Thinking of booking a holiday to Finland over the Christmas – New Year period for me and the OH

Why?

I’m gonna propose!!! Hopefully under a sky filled with the Northern Lights at the stroke of the new year :)!!!

OH and I love snowboarding so I’m looking for a place that lets us indulge in our second favourite past time (most fav obviously biking). The northern lights are also supposed to be the best they’ve ever been in over 50years and my OH has always dreamt of seeing them. So figured I’d combine the two and make the proposal something never to forget. So Finland is the spot.

Only problem – I’m not overly flushed with £££’s. Has anyone been skiing/boarding in Finland before to pass on some money saving tips?? Looking to travel on the 27th or 28th December until January 1st.

Thanks very much!

Finland’s an archipelagos, you’ll be snowboarding indoors then.

Oh and although I saw the northern lights in Vaasa one year it was the coldest winter they had had. I’d go for Norway or Iceland if your after the Northern Lights!

Very nice idea, I’d suggest you skip the boarding unless it’s a passion of the OH too. Keep the trip focused on the two of you and the proposal. Spend the snowboarding money on a dinner / engagement party / something based around the OH

You need to go quite far north in Finland to get to any real slopes. Wont be cheap and no guarantee of Northern Lights.

No guarantee of northern lights.

You still have time to reconsider.

So far after proposing the stress of arranging a wedding has sent my mrs bonkers. Delay if poss 😉

Congrats

If you’re gonna do it, make it fun! This was me (and the soon to be Mrs Legend) halfway down “Hot Luvin” in Les Arcs (well La Plagne) this summer:

IMAG0005 by mark_p2511, on Flickr

No organisation stress in this household, piece of cake really!

come off it – his’n’hers matching trousers. You’ve been married for years !

If you look closely you’ll notice the his ‘n’ hers Fives too 😉

come off it – his’n’hers matching trousers AND nearly matching filing cabinets. You’ve been married for years !

😉

Love it Legend!

I thought Finland was the winner for the northern lights, am I wrong here??

It’s something I have just decided on over these past weeks after hearing the OH talking about it and how she would just kill to go boarding in a place with the northern lights. I had wanted to propose for a while, it just sounded like a perfect combo to me

From what I know finlands dear…..great pic above,your missus got some dust in the goggles?

Having a few Finish mate I suggest you make some Finnish friends….go out drinking with them. *spoiler alert* It will probably involve a hilarious night including homemade vodka, insults about Swedish people, drunk pikey rally car driving and the possibility of falling into a lake and freezing to death in the Finnish wilderness.

Enjoy!

“Just take whatever you want, but please don’t hurt us!”
~ Russia on Finland.

Worth bearing in mind.

Been to Yllas in January before. Its not really a mountain more of a 700m high hill, don’t expect length and variety of runs you would from a proper mountain resort like the Alps or Canada. Levi is the other side of the hill and much the same. Good if you like cross country skiing however.

It is up in lapland in the arctic circle, and I did see the Northern Lights when I was there however I don’t know if was the time of year or the fact I wasn’t far enough north but they wern’t the super incredible lights you regularly see in photos, more of a greenish tinge to the sky with a bit of a oscillation to it.

Only other comments I would make is that there wasn’t much in the way of a town / bars or much for apres ski, alcohol is expensive and predominantly pear cider.

Oh and it gets ****** cold, like -31C cold at night before wind chill.

If I had the choice I’d go else where if you are serious about your snowboarding.

Reindeer is pretty tasty mind.

And in reference to the post above, they all do national service, and the couple of Finnish mates I have are a) hard bastards b) pretty massive c) slightly mental d)Generally quite nice people though.

Legend you’re Howard and Hilda and I claim my £5

(Ever Decreasing Circles on You Tube for the very young).

If you’re gonna do it, make it fun! This was me (and the soon to be Mrs Legend) halfway down “Hot Luvin” in Les Arcs (well La Plagne) this summer:

I’m glad some one else has done it ‘half-way’ 🙂 Almost exactly two years since I rode up Snowdon with a girlfriend and back down with a fiancee. We almost got swept off our feet by the wind at the halfway station and turned back after 15 minutes, cycling shoes, thin slushy snow and hidden rocks limits the fun factor when pushing. Plus it was frikken freezing!

We got a cheap deal to Levi a few years back. It was so cold. About -18 during the day and dipped to -32 at night. The previous week had been -50 and no one had been allowed on the slopes. No northern lights either. It was a good experience but not sure I’d go again. Rather go to Austria or Italy.

