🇫🇮 Natural wonders of Finland
The land of a thousand lakes and vast northern forests — reaching above the Arctic Circle into Lapland, one of the world's great places to witness the northern lights.
🗓️ Best time for nature: Late August to early April for the aurora; December–March for deep snow; June–July for the midnight sun.
The lay of the land
Finland is shaped by ice and water: glaciers scoured the ancient bedrock and left behind tens of thousands of lakes and mires amid endless boreal forest. In the far north, Lapland lies within the auroral zone, where the northern lights ripple across the long polar nights, and the extreme seasons swing between the round-the-clock midnight sun and the deep polar dark. Reindeer roam the fells, herded as they long have been by the Indigenous Sámi.
Where to begin
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Finnish Lapland
Arctic wilderness of forest and fell, and prime northern-lights country.
A taste of the place
Finnish and especially Lappish food draws on the north: sautéed reindeer with lingonberry, Arctic char and salmon from clean waters, and wild cloudberries and lingonberries gathered from the forests.
Traveling responsibly
- For the aurora, seek dark, clear skies away from town lights, and be patient.
- Dress in serious layers for extreme Arctic cold.
- Respect Sámi culture and reindeer-herding lands.
Finland is forest and water on a vast scale — glacier-scoured bedrock dotted with tens of thousands of lakes, stretching north above the Arctic Circle into Lapland. There, within the auroral zone, the northern lights dance across the long polar nights, and the seasons swing to extremes: the endless daylight of the midnight sun in summer, the deep dark of the polar night in winter. This atlas begins Finland’s chapter in that Arctic wilderness, among reindeer, snow, and shimmering skies.
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