Freezing Point

Depending on your state of mind, the Finnish countryside can seem melancholy and bleak, or exhilarating and breathtakingly beautiful. If you are game for some adventure, load up on the layers and you are guaranteed an experience like no other. We proceeded to Kemi, a seaport city, a two-hour drive away, to take a cruise on the Sampo Ice Breaker, a majestic ship that mercilessly breaks the metre-thick frozen ice on the sea, the Gulf of Bothnia. Brace yourself for the icy wind on the deck, and admire the Arctic Circle — basically, miles and miles of ice and snow. Unfortunately, we didn’t spot polar bears: believe it or not, Finland isn’t cold enough for them. The highlight of this cruise was ice swimming, where we put on an astronaut-like survival suit and entered the frozen water. The ship has a nice bar and the captain takes guests on a guided tour of the icebreaker.

We then proceeded to Kemi Snow Castle, complete with turrets and sweeping staircases made entirely of snow. Fantastic ice sculptures adorn the lobby.

Strategically placed candles and subtle, coloured lights provide some measure of coziness in the stark cold. The Snow Hotel inside has quaint little rooms where you can stay overnight. The bed is strewn with reindeer skins and the hotel provides hefty sleeping bags and promises you’ll be warm in them. The temperature is regulated at 5 degrees. A charming snow chapel in the vicinity has become a popular venue for weddings. Our hostess told us how brides got married in white sheepskin here. For guests who crack up in the cold, a snug, toasty log hut, situated 100 metres away, is open for refuge 24 hours. A night here, I must say, is not for the fainthearted.

Later that evening, my group feasted on smoked reindeer cooked in a local berry sauce at our hotel, Wilderness, a woody building with a spectacular view of hills covered in snow. Having grown up singing the Christmas song “Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer”, I couldn’t bring myself to try it. But it got a thumbs up from all. Finland’s cuisine consists of a variety of fish, especially salmon, and meat. The next morning we headed for Lapland Safaris, a company that organises adventure activities like snowmobiles, husky safaris and dog sledding. We rented clothes for a hectic day outdoors.

After we wrestled into a bodysuit on top of our existing four layers of clothes, put on two woollen caps, gloves and snowshoes, it seemed we were equipped to climb Everest. If you ask me, the single most annoying thing about this wretchedly cold weather is you spend a good part of your day putting on your layers to go out, or peeling them off to come indoors.

However, the effort was well worth it. While we hurtled across a frozen lake in Rovaniemi on a snowmobile, snug in our layers, a journalist in our group claimed her eyelashes had frozen. An easy-to-use scooter with skis, instead of wheels, the snowmobile is fun and you see dozens of locals on the throughout Finland. While zooming past the lake, we spot people undeterred by the –3 degree Celsius, enjoying their Saturday morning, ice fishing on the lake.

We then tried the husky safari, where Siberian and Alaskan dogs pull a sled on the snow. The driver balances precariously on wooden skis and has access to a brake. A pack of 10 enthusiastic dogs takes us for a spin. After some basic instructions, this was easy. The second night we checked into the Santa Claus Hotel, bang in the centre of Rovaniemi. This is the buzziest area of the city, and for a change, we actually spotted people hanging around on the central square. The Santa Claus Hotel has a preppy bar, Zoomit, which was packed with weekend revellers. A block away is a nightclub, Doris, that rocks on Saturday nights.

On our last day in Rovaniemi, we went to Santa Claus’s village to meet the grand old man himself. Here, it is always Christmas. It is full of beautifully decorated Christmas trees and huge snowmen. In the background you can hear lilting carols and excited children playing in the snow. Incidentally, thousands of people from Britain fly in with their kids on day trips to meet Santa and his elves in the run up to Christmas. Charming wooden cottages have Santa memorabilia sold by his helpers, appropriately attired in red caps. For eight euros, Santa will respond to your letter. He gets over 30,000 letters per day. Finally, we see Santa perched on a reclining chair, with a huge fireplace on one side, and a tree on the other. His beard was even longer than we imagined, and he told us with a twinkle, that he was 300 years old. We almost began to believe in him again.

We missed seeing the Northern Lights, a bright glow in the night sky, visible only in this part of Europe, usually in September. It’s a reddish glow on the Northern Hemisphere, a spectacular sight that comes when there is a magnetic storm. “It is difficult to describe,” says Rauno Posio, the head of Lapland Safaris, who has seen it many times. “It is like the sky is on fire,” he tells us. At least, we have an excuse to go back to Finland.