Road Trip from Ivalo to Nordkapp

Day Five: Rovaniemi

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Rovaniemi’s most famous landmark is the Santa clause village on the Arctic Circle. The Village’s main attraction, the arctic line is a hotspot for visitors to freeze the frame. Visit to the village would be incomplete without meeting with official Santa Clause in his office. Santa greeted us with a warm "Namaste" and spent couple of minutes recalling his trip to India. Santa Claus’ Main Post Office in the village is another hotspot where one can send post cards with an official Santa stamp. After a day spent at the village, it was time to head back to our cottage and get ready for the flight back home, a flight packed with wonderful memories of five days spent travelling through astonishin...Read More

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Day Four: Inari

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Inari is the administrative centre of Finland’s sami population. The drive to Inari took us about 5:30 hours back through the picturesque Norwegian country side and Finnish landscape. While in Inari, one can tour a reindeer farm, visit a sami cultural museum, go for a cruise on Lake Inari or just hike in the wilderness. After having spent considerable amount of time on the read, we decided to call it a day and enjoy the Finnish suana in our cosy holiday village and a salmon dinner.

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Day Three: The Bird Island and Nordkapp

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Morning of day three, started with a bird cruise to Europe’s largest bird mountain on the Barent Sea. Our guide for the day equipped us with necessary waterproof safety clothing before setting sail. Apart from millions of birds, one can also encounter dolphins, seals as well as jelly fish on a bird cruise. The main attraction of trip was of course the sea of puffins and seals!In the afternoon, we decided to hit the road to Nordkapp, usually referred to as the northern most point of Europe at 71°10'21" latitude and 25°47'40" longitude. Nordkapp is famous for it’s mid-night summer sun, where the sun never goes below the horizon. Although we missed the mid-night summer sun treat, standi...Read More

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Day Two: Gjesvaer, Norway

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"Norway is a very expensive country. Pack your car before you cross the road to Norway from Finland" warned our friends in Helsinki. We followed their advice and started out on Day 02 after a brief stop at the local K mart for essential ingredients for the next two days. As you drive deep in to the Norwegian country side, the landscape changes from Rolling Meadows lined with coniferous trees to Rocky Mountains of the artic region.The four hour drive from Karigasniemi up to the fishing village of Gjesvaer takes one through breathtaking fjords of northern Norway. Our stopover for the day, Barents Cabin, is amazingly compact yet well equipped. The village of Gjesvaer has a population of...Read More

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Day one: Ivalo to Karigasniemi, Finland

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We stumbled upon the dim possibility that all of us, four adults and a toddler, with our "Indian" luggage would fit into the rental that would be waiting for us when we reach Ivalo, the staring point of our five day road trip through the Lapland, from Finland to Nordkapp in Norway, the land of midnight summer sun. An hour’s flight away from Helsinki, we touched down at Ivalo airport, northernmost airport in Finland. The airport’s arrival hall with log walls, fireplace and artwork can be easily mistaken for the reception area of a cosy resort in the wilderness.Equipped with the most essential travel tools – A GPS and dossier containing day wise itinerary, we packed ourselves and...Read More

We stumbled upon the dim possibility that all of us, four adults and a toddler, with our "Indian" luggage would fit into the rental that would be waiting for us when we reach Ivalo, the staring point of our five day road trip through the Lapland, from Finland to Nordkapp in Norway, the land of midnight summer sun.

An hour’s flight away from Helsinki, we touched down at Ivalo airport, northernmost airport in Finland. The airport’s arrival hall with log walls, fireplace and artwork can be easily mistaken for the reception area of a cosy resort in the wilderness.

Equipped with the most essential travel tools – A GPS and dossier containing day wise itinerary, we packed ourselves and our Indian luggage into a brand new Volks Wagon SUV that was arranged by the rental company at a last minute's notice. Our first stop over would be Karigasniemi 150 KM away from Ivalo. The summer july sun was shining bright – a rare sight during the rest of the trip- and the temperature hovered around a maximum of 18 degrees and minimum of 8 degrees.

We drove out of the airport and within twenty minutes faced our first roadblock, a herd of reindeers in the wild! The landscape from Finland to Norway changes dramatically as you drive along except for the sight of reindeer grazing. Our Finnish friends had warned us to keep away from these gorgeous animals. Apparently they can be troublesome if disturbed.

The drive to Karigasniemi moves along numerous lakes, waterbodies and quaint little towns. We passed a number of holiday makers on the way with their caravans and fishing gear, heading for their summer destinations.

Our stopover for the day, Napakettu holiday village, is situated by the river Karigasniemi. This village consists of five well equipped log cabins for 4-6 persons each. Our hut turned out to be on a higher ground over looking the river with a kitchenette, Sauna and TV. We decided to spend the evening enjoying the sauna and cooking up a delicious meal with ingredients purchased from the local K Mart. Depending on the season, one can hire boats, canoes or Snow mobile and enjoy the nature or simply go fishing in the river.

Time taken from ivalo to Karigasniemi: 3 hours

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