Honeymoon - Finland: Rovaniemi - Helsinki

It was the end of Rovaniemi... we took the bus all the back to Rovaniemi airport. Took about 3 hrs in total. We were early at the airport since the timing of the bus was fixed. 
This was the bus... 

 The airport is really quite small... and the café is so-so... 

Beautiful sky upon departure. 

We took Norwegian Air to Helsinki, cost about $333 for 2 person. 
Upon arriving at Helsinki, we took their train HSR from the airport to city centre. Cost 5 euros per person. Took about 30min to city. 
https://www.hsl.fi/en/timetables-and-routes/terminals/transport-links-helsinki-airport

The train is clean and nice looking, spacious too!

The screen show the journey, hard to get lost. City centre is the last stop.

We went to check in at our air bnb, hurried did some laundry before heading out for dinner. 
The sunset is early, so it gets dark pretty early.

We went to Lappi Restaurant for a good Lappish meal! The ambience was quiet and cosy. We had a traditional salmon soup for starter, reindeer fillet and fried whitebait for our main course. The whitebait wasn't quite nice for me as I find it too jelat after eating a few. Maybe because it's fried? 

We enjoyed our night stroll back and planned for the next day. 

Honeymoon - Finland: Rovaniemi - Saariselka

The next morning was our checkout day :(
So we spent our morning finishing up our snowman.... and our end products! :)
Isit CUTE??? *loves*

So we headed off to get to our bus stop that will bring us to Saariselka. The resort drove us out and was kind enough to drop us at the bus stop.  The bus stop is outside the main resort area. Just a simple sign....

Scenic roadway

Saariselka is further up North, the town is small, mainly a resort village, but it's really worth spending some time here to do your activities here! We kinda regret for staying so short. 

We stayed at Saariselka Holiday Club, right at the centre of the town area. 

We went to a café at the front corner of Holiday Club. It's called Café Porotupa, a small hut but so lovely, warm and friendly. The food was great too! And the berry juice here is just perfect. I fell in love with berry juice here in Finland, and I can't seem to find a place that sells this... :(
There are only 2 such tables inside this lovely café. 

After that, we went for a tour around Saariselka. We hopped on the bus that is a loop, and paying 5euros, you can hop on and off through the day. We went to check out Saariselka Ski & Sport Resort, and I thought it was going to be boring... but I was wrong. 
This ski resort is so huge and seeing them ski in the cold weather, i'm fascinated and wished I had learnt how to ski. 
BTW … Saariselka Ski Resort is the northernmost ski resort in Europe! 

Look at this kid. So young so smooth in skiing already. 

We walked to the various slopes and admire them, before heading up to the summit of Kaunispaa. It's called KAUNISPÄÄN HUIPPU in Finnish. 
You may refer to the Ski bus timetable for the stops and timing. Note subject to changes. Here's the link. 
https://saariselka.com/saariselka/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/Ski-Bus-timetable.pdf


The summit was beautiful. Vast white land covered with snow overseeing the village. 
So here, those who ski can take the chair lift up to the summit, and ski all the way down. 
It looks steep …. and long.....
There's a restaurant as well. 

Everything looks frozen here. 

You can also take the toboggan down the slope, which is so cool. We couldn't because we didn't know, and the toboggan is self collection at the bottom. So you carry up the summit then go down. 

It was getting quite cold and snowing with strong winds, so I headed to the restaurant to hide while waiting for the last bus to go back down. 
We went back to our hotel and had dinner and got ready for our night activity - Night Snowmobile safari! 
This cost us €145.00 per person... Not cheap but worth the experience. It is a 3 hr tour, with someone picking you up at your hotel. Depending on the weather, if it is snowing heavily, the tour might be cancelled/ postponed. 

Suiting up was a tough job. The overalls are thick and heavy because it has to keep you warm, and they are very particular about ears cause that's where you will feel cold first and it will make you cold overall. We have to wear their shoes too, cause it's also thicker and waterproof. Strictly no go-pros or big cameras in the pockets cause you might lose them. 

