Arrival at Kuusamo airport and approximately two hours transfer to Martinselkonen Wilds Centre, which is a former border guard station renovated into a modern guests house. Check-in, dinner and briefing about the week’s programme.

After breakfast we will start right away! We start our expedition heading east until we reach our furthest point. Lunch will be served at a wilderness cabin maintained by the Finnish Forest and Park Service on an open fire. And at the destination a traditional wood-heated Finnish sauna awaits us, whose heat feel simply good after skiing several hours in the cold.

On the second skiing day we will walk through the pathless Martinselkonen nature reserve, which is dominated by numerous swamps and ancient spruce forests. In these primeval forests live e.g. brown bears, which sleep in their dens under the thick snow cover until April. Wolf, lynx and wolverine are also at home in these forests. Very rarely you can see these shy animals yourself, but numerous tracks in snow reveal their invisible presence almost every day. In the afternoon we reach our destination for today, the Arola Guest House, famous for its’ delicious food made from local ingredients. Dinner will be served in the relaxing atmosphere of a traditional long house.

Today, a circular hike through the Martinselkonen nature reserve awaits you, over swamps and through spruce forests, always following the tracks of reindeer. At noon we stop for lunch in the Teerilampi Wilderness Hut. Coffee and hot soup are prepared over an open fire and served with a selection of sandwiches. In the afternoon we return to Arola for another night to continue enjoying the nice atmosphere and the warm hospitality of the hosts.

Today is the longest cross-country skiing day of all: we are now heading far north. On the way we will experience different types of forests, lakes and numerous swamps, which are very typical for the Finnish landscape. Lunch is enjoyed roughly halfway through the tour. Our accommodation for the last two nights will be Rajakartano another former guard station. Now we are already on the shore of Lake Hossanjärvi and almost inside the Hossa National Park. Again, there is a change to relax in a traditional Finnish sauna and this time, the more adventurous amongst us, can try ice swimming –dip yourself into the hole in the ice!

We spend the last day of cross-country skiing on the trails of Hossa National Park, which was declared a national park in 2017 for the 100th anniversary of Finnish independence. The nature here is characterised by ice age ridge formations, narrow and long lakes and beautiful pine forests. For lunch we will visit the Hossa Visitor Centre - there is also a small souvenir shop. After lunch we can choose a shorter or longer route back to the accommodation where once again a hot sauna is waiting for us. If we are lucky, the magical Northern Lights might top off our skiing week, but it is nature who decides if it is show time tonight!

Breakfast and transfer to Kuusamo airport (around one hour drive).