
Overnight: Original Sokos Hotel Albert (Centrally located)
Day 11 - Friday 01 Nov 24 - Departure
Flights
Transfer
Breakfast
We transfer you to the airport for your flight home, full of happy Scandinavian memories!
Adventure Optional Extras
Plant an additional 15 trees for your adventure
Carbon Compensation is not the perfect solution, and it is important to first reduce our carbon emissions as much as we can, yet trees remain an excellent natural technology to sequester carbon dioxide from the atmosphere to slow global warming.
For every client and guide who attends a YellowWood Adventure, we donate £30 to our partner charity WeForest to plant 15 trees to (over) compensate for the carbon footprint of the tour.
We also invite our clients to match this with an optional additional £30 for another 15 trees to be planted to help compensate for the carbon footprint of their international flights.
WeForest run many tree planting and tree maintenance projects such as this seedling nursery in the Amhara region of Ethiopia, the Amazon Rainforest in Brazil and many other projects in other countries including Zambia, Malawi, Tanzania & India.
Click Here to find out more about their amazing projects around the world.
Contents
Accommodation
We fully believe in, and practice, Responsible Tourism, using hotels run by locals. We put time and effort into building our relationship with them to ensure you have a a great trip.
We choose hotels based on cleanliness, comfort, safety, proximity to our route (to avoid unnecessary extra travel), and a warm client welcome, as well as reliability in their service to us. Some hotels will be basic, and in modern buildings and or in towns. Wherever we can, we will choose smaller more characterful, individual hotels, but in areas where tourism is still developing, this may not be available.
Travel & Arrival
Finding flights
Flights are not included in the cost of your holiday, and whilst we are happy to help advise you, responsibility for booking the correct flights rests with you. We recommend that you use a comparison tool such as www.momondo.co.uk or www.skyscanner.net when searching for flights. We will send you a Flight Information Sheet with further pointers on which flights to book.
Foreign Travel Advice
For the latest travel advice from the Foreign Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO), including security and local laws, plus passport and visa information, check www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice. We also receive notifications direct from the FCDO so we are always aware of the ‘status’ in our destination countries.
Insurance
Holiday insurance is essential for all Yellow Wood Adventures. Unfortunately, anyone without insurance is not able to take part in the holiday, so please make sure you arrange cover. We recommend arranging your insurance cover when you book so that if you have problems during the run up to your holiday, and need to cancel, you are covered.
YellowWood partners with battleface as a travel insurance provider. Click here for a quote.
battleface insurance is provided in the UK by battleface Insurance Services Limited, a UK insurance intermediary authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Details provided on this webpage are for information only. Terms, conditions, exclusions, and limitations apply. Always read the description of cover contained within your policy to ensure it is suitable for your needs.
Prior to the holiday, we will ask you to send us details of your insurer, policy number, 24 hour emergency assistance contact details and the name, address, and telephone numbers of your NOK or persons to be notified in the event of an emergency.
You must ensure the travel insurance you purchase provides you with suitable cover for the entirety of your trip. Your travel insurance must include cover in the event that you have to cancel for a reason outside your control prior to departure, for any medical expenses you may incur whilst away (including repatriation in the case of medical need) and for the activities which you may participate in during your trip.
General Information
For information on Lapland, such as climate, weather, language, social norms, food & drink etc, please have a read of our Country specific information.
Reviews
Catherine LA
Thanks so much YellowWood Adventures! We had such a brilliant time. The perfect trip with lots of adventure and lots of time to relax too!! One of our best holidays ever! Really appreciate everything and all your attention to detail to make sure we had such a brilliant itinerary! We can’t wait for our next trip.
Lapland: A Winter Adventure
Receive a 15% discount off Water-to-Go filtration water-bottles to help reduce plastic waste.
