Amazing Arctic village with best chance of winter snowfall and Northern Lights
A far flung village in northern Finland has some of the best snowfall in Europe and chances of seeing the Northern lights.
If you have been feeling that your winter experience hasn't quite been cold or dark enough this year, then Inari may be the place to go. In the bleakest point of mid-winter the frost whipped settlement gets just four and a half hours of sunlight a day.
It also has a lot of snow. The winter weather in Inari lasts for seven months, meaning a near guarantee of a thick piling for close to half the year. Along with a solid blanket of glistening white stuff, the skies above have a tendency of breaking into great bursts of colour.
Situated as far north as it is and being very removed from all but a minimal amount of light pollution, the dark skies of the northern Finnish countryside are the perfect canvas for the Northern Lights.
Winter sticks around for half the year in Inari (Getty Images)The Aurora Borealis appears under a huge doughnut shaped ring that is centred around earth’s magnetic north pole. If you travel to a location right under the 'doughnut' or Aurora oval, then you maximise your chances of seeing the Northern Lights.
Gales, snow and rain to batter country today with 80mph wind gusts
Inari is located at 68°50′ of latitude north, which lies about 165 mi north of the Arctic Circle and right under the Aurora oval. This means there is an incredibly good chance of seeing the natural firework display when the sky is clear. Given that the Earth is entering a period of solar maximum that increase Aurora displays to levels not seen for five years, there couldn't really be a better time to go.
There are other reasons to check Inari out. The surrounding Lake Inari is the third largest lake in the country that is home to local fish species such as trout, lake salmon, Arctic char, white fish, grayling, perch and pike, as well as 3,000 islands.
Of those the most intriguing is Hävdieennâmsuálui or Graveyard Island - a historical sacrificial site for the Sámi people. One of the best ways to get around the lake during the summer time is on an electric-hybrid catamaran, which is environmentally friendly and very quiet. When the Northern Lights are showing a night can be spent in a floating Aurora hut laid on by boutique chain, Wilderness Inari.
The eco huts are equipped with double beds and incredible views of the northern sky – and hopefully, the Northern Lights. Nearby is the family-owned Inari Reindeer Farm which offers river trout fishing, reindeer hiking and reindeer driving tours close to the town. The farm is run by Jan-Eerik Paadar, a local reindeer herder and second-generation of the Paadar family.
Today the village itself is home to about 500 people, so it is far from big. However, people had been living on the shores of Lake Inari for thousands of years. Several stone-age dwellings have been found in Vuopaja, on the edge of town.
Happily Inari is located along the main road E75 and less than 40miles away from the international airport of Ivalo. To get there from the UK, fly to Helsinki on airlines including Finnair and British Airways, and then take a connecting flight up.
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