Where to Stay in Posio, Lapland

Posio is known for its wide waters and the fells of southern Lapland, a municipality of lake and forest in the Arctic north. The hanging bogs and snow-laden spruce of the Riisitunturin kansallispuisto draw walkers to the high fells, and the church village gathers around the Posion kirkko. Water fills the kunta.

Wooded islands such as the Hakkusaari and the Sammalsaari stand in the lakes, and the old log-floating bases of the Lapin uitto- ja savottatukikohdat near the village of Sirniö carry the working past of this corner of Lapland.

The Riisitunturin kansallispuisto is the landmark that draws most travellers to Posio, a national park of hanging bogs and snow-bent spruce crowning the fells above the lakes. Water shapes the rest. The church village holds the Posion kirkko, the wooded islands of the Hakkusaari, the Sammalsaari and the Vellikannansaari stand in the lakes, and the old log-floating bases of the Lapin uitto- ja savottatukikohdat near the village of Sirniö trace the timber trade of this part of Lapland.

Posio's history is the history of settlement around the great waters of southern Lapland, the lakes worked by fishers and trappers long before the modern kunta took shape. Early people of the area lived by the water and the forest, the wooded islands of the Hakkusaari and the Sammalsaari and the scattered farms of the lakeshore marking a thin Arctic settlement around the village that would become Posio. Lake and forest came first.

The old farm of the Naumanniemen talo keeps the marks of that early life on the water. The municipality itself was chartered in 1926, the church village gathering around the Posion kirkko on the shores of the kunta. Timber later drove the economy, the log-floating and logging bases of the Lapin uitto- ja savottatukikohdat moving wood down the waterways from the forests around Sirniö and the wider parish.

The high fells above the lakes were later protected as the Riisitunturin kansallispuisto, guarding the hanging bogs of the heights. Posio settled into its modern role as a lake-and-fell municipality of Lapland, its life still set by the water, the forests and the long northern winters.

Posio lies in Lapland, in the Arctic north of Finland, a large municipality of lake, forest and fell set far inland. Water covers much of the kunta, the wooded islands of the Hakkusaari, the Sammalsaari and the Vellikannansaari standing in the lakes while the church village around the Posion kirkko holds the centre. Fells rise to the heights.

The hanging bogs of the Riisitunturin kansallispuisto crown the high ground on one edge of the parish, marking this remote corner of Lapland.

Posio has the harsh subarctic weather of southern Lapland, its seasons set by the great lakes and the high fells of the kunta. Winters are long, dark and deeply snowy, the ice locking the wooded islands of the lakes and the high bogs of the Riisitunturin kansallispuisto from early autumn until a late thaw. Summers are short and bright.

The long northern daylight warms the water and the forests around the Posion kirkko through the brief open season, the weeks of walking and paddling before the snow returns to this part of Lapland.

Posio is reached by road through the lake country of Lapland, in the Arctic north of Finland. Most traffic comes by car along the main road to the church village around the Posion kirkko, the natural centre of the spread-out kunta. No railway runs out this far.

Buses link Posio to the larger towns of Lapland, and travellers from farther afield reach the Arctic north through the regional cities and airports before the last long stretch into the fells and lakes of the parish.