Finland guide
Enjoy long and light summer days for trekking and kayaking, or Northern Lights watching, snowshoeing and XC skiing.
Best time to visit Wild Taiga
We went on a nighttime snow shoe trek with head torches on, then after a while switched them off and let our senses adjust. That was magical...![]()
The best time to visit Wild Taiga depends on whether you want winter or summer wilderness. Summer is early May-early Sep, with early autumn still a great time for hiking, cycling or self drive holidays. Bear watching is great May-Sep as this is mating season, and migrating water birds, wolves and other wildlife are also active during these months. Culture is hopping in summer, with July being time for the Sommelo Music Festival in Kainuu as well as the Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival. For winter holidays, Christmas isn’t ideal as the days are very short; Feb-Mar are better for long treks.
Wild Taiga Weather Chart
MIN °C
MAX °C
RAIN (mm)
JAN
-16
-7
35
FEB
-15
-7
26
MAR
-10
-2
29
APR
-3
4
24
MAY
3
12
35
JUN
8
18
47
JUL
11
20
62
AUG
9
18
64
SEP
5
12
53
OCT
0
5
51
NOV
-6
-1
42
DEC
-12
-5
37
Snowshoeing holiday in Finland
A hut-to-hut snowshoe tour in beautiful Hossa National Park.
From
€1110
7 days
ex flights
Finland hiking holiday
Eastern Finland hiking journey with cultural experiences
From
€1650
8 days
ex flights
Wild Taiga wildlife holiday in Finland
Special Taiga mammals of Finland
From
€1570
7 days
ex flights
Cross-country skiing holiday in Finland's eastern wilderness
Guided country skiing holiday through remote eastern Finland
From
€1280
7 days
ex flights
Finland activity holiday and Northern Lights
Multiadventure holiday in stunning winter landscape
From
€1510 to €1560
8 days
ex flights
Wildlife photography holiday in Finland
Wolverine photographing in winterland Finland
From
€1150
6 days
ex flights
Contact Us
Call us for a chat about our holidays. We are happy to discuss your holiday and help in any way we can. No bots, queues or awful hold music.
01273 823 700
Call us after 10am
Calling from outside the UK
Wild Taiga travel advice
Family holiday tips
Urpo Heikkinen, from our Wild Taiga partner Upitrek, offers advice for visiting with kids: “Families need to pick activities carefully. Kids can do softer treks but if they get tired you may need to take a short cut so that no one gets left in the forest! They can see reindeer and sometimes elk on the walks, but bear watching is a problem as in the hides you sometimes have to be silent for hours. It depends on the nature of the children and how active they are. Sometimes it works, but it’s not for everyone.”
Aki Käräjäoja, "It’s better not to have a very strict timetable and to understand that you are doing things differently than at home because it’s not always easy to plan. Parents often have high expectations but it’s better to be open minded and see how the kids are and how cold it is. So we can make tours shorter, and instead of a full day sledding, we can go indoors and take a few of the huskies. Thinking flexibly is good – if, after 2km, it’s cold and the kids aren’t happy then you have to work around that."
Aki Käräjäoja, "It’s better not to have a very strict timetable and to understand that you are doing things differently than at home because it’s not always easy to plan. Parents often have high expectations but it’s better to be open minded and see how the kids are and how cold it is. So we can make tours shorter, and instead of a full day sledding, we can go indoors and take a few of the huskies. Thinking flexibly is good – if, after 2km, it’s cold and the kids aren’t happy then you have to work around that."
Responsible tourism tip
Veikko Virkkunen, from Metsähallitus Natural Heritage Services: “Finnish National Parks represent wild nature in the sense that no one lives there. When tourism businesses want to operate in a National Park, they agree to adhere to our Principles of Sustainable Tourism. Everybody following these guidelines helps us to provide the visitors safe and memorable nature experiences.”
Snow shoeing advice
Tom Wilkinson, showshoeing expert at our partner, Exodus: “If you can walk you can snow shoe. There are of course techniques/tips for going up and down, and through deeper snow, but really this is the winter sport anyone can do. With snow shoes a beginner can access places usually reserved for red hot off-piste skiers – and you’re far less likely to crash into a tree! Aside from thinking you’ll be using tennis racquets (modern snowshoes are sleek and light) people can forget that if you’re in deep snow, walking in single file means the person at the front does all the work breaking the trail, though good etiquette is to take turns doing that.”
