Laanila guest house becomes the Saariselkä tourist centre with 15 ski slopes
Saariselkä originally meant an extensive fell area. Today, it is particularly well known as a tourist centre next to a main highway, only thirty kilometres or so from Ivalo airport. Regular flights to Ivalo began in the 1950s.
Saariselkä, Saaritunturit, Koilliskaira
Saariselkä, Saaritunturit, Koilliskaira is the territory of the local reindeer herders' cooperative and a paradise for hikers, a Sámi Homeland and a popular hiking destination. Today, reindeer paths and hiking trails crisscross the area in perfect harmony. The wilderness, described as the most fabulous fell area in Finland, was given a seal of protection in 1983 when the Urho Kekkonen National Park was established.
The road to Ivalo was completed in 1914. Before then, the Ruijanpolku trail, reportedly the oldest trail in Lapland, ran along the west side of the Saariselkä fells. Ruijanpolku was used by the tax authorities and merchants, the clergy and the general public when travelling across the fell region to the Arctic Ocean. Today, the Ruijanpolku trail has been restored and marked as a hiking trail from Sompiojärvi to Laanila.
Completed in 1912, the Laanila inn was the region's first accommodation enterprise. The Lower Kaunispää Cabin was moved from Rovaniemi to the headwaters of River Kaunispäänoja and opened for tourists in 1949. The Upper Kaunispää Cabin was built in 1952 on top of the Kaunispää fell. Prior to that, the only buildings on the top were a small fire guard hut and a wooden lookout tower. Built in 1955, Sininen pirtti (the Blue Hut) was the first restaurant in Saariselkä.
Due to the development of tourism, the range of restaurants and accommodation services has grown over the decades. Many companies and private owners have also built recreational huts in the area.
The first ski lift in Saariselkä was completed on Kaunispää fell in 1970. More services are now provided in response to the challenges posed by the growing number of tourists. In 2016, Kaunispää and Iisakkipää have a total of 15 different slopes. The environs of the Saariselkä tourist centre offer a total of approximately 200 km of maintained ski trails in winter and marked hiking trails in the summer. Marked snowshoe trails are also available for hikers. In the summer, these are nature trails with information boards.
Norhern nature welcomes hikers
Many hikers return to Saariselkä year after year to ski on the glittering snow in late winter, to admire the splendour of the autumn colours, or to enjoy the midnight sun in Lapland. Shaped by the last ice age, the area of round-topped fells offers easy access and attracts hikers to enjoy the rugged northern nature.
Nature and the environment and a wide range of nature activities are the key reasons for visiting Saariselkä. The Saariselkä tourist centre was specifically built for tourism purposes, to provide a range of services for nature lovers, tourists and hikers in wonderful scenery, no matter the season. Today, the Saariselkä area is an international tourist destination.
The construction and development of the area, which began in the 1960s, has turned this resort, the northernmost in the European Union, into a highly popular travel destination. Construction has focused on a compact planning zone, to keep the services close by. Another purpose of this is to protect the beautiful fell area and preserve the fragile northern natural landscape as close to its original state as possible.
Kullervo Kemppinen's Reindeer Trail invites you to hike
The Saariselkä fell area has been popular among hikers for many decades, long before the establishment of the Urho Kekkonen National Park. However, in the 1950s and 1960s the numbers of hikers were modest compared to now. The Urho Kekkonen National Park is now one of Finland's most popular hiking areas.
Kullervo Kemppinen (1921–2012) was one of the early hikers in the 1950s. He was first introduced to the land of the fells while flying eight missions during the war. The fell landscape made an everlasting impression on the mind of this young Air Force officer. In later years, he was a regular hiker in Lapland for many decades and wrote books about his trips.
Kemppinen was a lawyer and writer, and had been awarded the honorary title of ‘laamanni'. He has been fascinated by Lapland and Saariselkä since the 1950s. Enchanted by Lapland, Kemppinen wrote several books inspired by the trips he made during the course of five decades.
His books include wonderful descriptions of nature, interesting tour stories and an abundance of hiking instructions and practical tips. In his books, Kemppinen also describes gold diggers, the hermit Meänteinen (Reijo Savinainen) and other inhabitants of the wilderness.
Kullervo Kemppinen's first book, Lumikuru, was published in 1958. The very name of the book, ‘snow gorge', anchors the hiking and nature experiences in the very heart of the Saariselkä fell area. Published in 1961, the book Poropolku kutsuu (call of the reindeer trail) made the Saariselkä area even better known.
Kullervo Kemppinen is considered the virtual discoverer of Saariselkä. Thanks to his books, the area became increasingly popular and the numbers of hikers grew. Over the decades, marked hiking trails and nature trails have been introduced alongside reindeer trails in the area.
The number of open wilderness huts and reservable huts has grown since the days of Kullervo Kemppinen. The Urho Kekkonen National Park, established in 1983, has enhanced the status of the entire area as a nature tourism destinatio.
The Urho Kekkonen National Park guarantees visitors genuine contact with northern nature at all times of the year. There is direct access from the tourist centre to the nearby fells or the very heart of the wilderness, the traditional Saariselkä which forms the core of the Urho Kekkonen National Park.