In Finland: Europe's Last Great Wilderness
Copy and images by Joe Wall, Regent Seven Seas Cruises
In Helsinki, Finland, nature is never far away, and Finns have a palpable passion for it. But where do the world’s happiest people go to recharge in dense forests, commune with wildlife, swim in pristine waters — even breathe the world’s purest air? The people of Finland head north to their country’s Lapland region, commonly known as Europe’s last great wilderness.
Some background: It’s not hyperbole to call Finns the world’s happiest people. For five years in a row, the Nordic nation has topped the annual World Happiness Report. The air? According to the World Health Organization, the level of airborne particles in Finland’s air is, on average, 6 micrograms per cubic meter — the lowest level for any individual country. And with more than 75% of its land area covered by woodlands of spruce, pine, and birch, Finland is indeed the most forested country in Europe. Its people feel a genuine connection — a 2021 survey indicated that 87% of Finns feel that nature is important because it provides them with peace of mind, energy, and relaxation.
In Finland, Europe's Last Great Wilderness
One of Finland’s 19 official provinces, the wild and sparsely populated Lapland (‘Lappi’ in Finnish) stretches north from just below the Arctic Circle at the port city of Kemi. The vast area of Lapland also crosses Sweden (‘Lappland’ in Swedish), Norway (‘Finnmark’ in Norwegian), and northern parts of Russia. Though it spans 30% of Finland’s land area, Lapland is home to just 3% of its population, meaning there are as many shaggy, good-natured reindeer in this beloved subarctic region as people.
Finnish Lapland is homeland of the Sámi, the only indigenous people within the area of the European Union. Located mostly in northernmost Lapland, the Sámi have a rich cultural heritage and speak three languages, all of them rooted in a reverence for nature. Approximately 10,000 Sámis live in Finland out of an overall population of 5.5 million. The Sámi Museum Siida and Sámi Cultural Centre Sajos in far-north Finland celebrate the strong connection the Sámi people have with their traditional homeland of Sápmi (the preferred Sámi name for the region).
This relationship with the outdoors and reverence for natural resources has long extended to non-indigenous Finns and is best understood in the Finnish term for wilderness: erämaa, which translates to ‘the land of erä’ (nature’s bounty). It typically refers to the untamed and untainted wild that today is represented by national parks and other protected areas, including Lapland’s ‘erämaa-alueet’ (‘wilderness areas’) that preserve both nature and traditional Sámi culture. The concept of erämaa became a symbol of Finnish nationalism in the 19th century — the nation declared its independence from the Russian empire in 1917 — and was championed by painters, writers, and musicians as a cornerstone of Finnish identity.
Lapland is more than pure air and breathtakingly big skies. Extreme seasons within the Arctic Circle reward visitors with radically different experiences: Winter brings endless nights lit by the aurora borealis (Northern Lights), alpine ski slopes and cross-country trails, snowmobiles for hire, reindeer safaris, even a visit to Santa’s ‘home’ in the Finnish Lapland capital of Rovaniemi, 72 miles north of Kemi. Summer brings the natural phenomenon of the midnight sun to most of Lapland, which means round-the-clock salmon fishing, setting out on lakes and rivers aboard kayaks and canoes, and exploring the diversity of natural landscapes that include Finland’s three largest national parks.
Besides reindeer, herds of which are commonly seen grazing freely in grasslands and roadsides, a variety of animals inhabit Lapland’s sheltering woodlands. The brown bear is Finland’s national animal and features prominently in Finnish mythology. Wolverines — the largest member of the weasel family — Arctic foxes, the Eurasian lynx, Lapland owls, golden eagles, and a variety of hawks also call the wilderness home.
In such a heavily forested land, it’s no surprise that generations of Finnish children have grown up with an assortment of mythical creatures lurking in deep waters and flitting amidst the trees. Some had counterparts in the folklore of neighboring Nordic peoples, but the historically agricultural lands of today’s Finland meant that its mythical creatures were heavily associated with nature. Most date back centuries. In 1551, Mikael Agricola, a bishop and clergyman who is often called the ‘father of written Finnish,’ assembled lists of known deities and creatures in Finnish mythology. These lists were later used in the creation of Kalevala (‘Land of Heroes’), a 19th-century national folk epic compiled by Finnish folklorist Elias Lönnrot.
A sampling of these mythical creatures must include the Hiisi, ancient forest gods with pagan origins that help hunters get prey. They are not to be confused with Menninkäinen, leprechaun-like creatures who seek out shiny objects that many believe inspired J.R.R. Tolkien’s Hobbits (Tolkien admitted to a fascination with Finnish mythology). The tiny Keiju are beautiful, humanoid creatures with butterfly wings that reside in misty meadows, while Peikko are the feared ‘boogeymen’ of Finnish mythology who kidnap wayward children. As proof that not all creatures take human form, Iku-Turso is a fearsome, giant-octopus-like creature that’s similar to a dragon-winged Kraken.
Charming Kemi is a new port of call for Regent Seven Seas Cruises®. Situated on the Gulf of Bothnia near the Swedish border, it is approximately 440 miles north of Helsinki and 57 miles south of the Arctic Circle. It is best known as the home of Lumilinna (Kemi Snow Castle), the largest snow structure in the world that’s open year-round and features a restaurant serving traditional Finnish cuisine like smoked fish, reindeer and cloudberry, a chapel, art exhibitions, and more. At Sisäsatama, Kemi’s ‘Inner Old Harbour’, learn about the Lapland region’s seafaring history on a tour of the historic Icebreaker Sampo before visiting the Smoke Hut of Yli-Jaakheikki, a restored fisherman’s dwelling built in a village near Rovaniemi in 1796.