Hiking in Lapland

Walls of Kilpis apartment complex and Saana fell in background

Our next destination in Hiking in Finland blog is going to be Käsivarsi Wilderness area in Lapland, where I’ve been hiking in two occasion. Last year (2008), I went and conquered Halti fell and this year (2009), I visited couple other popular destinations in the area. Before we can get into Käsivarsi Wilderness area, hikers will usually travel to village of Kilpisjärvi in North-West corner of Finland. There are at least three choices, how you can get their. Popular choices for transportation are:

• flight to Kittilä and take bus from there to Kilpisjärvi
• night train from Helsinki to Kolari and take bus from there to Kilpisjärvi
• take bus ride from Helsinki to Kilpisjärvi

My choice in both times has been night train to Kolari and bus from there to Kilpisjärvi. You will arrive to Kilpisjärvi in early afternoon. If you have reserved room in Hotel Kilpis or reserved cottage for a last night before trip back home, you still have time to drop your spare clothes and other stuff that you don’t need in hiking trail, get some lunch and take taxi for the last leg of our journey to beginning of hiking trail.
One thing that I probably should mention about lunch is that there are something like four places in Kilpisjärvi, where you can get some lunch. First three places are Ida-Sofia’s cafe, which usually have just one choice, Tuulan Kahvila, which can make pizzas, hamburgers and such and Haltinmaa, which has lunch buffet. These three places are within walking distance from each others and pretty close to local market and Hotel Kilpis (which kitchen is only open from 17-23). Fourth place for lunch is called Retkeilykeskus, which also has some buffet, if I remember correctly from last year, but its few (3-5) kilometers north from the rest.