That's all the photo I have for the night snowmobile because it's dark, cannot take pictures. 
The guide taught us how to use the snowmobile, it's like riding a bike except safer (stable). There are strict travelling speeds, so he makes sure these are adhered to during the journey and also1 single file. Off we went to hunt! 
We went deep into the forest and it was really dark. We stopped at one of the hut in the jungle where he took out warm juices and bread for us as a pit stop. 
We further continue deeper, hoping to catch a glimpse of northern lights. 
Unfortunately we didn't. :(
But nonetheless, this tour is definitely exciting for me, riding a snowmobile for the first time. 
If we had stayed one more day, we might have done this again or do another tour for aurora hunting! 
We ended close to midnight and the tour operator dropped us off at our hotel. 

Honeymoon - Finland: Rovaniemi - Kakslauttanen

This day was also one of my bucket list and I seriously never thought I would really stay in this place! This whole trip has lots of things that made me feel so surreal and am so glad my boy was so accommodating to fulfill my wants :)

So, we had to reach the bus terminal early where the bus leaves at 8.21AM.The bus journey takes about slightly over 3 hrs. Please reserve your bus ticket as ours were packed. It passes through one of the train station where many people hopped on. Also, although we didn't reserve seats, we were lucky because we were the first stop. However, I would strongly recommend reserving seats if you are not the first stop in the bus journey. We did reserved seats for our other journey. It cost additional 2.50 per seat... 

We finally arrived at.... Kakslauttanen Arctic Resort!!! I can't pronounce that right, so I always call it the "K" hotel. hahha… Check out the beautiful pictures they have, it does look the same in real life. 
http://www.kakslauttanen.fi/accommodation/#glass-igloos

The resort is really quite big, and because it's quite far off the city area, you settle your lunch/dinner and activities within the resort which they have quite a lot of activities for you. 
Breakfast and dinner is included in the night's stay, so you have to settle lunch yourself (ala carte/ buffet)…

When we reach the main resort, there is east and west village. You will have to wait for their driver to pick you and send you to the right check in village. 

Our little glass igloo that cost a bomb. It is really LITTLE and i'll show you why. 

Our unit right at the end

So, our LITTLE igloo. You open the door, once you step your feet in, the right side is a small tiny toilet, enough to fit a small basin and toilet bowl. No shower facilities mind you. There is a shared facilities elsewhere. On the left, there's a rim of space that places the kettle pot and some teabags. And then, the bed. The distance between the bed and the "bench/wall" is around 1 metre only. We had to put our luggage on the low bench.

At the height of 164cm, I still have to bend my head...

The twin bed

Our souvenir from the resort

My poor boy who is 183cm, had to keep bending his body... so poor thing. Everything seem so tiny in this igloo. 

Oh, also, even though it's expensive, there's not butler service. Our igloo was quite far from the resort, and with the pile of snow, how do you carry your luggage over? 
They provide this sledge?? Not sure if it's the right word, but yea, a trolley without wheels. 

Something new I've learnt! So, if you want stay at the igloo house, you better know what you are in for! 

Me enjoying my ride back

We booked a Reindeer Safari ride with the resort because of the timing wise, we couldn't do husky, so there we go. The tour guide will pick us at the resort, and a short ride to some wilderness.... Before we start, she made sure we were well equipped as it will get cold. She said our hats were not good for the cold, so she gave us the "real" thing with ears covered, and also really warm blankets.

One of the caretaker for the reindeer will walk with one of the reindeer in front, and we get sledged, while a back reindeer followed. 

Our ride was slow, something I didn't really expect. Towards the end, it was getting colder even though the hats and blankets were really thick. 

DID YOU KNOW?
Not all reindeers have antlers? Males have antlers, while some female in certain populations have and some don't. Males shed off their antlers in winter or spring, while female in summer. 
Males use their antlers during mating season to chase or fend off other reindeers. Then once mating season is over, the antlers fall off and start growing new ones. 
Something I didn't know until the guide shared! 

Then the guide showed us around the place, how the herders live etc. 
She brought us to a typical tent that Sami people will stay, also known as Teepee. 
She warmed us up using firewood and shared about the herder who walked with us, who is young and what they do daily. 

TIP! For cheaper tours for reindeer or husky rides, be sure to research well enough for reputable and cheap tours. We chose to do the ride at the resort because we were short of time, but it's cheaper to do them at Saariselka which we were heading there after this, of course if you have plans to go Saariselka (RECOMMENDED!). 

