Where to stay in Savukoski
The right area depends on your trip. Here's who each one suits — pick the place, then the hotel.
Savukoski offers only the barest stock of beds, the kind of remote Lapland municipality where a wilderness cabin or a simple guesthouse is the room, not a hotel. The small village centre, the only built-up point in this Arctic corner of Finland, holds the few rooms near the shop and the Kotiseututalo Puistola, and it suits travellers who want a base before heading out into the country. It is the one settled spot.
Far out across the fells and forests, fishing and hunting lodges and self-catering cabins stand alone by the rivers, the usual base for anglers, hikers and hunters who come to Savukoski for the empty wilderness rather than for any town. Beds are scarce and scattered. Visitors drawn to the reindeer past or the old border line of the Salpalinja often stay in these wilderness cabins, while many travellers instead sleep in the larger towns of Lapland and drive the long road in for the day.
Book well ahead, since rooms in this far Arctic country are very few.
About Savukoski
What is Savukoski known for?
Savukoski is known for empty wilderness, one of the most remote corners of Lapland, in the Arctic north of Finland. Fishing, hunting and hiking draw the few visitors who come, out across the forests, fells and rivers of a municipality larger than many a country. The land swallows the traveller.
The reindeer past shows in the old separation grounds such as the Saarivaaran poroerotuspaikka, the local story is kept in the Kotiseututalo Puistola, and the wartime Salpalinja recalls the defended eastern border that runs through this far Arctic edge of Finland.
What are the main landmarks in Savukoski?
The Kotiseututalo Puistola is the landmark that holds Savukoski's story, the local heritage house that keeps the past of this remote Lapland municipality. Reindeer herding shaped the land. The old separation grounds such as the Saarivaaran poroerotuspaikka mark where the herds were once gathered and sorted across the fells.
The wilderness farm of the Tarkkalan erämaatila preserves a backwoods homestead with its outbuildings, the hamlet of Mukkala recalls the scattered settlement of the forest, and the wartime Salpalinja runs along the defended eastern edge of this Arctic corner of Finland.
What is the history of Savukoski?
Savukoski's history is a story of the backwoods and the herd. Long before the municipality was chartered in 1916, this far corner of Lapland was a land of scattered forest homesteads and reindeer herders, places like the wilderness farm of the Tarkkalan erämaatila and the hamlet of Mukkala marking the thin settlement among the fells. The forest set the rhythm.
Reindeer were gathered and sorted at separation grounds such as the Saarivaaran poroerotuspaikka, and logging crews worked the rivers of this Arctic backcountry, floating timber down the waters in the short open season. The wider world reached even here. The wartime Salpalinja, the fortified line built along the eastern border, ran through the country during the years of war, and the conflicts of that age left their mark on the remote parish.
Recovery followed slowly. Savukoski settled back into its long quiet as one of the emptiest municipalities of Lapland, its memory now gathered in the Kotiseututalo Puistola, the heritage house that keeps the story of this Arctic edge of Finland.
Where is Savukoski?
Savukoski stretches across an enormous, almost empty tract of eastern Lapland, in the Arctic north of Finland. Forests, fells, bogs and rivers fill a municipality larger than many a country, with the one small village centre lost among the wilderness. The land runs on without end.
Reindeer move across the fells where the old separation grounds like the Saarivaaran poroerotuspaikka stand, the wilderness farm of the Tarkkalan erämaatila lies deep in the backwoods, and the rivers of this far Arctic country run on toward the empty borderland of eastern Finland.
What is the climate of Savukoski?
Savukoski lies in a harsh subarctic climate, among the coldest country in Lapland, in the Arctic north of Finland. Winters are long, dark and bitter, deep snow and hard frost gripping the fells and forests of the municipality for the greater part of the year. Summers are short and bright.
The endless light of the Arctic summer thaws the rivers and warms the wilderness for a few brief weeks, the open season when anglers and hikers come to Savukoski before the long dark and the snow return.
How do you get to Savukoski?
Savukoski lies far out in eastern Lapland, in the Arctic north of Finland, and reaching it means a long drive. The road runs in from the larger towns of Lapland to the small village centre, the only settled point in this vast and remote municipality, and a car is all but essential once you arrive. Public transport is sparse.
A few buses serve the route, but travellers almost always drive the long road into Savukoski before heading out across the fells, forests and rivers of this far Arctic country.
Where Savukoski sits
Boundaries © geoBoundaries (CC BY) & Wikidata (CC0); water & neighbours: Natural Earth.