Bear Country

Today we will visit the jewel of Lapland – world-famous Santa Claus Village. The village is built right on the arctic circle and is an official residence of Santa Claus. His elves are here as well, creating masterpieces in ice galleries and working hard in Christmas workshops. There is no other place on Earth there the Christmas spirit is felt stronger! it is filled with a supernatural sense of wonder and kindness that will make you fall in love with this place and let you bring to life the Christmas fairy tales from childhood! After sending letters to our loved ones from Santa’s busy post office we will have lunch in a restaurant. From here you will have an option of either continuing exploring Santa Claus Park and watching the elf show, or going for a reindeer ride. Rovaniemi is not just a residence of Santa Claus though, it is also the birthplace of many famous snowmobile brands. Nowadays the city is home to Lynx factory – the biggest snowmobile manufacturing in the world that, in fact, produced the very snowmobiles you’ll be riding next day! We will visit Santa’s Museum of snowmobiles and see the huge technological evolution of these machines from the first prototypes made 60 years ago to the state-of-the-art concepts. After a long day filled with emotions, we will have dinner and transfer back to the hotel in Rovaniemi.

On the third day we will finally meet our snowmobiles and start our adventure! After tasty breakfast we leave Rovaniemi in the morning and transfer to the border between Finland and Russia and from there to a little village of Kairali. All together the bus transfer will take just 3 hours. In Kairali you’ll be met with lunch and our professional guides who will properly welcome you to Russia! Following safety briefing, driving tips, and equipping protective and cold weather gear, we ride along the route Kairali – Vuorijärvi – Kutsajoki river – Yaniskengas waterfall – Vuorijärvi. In the first day we will cover 80 km on a well-conditioned snowmobile track. Midway through the route we will make a break to go snowshoeing to the waterfall and have tasty lunch. On the first night we’ll stay in comfortable pinewood cottages for four people each. Here we will be met by dinner in a spacious dinning room. Sauna and swimming in ice hole is available on demand but highly recommended.

After breakfast, we drive south through national reserve Kutsa. With luck, we might meet moose along the way. Then, we will cross Polar circle and continue our route through the borderless taiga. We will stop to fish at a forest lake and have lunch by a campfire. Our day finishes at Niska lodge in Karelian village of Zasheek by the picturesque lake Pyaozero. Here we will stay for the next two nights in twin en-suite rooms. Dinner will be served in lodge’s restaurant.

After breakfast, we will say goodbye to Niska lodge and continue our tour. The majority of the sixth day route will go through the lakes Kundozero, Kukas, Notozero, Kichany and Kovdozero asleep under thick layers of ice. We will make a lunch break at a beautiful place with a view on a non-freezing rift. To finish the day we will have dinner and stay the night in a comfortable hotel in Kovdozero.