Fact Sheets & Video - Finland

Far away from city lights, this is an excellent place for viewing the aurora borealis from September to April.

Hotel Kakslauttanen consists of 25 log cabins, a restaurant with souvenir shopping facilities and two saunas.

Close to the resort is the Igloo Village that offers the unusual highlight of accommodation in genuine igloos made of snow.

Sleep in temperatures below zero, warm and snug in your padded sleeping bag, or you can choose to experience the polar night sleeping under the stars in the only glass igloos in the world. Check out the Ice Gallery with ice sculptures made by artists from Lapland and there is the Ice Chapel, which plays host to many weddings or head for a drink at a bar made completely of ice.

The hotel offers guided Husky Safaris that includes some snow shoeing. On this adventure you can guide the sleigh pulled by 4-6 dogs.

The safaris are tailored to meet customer demands and range from the tenth of a mile test-drive up to a 10-day adventure. On the longer overnight journeys accommodation is in wilderness cottages with saunas.

If all of this gets a little too chilly, then head for a traditional smoke sauna.

The facts

Thai Airways International has 24 flights per week to Bangkok.

Thai Airways

Tel: 1300 651 960

Website: www.thaiairways.com.au

Scandinavian Airlines provides frequent connections from Bangkok to Finland. Prices start from $2,039 per person from the East Coast and $1,929 from Perth.

Scandinavian Airlines (SAS)

Tel: 1300 727 707

Website: www.scandinavian.net

Finnair flies from Helsinki to Ivalo daily. Flights start from $357.

Finnair

Bookings through Bentours

Tel: 02 9241 1353

Website: www.bentours.com.au

Hotel Kakslauttanen offers log cabins from $90 per person per night. The glass igloo starts from $190 a night. To stay in an ice igloo costs from $133 per person, per night. The Hotel runs 4 hour Husky Safaris in the wilderness for $220 per person.

Hotel Kakslauttanen

Tel: 0011 358 16 667 100 (international)

Website: www.travel.fi/int/kakslauttanen

Finnish Tourist Board

Tel: 0011 358 9 41769290 (international)

Website: www.finland-tourism.com

Suggested Reading Material

Lonely Planet

Website: www.lonelyplanet.com

Rough Guides

Website www.roughguides.com