Cross country skiing
Urpo Heikkinen: “I really recommend cross country skiing. You go from place to place, spending each night with different people – you feel like you’re having an adventure. The rhythm is flexible and it’s much easier than walking; you can cover great distances while still seeing wildlife and tracks in the snow. On the downhill sections you’ll enjoy the speed. In these remote areas people still have a more traditional way of living – they have gardens where they grow their own vegetables; it’s always Finnish food made with local ingredients, so no pizza or pasta! It all comes from very close by. Skiing from place to place is also an environmentally friendly way to see Finland – it’s much better than travelling by car.”
Wild Taiga travel travel advice
At Responsible Travel, we think the best people to advise our travellers are often... other travellers. They always return from our tours with packing tips, weather reports, ideas about what to do - and opinions about what not to.
We have selected some of the most useful Wild Taiga travel tips that our guests have provided over the years to help you make the very most of your holiday – and the space inside your suitcase.
We have selected some of the most useful Wild Taiga travel tips that our guests have provided over the years to help you make the very most of your holiday – and the space inside your suitcase.
There were twelve of us, and most of them were older than me, and I am 57! And they were shit hot fit, all of them! ...![]()
– Jay Sivell
“The entire week was an amazing experience, but I particularly liked the overnight stay in remote huts without electricity etc. Furthermore, seeing the Northern Lights was like a dream coming true. Even though the walks are not really very long and you may expect a more challenging week, you will be tired in the evening. So the amount of walks seems pretty right to me. Furthermore, do not expect sunshine all the time. We were very happy to have a day of sunlight in the one week holidays. But it may as well be that it is cloudy weather all the time. However, even if the forecasts are very bad, you still may suddenly have a sunny morning or star night "coming out of nothing", so never give up hope!” – Dani Rotzetter on a snowshoeing holiday
“Fantastic holiday for active families with young kids. The weather was excellent for us in early August, low 20's °C every day, hardly any rain but pack for all weathers just in case. Take plenty of insect repellent, there are millions of mosquitoes about in the summer months in the pine forests of northern Finland.” – Richard Mayneford on a self drive family holiday
“There were twelve of us, and most of them were older than me, and I am 57! And they were shit hot fit, all of them! I tell you what, hanging out with retired people is very bad for morale when you are self employed. I want to retire now... they are having so much fun out there! There was one 50-year-old, and the oldest was 70, and he was very fit….I expected it to be hard to make friends as a solo traveller. I was a bit concerned about that, as I normally travel with my husband. But it was fine, lovely in fact.”– Jay Sivell on a snow shoeing holiday
“Aki and Sovi have an extensive wardrobe of cold weather gear so apart from thermals and similar there is really no need to bring (or buy) lots of winter gear. For us, a 3-4 hours sledding trip each day was enough; if you want to have a tough experience than other operators can offer 24 hour a day wilderness, cutting holes in the ice for water and (probably) being pretty cold at night!” – Matthew Peek on a tailor made husky safari
“Fantastic holiday for active families with young kids. The weather was excellent for us in early August, low 20's °C every day, hardly any rain but pack for all weathers just in case. Take plenty of insect repellent, there are millions of mosquitoes about in the summer months in the pine forests of northern Finland.” – Richard Mayneford on a self drive family holiday
“There were twelve of us, and most of them were older than me, and I am 57! And they were shit hot fit, all of them! I tell you what, hanging out with retired people is very bad for morale when you are self employed. I want to retire now... they are having so much fun out there! There was one 50-year-old, and the oldest was 70, and he was very fit….I expected it to be hard to make friends as a solo traveller. I was a bit concerned about that, as I normally travel with my husband. But it was fine, lovely in fact.”– Jay Sivell on a snow shoeing holiday
“Aki and Sovi have an extensive wardrobe of cold weather gear so apart from thermals and similar there is really no need to bring (or buy) lots of winter gear. For us, a 3-4 hours sledding trip each day was enough; if you want to have a tough experience than other operators can offer 24 hour a day wilderness, cutting holes in the ice for water and (probably) being pretty cold at night!” – Matthew Peek on a tailor made husky safari
More Wild Taiga articles
Explore the thick subarctic pine forests that clad Finland's border with Russia: it definitely feels wild up here.
More relevant guides