Compulsory
- Passport & insurance documents
- Credit / debit card for ATM use
- Prescription medication & antibiotics such as Azithromycin to stop serious traveller's diarrhoea
- First aid kit: paracetamol, antihistamine cream, ibuprofen cream, thermometer & blister kit (eg plasters & zinc oxide tape)
- Washbag & usual contents
- Travel adaptor model C
Items for walking / sightseeing in Finnish Lapland
- Warm, windproof and water-resistant winter coat or parka, hip length or longer and with a looser fit so it can easily fit over bulky sweaters, and layers that are as important as the warm outerwear
- Warm, comfortable and water-resistant trousers / pants (those designed for skiing are perfect)
- Warm winter shoes / boots (waterproof), for example leather hiking boots
- 1-2 pair of warm (and waterproof) woollen gloves
- A warm, thick and windproof beanie or something that protects both your head and your ears from the wind and cold weather
- A warm scarf to keep your neck warm
- Shoes to wear around the sauna - NB flip flops aren't good in the snow
- Swimwear
- Warm pyjamas / nightwear (flannel, wool, cotton)
- Woollen socks or slippers for relaxing inside
- Warm, moisture-wicking and well-fitting socks - merino wool recommended
- Woollen pullover or sweater
- Merino wool underwear: a long-sleeved top and a set of bottoms
- A Headlamp or flashlight as daytime is very short
- Some dry bags or waterproof cases to keep your phone and any electronic gear dry
- 20-30L daypack for hiking / sightseeing, preferably with waist and ideally, chest strap
- Water-to-Go filtration water-bottle & additional storage water-bottle - ideally 2 litres per person
- Extra batteries for your electronic gear, as batteries die faster in cold weather
- Sunglasses and high factor suncream
Optional
- Mini crampons that fit your walking boots - available from stores such as Blacks, Decathlon etc
- A good face moisturizer
- A moisturizing lip balm
- A camera and tripods for capturing the Northern Lights and low light situations
This trip supports
Need a little help?
All adventures can be tailored as private bespoke trips.
Please contact us for more information:
+44 207 846 0197
Related Adventures
Booking Process
Select dates: Choose the dates for your adventure and consider adding any extra adventures or add-ons to enhance your experience.
Check the box to agree to our Terms & Conditions.
Make Booking: Click on "Make Booking." If you're booking more than 56 days before your adventure, you'll be redirected to secure WorldPay to make your deposit. If it's 56 days or less before your adventure, you'll need to make full payment. Rest assured, your money is held securely by the Travel Trust Association.
Your booking will show as 'pending' in your YellowWood online account.
Confirmation: We'll be in touch as soon as possible to confirm your booking or discuss any availability limitations. Please refrain from booking transport or flights until we've emailed you to confirm your booking. (Note: Receipt of your booking form is not confirmation.)
Making payment: Once your booking is confirmed, we'll change the status of your final invoice from 'Pending Approval' to 'Outstanding,' indicating that it's ready for payment online.
You will receive a reminder email for your final payment 56 days before the departure date.
Feel free to contact us with any questions about your adventure or booking, we're here to help!
Grading
To help you choose the right adventure for you, we have given each itinerary a grading that relates to the level of Walking / Trekking you will experience during the trip. This grading can be found on the Yellow map on the adventure page of the website.
All of our trips involve a level of general activity so are designed for people who are in good health, enjoy the outdoors, and have a taste for adventure and some level of fitness. As will be clear from our destinations, the climate (and altitude) may be different to that which you are used to, so please take this into consideration when choosing the most suitable holiday.
Please read our Adventure Itinerary & Essential Information for more information and don't hesitate to contact us if you would like to chat through whether you have found a suitable adventure for you.
Grade 1-3: Entry Level
You need to be in good physical health to enjoy your active holiday, but you don’t need to be an experienced hiker. These itineraries offer a mix of sightseeing and easier walking for around 2-4hrs a day, with the emphasis on sights and cultural experiences.
Walks will be well marked or on defined pathways, and often around sites of interest. The expected amount of descent/ascent will depend on the landscapes of the destination, but will not exceed 400m/day, and will often be much less. Walks are at low altitude (below 3000m).
You will not be required to carry more than a day sack with water and essentials. Ensure you are aware of the weather conditions likely in the destination you are visiting and have a pair of comfortable and worn in walking shoes/boots.
Grades 4-6: Intermediate
You need to have a good level of fitness and be a regular walker for these adventures, with ideally some trekking experience. You can expect to be walking for 3-6 hours per day, not including rest stops, normally on good trail paths but with some uneven surfaces at times.
You will not be required to carry more than a day sack. You may be walking in more challenging temperatures. You will generally be walking at low altitude (below 3000m) but may walk at altitudes up to 4000m. The amount of ascent could be up to 800m in a day but will frequently be less. You may walk on consecutive days.
Ensure you are aware of the weather conditions likely in the destination you are visiting and have suitable clothing for this adventure.
Grades 7-9: Challenging
You need to have a good level of fitness with previous experience of trekking. Extra training before your trip will ensure that you get the most out of your adventure. Areas will be remote and terrain uneven.
Expect to walk for 5 – 8 hours a day, not including breaks, with some very steep ascents and descents. You will be walking at altitude (over 3000m but not higher than 5000m).
Ensure you are aware of the weather conditions likely in the destination you are visiting and have suitable equipment/clothing for this adventure (see the packing list for your adventure).
Please check individual itineraries for details of what you will need to be carrying with you.
Get in touch
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