We headed back to rest and also played with snow. It was snowing, and the weather didn't looked too great. And then we decided to build a snowman! Building a snowman isn't as easy as I thought! In movies you see they gather and roll up snow and throw at people.... it doesn't work here! We spent some time googling and found out that the snow needs to have moisture and wetness to hold it together! 

By the time we were halfway through, it was dinner time so we headed to the main resort. The dinner is a 3 course meal, and it was nice! That night special was lobster salad, and look at this! Huge chuck of lobster! Fresh but also abit salty, but it was gooooood. 

Fresh fish fillet

Dessert - which the boy liked, but I didn't

We walked around the space to check out the resort, and also admire the night lights before going back. We had an early night lying down, hoping to catch some northern lights. But guess what, we fell asleep. HAHA... we set alarm at 1 or 2AM, woke up, see nothing and immediately went back to sleep. We didn't even bother to wait up. HAHAHA...

Honeymoon - Finland: Rovaniemi - Ranua Zoo - ROKA

A visit to the zoo in the Arctic region is a must. Living in a tropical country, where we (Singapore) probably has the best zoo in asia, it's quite boring to visit other zoos around Asia. We have most of the animals, albeit all caged. 

So, going to an Arctic zoo is pretty cool! Because firstly, the animals that you are going to see are probably rare, and hard to find elsewhere because of the climate. Also, some animals habitat is really huge! 

Well, at least I got to see a huge polar bear that's not behind a glass wall if you know what I mean.

To get to Ranua Zoo, head over to Rovaniemi Bus Terminal, Bus No 6 goes to Ranua. Takes about an hour. The word covered with snow is "Linja autoasema" - Bus station in Finnish. http://english.ranuazoo.com/

The zoo is quite huge, so be prepared to spend the whole day plus, a little of quickening steps. We took our own slow pace and taking lots of photos and had to rush slightly towards the end. Some of the pretty animals that I've never seen. 

oh, if you need lunch, the restaurant back at the entrance of Ranua Zoo serves daily buffet. Probably your only choice. There is another smaller restaurant opposite. 

Such pretty owl

Actual size of the polar bear

It looks small when we were up there looking down. He was standing waiting for food.

Lunch hour. I saw oranges... 

Reindeer

Back in town, we chilled at a coffee shop before settling for ROKA restaurant randomly, and it was awesome. The reindeer meat was the best!

We ordered a starter - "Flavours from the North" which consisted of salmon, Archipelago bread (Finnish kind of bread), reindeer sausage with lingonberry mayo, smoked vendace (fish), cucumber, and fish mousse. I didn't quite appreciate the bread and the smoke vendace though. Acquired taste. 

And tadah! Reindeer fillet! It was really tender. The texture is more towards beef I think? 

Reindeer meat

It was really a very good dinner. We headed back early to pack and leave for the next day! 

Honeymoon - Finland: Rovaniemi - Santa Claus Village

The next day was my favourite day. Santa Claus Village! 

We took bus no. 8 from the town area that brings you all the way to the entrance. Buy return bus trip for €3.90/pax. 

You can check out the details here: https://santaclausvillage.info/

The village is quite big and we spent our whole day there. There's quite a fair bit of activities to do if you are willing to spend... we didn't cause my intention was really exploring this special place. Home to Santa (if you believe), and where the Arctic Circle runs through this village. 

During this season, Santa Park wasn't open unfortunately as it is only open during Winter.

The pillar and lines draws the Arctic Circle

Next stop we went to the Post office! Writing lots of postcards to family members as a token! Surreal to send postcards from the village, something I have been dreaming of since young. Be prepared to have the addresses ready, and depending how many you are sending out... it took me some time to finish writing all of them!

And the best salmon I've ever eaten is right here. Santa's Salmon Place. 
It's a small hut so the seats are limited. The salmon is cooked freshed, so be prepared to wait. And... it is not cheap. 
Something to note also is that here in Finland, there is no air-con system in the hut/houses because there is never a need to use that. Except some has a heater. So even at our Airbnb, we kept a small window open to circulate the air, but of course it gets cold after a while, so have to "agar agar" yourself. 

 

 

This guy had some fun on the snow, which I will never do that cause I was freezing like hell. 

 

I really love this place, I bet it will be even wonderful and starry during Christmas season. 

If I can, I definitely will want to come back again to Finland.