Into the Arctic: Finland + NORWAY
February 2023.
In the lead up to my 30th birthday, I was, like I think a lot of other people do, having a bit of a life crisis. I decided I needed to do something big to distract myself from the feeling that I was running out of time, or not achieving enough in life so I decided it would be a great idea plan a trip! I feel like most things in my life are in some way inspired by books, music or art, and this was no different. When I was 12 I read a book that changed my life, the Golden Compass (also know as the Northern Lights) by Philip Pullman. I was completely captivated by this series, I had always loved magic, and so was enraptured by the worlds within the story, the arctic, auroras, talking bears, witches & other universes – it wholly captured my imagination.
As an adult I’ve come to realise that the real world holds it’s own kind of magic, and I really feel that travelling and experiencing new places, new people & cultures is the closest we can come! My Mum was gracious enough to tag along which was perfect.
And so we began our adventure! We started with a quick stop in Helsinki, and in hindsight I would have loved to spend longer here, but maybe next time! We got on another plane and set off for Ivalo, a village in Lapland that’s popular for northern lights viewing and other wintery activities. The first bit of novelty came before the plane had even left, as we watched them spray the wings with de-icing fluid. A common thought we had while we were there, was just how expensive it must be to live in such a cold climate, there’s so many things to be done to survive, something we don’t really appreciate coming from Australia! Once we landed in Ivalo it was like stepping out into a dream, this was the first time for both of us seeing proper snow, so it was magical.
After a quick walk around to explore, we got to go on a sunset snowmobiling expedition through the incredible Finnish landscapes. It was honestly everything I’d dreamed of–we drove through the Arctic forests, filled with snow covered trees and over a frozen river. While I didn’t get to take many photos during the expedition, or of the forests, we did get to stop for photos and hot chocolate at a view point and to watch the sunset. It was such a fun and memorable experience! Later this night we also experienced the coldest temperatures of the trip, it got down to -28c which is honestly hard for me to fathom looking back! Luckily we had spent a loooot of time researching and planning what to wear, so we didn’t struggle too much with the extreme temperatures, but I have to say it took a little while to warm up after the snowmobiling! Our accomodation for the night was an adorable northern lights igloo, where we tried to stay awake as long as we could to get a little glimpse of the aurora. If you look at the last image above, you can see the very slight green tint to the sky, nothing we could see with the naked eye, but still exciting.
The next day we were on the move again, we piled into the bus and drove through the snow covered landscapes on our way to Honningsvåg, a small fishing village, and the northernmost town in Norway. The drive was so beautiful, we started and ended the day with magical pastel skies, just the kind of scenery I had dreamed of when planning the trip. We made some stops along the way, the first where we ended up having an impromptu snowball fight. Later in the day we stopped at Olderfjord, and got to witness the most dreamy pink sunset over the fjord and the mountains. Although we spent a lot of time on the bus this day, it was totally worth it. I love a road trip, and just driving through these incredible scenes was so captivating and magical.
Finally, we arrived in Honningsvåg! To get here you have to travel through a subsea tunnel to reach the island of Magerøya that the town is located on. One unique thing about Norway is the amount of islands they have along the coastline. It makes it an incredibly beautiful place to explore. As a side note, I would love to come back in the summertime and see the Lofoten islands especially, I would have loved to on this trip as well, but we just didn’t have time to see everything we wanted–just a good excuse to plan the next trip I suppose! We had a bit more free time in Honningsvåg and so that gave us the opportunity to just go for a leisurely stroll to explore, which we loved! It’s an incredible beautiful area, surrounded by the most majestic mountains.
This evening we also had the chance to visit the North Cape, which is the northernmost point of Europe. It was very blizzard-like conditions so visibility wasn’t great, but still a very cool place to visit. You can see the landmark in the photo below, and I can imagine the views during the daytime over the cliffs are picturesque!
Continuing our journey, we made our way to Alta - where we would get to see more northern lights & a visit some huskies! We started with a visit to the igloo hotel at Sorrisniva, which is built from scratch every year using snow and ice they harvest locally. You can also stay a night inside the hotel, which would be a unique experience for anyone who’s brave enough to try it!
The next day we made our way to Trasti & Trine which is where we did our husky sledding expedition! They have around 60 Alaskan huskies, and compete with the sled team internationally. We also stopped here for lunch, which was amazing. I would definitely recommend allowing plenty of time if you’re thinking of visiting, because the food is delicious, and they also have beautiful cabins you can stay in if you’re hoping to stay a little bit longer.
Our final stop in the Arctic was the city of Tromsø, another of my must-sees for the trip. We arrived in the evening, so waking up in the morning it was a beautiful surprise to witness the incredible surrounds of our hotel. It’s a small city surrounded by sea and mountains, a combination of factors which is definitely my favourite for a city. We had planned to spend the day going up the Fjellheisen cable car, but sadly the extreme winds meant this wasn’t running while we were there. Instead, we decided to explore the city on foot. The most striking thing about Tromsø is the abundance of colourful wooden buildings through the city, and so we had the best time wandering around looking at the architecture, and exploring through the plenty of shops and museums. My favourite thing was visiting the Perspektivet museum, which had a great exhibition on arctic photography by Evgenia Arbugaeva, it was perfectly on theme for the trip, and such incredible work!
If you’ve read this far, thank you! Another post coming soon with some photos from our time in Prague, then England :)
Alice x