Sorry to be dense, but where are Yllas and Saariselka? Somewhere in Scandinavia?

madabouttravel wrote:

Sorry to be dense, but where are Yllas and Saariselka? Somewhere in Scandinavia?

Northern Finland (Lapland). I've been to Yllas, but not Saariselka!

Darren

I had no idea where they were either ----------- had to look Finland up on a map ! (No joke!)

Presto2 wrote:

I had no idea where they were either

Good job you weren't flying the plane when you went to Yllas then, flying in to Kittila! Navigation once you get there isn't too bad though, there aren't many roads get lost on and the driving on the arctic roads is really fun!

Darren

Presto2 wrote:

We are looking ahead to 2010 -

Have been to Yllas twice and are tempted by Saariselka as it looks just the right place for us.

Has anyone else been ?

:think

Yes, to both of them. Several times, though not in the last two or three years. We live in Finland, so know most of the northern resorts. Rather depends what you are looking for, in my view. I would pick Ylläs over Saariselkä for downhill/slalom skiing any day, especially as it has at least one ski-in, ski-out hotel (Ylläs Saga, with a spa), but if you are into X-country skiing, Saariselkä is a veritable Mecca for the sport, with hosts of tracks of differing degrees of difficulty. If you are more into sleighrides and skidoos and stuff, both can offer those sort of services. Saariselkä has a certain advantage in that the village is more compact. If you've been to Ylläs you will know that it's two centres divided by a fell, and this sometimes makes for a nuisance. There are no slopeside hotels in Saariselkä - you have to take the skibus. The hills aren't bad - we were pleasantly surprised, as we'd been led to believe the place was more or less ONLY for the X-country brigade. Oh, and the Japanese tourist couples who go to look at the Northern Lights and then conceive their children under them (supposed to be lucky - go figure).

Saariselkä is a bit closer perhaps to the REAL Lapland in the sense that you are within a stone's throw of Ivalo and Inari, which are populated by Sámis - the indigenous minority population who really own the place.

Both would be great in the late winter/early spring, when you can pretend you are in the Alps, as the sun is great, it's not cold, and the snow lasts all the way down (unlike the porridge one gets in Austria or France at low altitudes or on the last run home). Both can be brass-monkey country if you are daft enough to go in January.

I'd offer you a raft of links, but it seems the administrators feel I am not yet to be trusted with something as dangerous as that. So I'm not quite sure how I'd go about getting them to you. There are, by the way, other resorts up there that might be worth considering. Again, I don't know if you are planning to do this independently or as part of some package thing through an operator, but you could just as easily consider Levi (not far from Ylläs, and with better slopes taken all round - Ylläs is fine on the upper slopes, but they can be windy or snowed-in - complete fell white-out, makes for quite hairy skiing - and the lower slopes are a waste of space IMHO), or Ruka, a bit further south and east.

There are other, smaller resorts, too. If you are good downhill skiers, Pyhä probably has the most challenging skiing, with some decent off-piste as well. Suomu could also be interesting - we're going there in March, but that's mainly because we know people up there. Basically you can find all of these I've mentioned by simply sticking three ws in front of the word and fi behind it. All should have English-language sites. Swap the ä for an a and you'll hit Pyhä and Saariselkä the same way.

Let me know what it is you are after, and I might be able to help more.

Hi

That's fab info as we are into cross country skiing and not the down hill sort. Loved Yllas and want something similar with the same trips available and not too commercialised!

I think we had the perfect holiday in Yllas 2 years ago and just done know how to follow it !

Any recommendations re hotels or accom in Saariselka?

Us Prestos

Well, like I said, we're heading to Suomu in March. We are meeting up with an old friend who is actually responsible for developing Suomu for the British market (fat chance now, what with the outlook for the £ and the UK economy), so she should know where most of the bodies are buried, both locally and more widely in Northern Lapland. Of course, you can check out most of the places for yourself on the Saariselkä site. I think we stayed in the spa some years back - it was OK, a bit plastic 4-starish and with quite a lot of tour groups, but the pool was nice to have. There are all sorts of companies there that provide services.

I'm sure you are aware of when NOT to go, but you might not know that the half-term thing is not "national" - it is staggered over several weeks, depending on what part of the country the kids are in school. The one to definitely miss is usually Week 8 (this year at least), when the Helsinki & the South kids are off, but Weeks 9 and 10 are also holiday weeks for kids living further north in Finland. This not only pushes up prices and makes booking trickier, but also the place is just mobbed. Not so bad for you, but murder on the slopes.

I don't know which British operators fly into Ivalo, if any (most seem to use Kittilä or Rovaniemi), but that will be a major consideration for you - distances are large in Lapland, and if you fly in to Kittilä, you'll have a hike. Naturally, if you are going independently, you can take Finnair to HKI and then on up to Ivalo, but that probably won't come too cheap.

The Herranterttu cottages in Saariselkä didn't look too bad. You can find it under accommodation -> hotels and apartments on the website. Decent location, anyways, but again I don't know if you want self-catering. I'd probably eat every night at Petronella, but that might be rather destructive financially.

As soon as they unleash me and let me post links, I could send you some newspaper articles on Saariselkä and the far north-east of Lapland. Too much hassle to do it now.

That sounds fab ! It is great to have you on HT - especially good to have a 'kindred spirit' who knows all of this ace info about what is a fantastic part of the world! We have fell in love with Lapland and Yllas will take some beating! The location, accomodation, skiing, shops etc etc and above all the people were just perfect! We hav eto go in the British Half Term but have managed to avoid the Yllas half term and came home when the Finish holiday makers arrived! Am sure you know what I mean!

No pressure about beating Yllas Saariselka !

Can't wait for your links -------- I'm sure that it is a pain but the moderators are a great bunch and are just looking after us !

We were in log cabins in Yllas --- have looked at Inghams and think that their cabins are about the best we've seen since.

We did go HB at the Akas Cabins but are wondering how good it would be to go SC in Saariselka - are there any good eating places?

Thanks for your help -

Have been to Yllashrinne and Askaloompo and Saariselka. Saariselka is our FAVOURITE, brillant, go and enjoy

Hi

Are there any places you'd recommend to stay - half board / self catering ?