Not for nothing are Finnish national parks called Nature’s own amusement parks. A trip into the forest is always an adventure for children: leaping from rock to rock, balancing, climbing trees, or exploring caves and crevices. The best guarantee of a good time are grown-ups who know where they’re going and what they’re doing. Here are some tips to ensure that your child has a fun-filled day in the Great Outdoors:

A day hiking around Ylläs might include just almost anything: stopping for refreshments by a campsite, conquering the fell peaks or energetic mountain biking. Whatever your plans are, remember to take all that you need with you. Here are some tips for the independent traveller.

The Pal­las-Yl­läs­tun­tu­ri Na­ti­o­nal Park of­fers so much more than just the trails around Yl­läs. Moun­tain bike ent­hu­si­asts should check out the map that co­vers the whole Na­ti­o­nal Park. Last sum­mer, yo­ur Yl­läs Ti­mes re­por­ter tes­ted one of the rou­tes re­com­men­da­ti­ons on the Pal­las-Yl­läs Out­doors Fa­ce­book page: it starts from Ke­to­mel­la and goes via Pip­po­ke­ro, Pa­ha­ku­ru and Sei­po­nen to Hie­ta­jär­vi, then re­turns to Ke­to­mel­la, al­most 23 ki­lo­met­res in all.

Most rein­deer cal­ves are born in May, but cal­ving con­ti­nu­es in­to June. The cal­ves are born on­ce the snow has par­ti­al­ly mel­ted and there is less risk of hard frosts and fresh snow­fall.

There are count­less ca­bins in and around Yl­läs, some of which are ow­ned by vi­si­tors. Most ow­ners have first vi­si­ted Yl­läs, fal­len in love with it and then come back ye­ar af­ter ye­ar. Un­til it’s time to buy their own ca­bin. Ka­rin and Pe­ter Åberg from Lu­leå in Swe­den bought their own ho­li­day home at Yl­läs a coup­le of ye­ars ago. When they’re not using it them­sel­ves, they rent it out to ot­her ho­li­da­y­ma­kers. We as­ked them how this works – how ea­sy is it to buy yo­ur own ca­bin, rent it out, and what is good and bad about the ac­co­mo­da­ti­on mar­ket at Yl­läs.