Oh, I thought you were going to ask if you could buy another bike!

Good luck, anyway.

Bear in mind Finland is very VERY dark that time of the year. Our visit to Lapland to see Santa last year was pretty much complete darkness, and it was so cold even the Lapps were commenting on it.

I live in Finland, in Helsinki. I’m originally from Whitby, UK. So, you want to come snowboarding in Finland? Well, for me it would cost the same to have a week in a great ski resort in the Alps, as it would to have a week at a place in Finland. You need to decide whether you want something different (like Finland), or some place with BIG mountains (Alps). There aren’t any indoor places here. There are lots of small to medium resorts dotted about allover finland, with loads of really good park sections. Don’t listen to the doubters such as MrNutt, he’s quite wrong.

In the north of finland (look north beyond Rovaniemi) it begins become hilly. It’s quite like the lake district or the scottish highlands. The ski resorts aren’t huge, but there are plenty of routes and lifts to keep it interesting. Finns like to party, so they can be a nice crowd.

For snowboarding, i suggest Ruka and Levi. Sääriselka is good for XC skiing. You can often rent snowmobiles at these places too, and the XC skiing is more fun than it sounds (worth trying for a day).

If you’re flying over here, best look at Finnair/British Airways or Flybe. Unless you stay in a resort, you’ll probably need to rent a car (£££) as the public transport system is really sparse in Finland (even in Helsinki). You can transfer from Helsinki Airport onto a connecting flight to whatever Finnish airport you want. It would take about 14hrs or so driving from Helsinki to Rovaniemi on snowy roads (if you’re not experienced, it’ll probably take longer).

Lastly, you can see the northern lights anywhere. If it’s dark and isolated, you’ll have a great chance. Finland is good for that reason, as barely anyone lives here, especially in the north. It’s also one of the most likely places to spot the NL outside of Siberia. But… don’t hedge your bets on it. Many Finns have never seen them, despite regular visits to the north.

If you need more advice, send me a message. My address should be in my profile.

Good luck!
Cheers,
Rich

I’ve been to Saariselka and Yllas – at least twice to each resort.

It does get cold, we’ve experienced -37 Celsius, the snowboarding is intermmediate level at best, small mountains and limited runs….

…but it’s a fabulous place to visit and the Fin’s are great people 😀

oh and we’ll be going back again in the New Year 😆

Ignore the comments about ‘poor’ Northern Lights. The photographs of them are always more intense than they are in real life – long exposure is the clue! We’ve seen them on about 60% of our visits and my wife’s taken some really good photo’s!!

I say go for it and Good Luck with the proposal 😯

I am off to Joensuu in February to watch some ice hockey 😆 if it isnt below -25 I will be surprised. When I was living there we had a week where it got to -40. Still cycling 😆

I have seen the NL in Joensuu a few times, you just have to be lucky with them.

Good luck with the proposal

Cheers for all the advice guys! Gonna start really looking into it over the next few days and see what I can magic up in way of a good deal.

Thanks hansrey for the offer of advice, if I get stumped I’ll be sure to get in touch

I second the post from hansrey above. I had some fantastic snowboarding at Ruka and Levi – not the biggest hills, but great snow and still good fun. The northern lights were also amazing there, but we may have just been lucky!

Not sure I can help withe getting there on the cheap sorry, seemed very expensive when we were there – worth it tho!

Good luck!

Finnish girls are hot. You might be tempted by an upgrade.

I’m tempted by going to Lapland at the back end of Feb for my first Snowboarding/Skiing trip with my girl friend. Hoped to catch the Northern Lights as well.

It does seem very expensive though, it’s looking like £2.5k all in for the both of us, expensive for a week.

This might be an idea for pooping the question. A night in a glass igloo under the northern lights.

Good luck to you! I hope it works out and you have a really lovely time on holiday, THEN an awesome life together!

I can’t offer any advice to you bout Finland, but I will say that it is a land filled with mentalists. And booze is expensive.

At least the stuff that doesn’t make you blind is.

pooping the question.

You’re doing it wrong.

You’re doing it wrong.

Oops

This might be an idea for pooping the question. A night in a glass igloo under the northern lights.

That’s awesome!

Definitely want to go there, thanks!

Definitely want to go there, thanks!

Check that there’s paper there before you do, though.

😉