Nine days in Levi Finland,when the birches turn and the trails go quiet.
4 adults · 9 days · 8 nights · Slow pace · Best in Aug, Sep
5.0 · Fjällen No12, from 4 guest reviewsGuide price€808pp
Estimated for 4 adults · excluding flights
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Overview
A nine-day autumn trip for four out of one apartment at West Point: day hikes on the Levi and Pallas-Yllästunturi trails, cold lake swims, a smoke sauna afternoon at Jerisjärvi, and most evenings cooked at home. Ruska colour, no snow, and a car in the drive.
This trip includes
- 8 nights at Fjällen No12
- Local culture
- Scenic tour
- Sauna and spa
- Transfers and getting around
- Food shop and meals out
- Flights, which you book yourself
Highlights you'll come home with
Day 1
Arrival at West Point
Day 2
Forest, fire, sauna
Day 3
Into Pallas-Yllästunturi National Park
Day 4
Gondola day
Day 5
Äkäskero, the long one
Day 6
Arctic Sauna World
Day 7
Art, water, evening light
Day 8
Draivi loop, last swim
Day 9
Check-out
Right for you if
- four sharing a car, a kitchen and the cost
- walkers who want a long day and no schedule
- friends travelling together rather than a tour group
- cold-water swimmers
- photographers chasing the ruska colour
Less good if
- anyone who has come for snow
- travellers without a hire car
- families with young children — the walking days are long
- people who want every day booked in advance
Your nine-day itinerary
Each step is shown as the kind of thing it is. Your plan comes with the operators Lapland Concierge would choose for each one, and the alternatives.
Day 1Arrival at West Point
- 11:00Café
- 12:00Kätkätunturin reitit — Levi Tourist Centre to Korkeaniemi laavu
- 12:30Korkeaniemi laavu
- 13:00Entisaikain eloa — Korkeaniemi to Zero Point
- 15:00Food shop
- 18:00First dinner in the apartment
Day 2Forest, fire, sauna
- 12:00Local culture
- 18:00Swim at Kätkänranta beach, Lake Immeljärvi
- 18:45Sauna at the apartment
- 20:00Dinner at home
Day 3Into Pallas-Yllästunturi National Park
Day 4Gondola day
- 09:30Walk: West Point to the Gondola2000 base station
- 10:30Scenic tour
- 10:45Summit loop to Santa's Cabin
- 12:30Lunch out
- 13:15Levi village on foot
- 14:30Café
Day 5Äkäskero, the long one
- 09:30Äkäskero circuit trail
- 17:00Food shop
- 18:30Dinner at home
Day 6Arctic Sauna World
- 15:00Sauna and spa
- 19:30Dinner out
Day 7Art, water, evening light
- 11:00Local culture
- 20:00Scenic tour
Day 8Draivi loop, last swim
Day 9Check-out
- Nothing planned
Your base
Fjällen No12
Run by Lapland Concierge, the concierge business behind Levi Finland
No12 is a two-bedroom ski-in/ski-out apartment in the Fjällen building at West Point, on the western slopes of Levi. It sleeps four, with room for a fifth, and has its own private sauna and a large balcony looking out over the fell. The West Point lift is 50 m away, and Bistro West is downstairs.
- Sleeps 4
- 2 bedrooms
- 1 bathroom
- Private sauna
“The Appartement is amazing. All is brandnew and extremly cosy. For ski fans: The ski in/out is just perfect.”
- West Point lift
- about 50 m
- Bistro West
- downstairs, in the same building
- Bus stop 32 (West Point, R2 ski bus)
- a short walk
- Levi Centre
- 4 km by road
Guide prices
- Accommodation
- €880
- Experiences
- €1,152
- Food and drink
- €705
- Transport
- €495
- Estimated total for 4 adultsAbout €808 per person · excluding flights
- €3,232
Guide prices from typical Levi rates for each kind of step, not a quote. Your plan prices the actual operators for your dates, and you book and pay each of them directly. Not included: Flights, which you book yourself. Entry to the lakeside sauna world and to the art museum, neither of which publishes a rate we have checked, so neither is in the figure. Travel insurance, fuel, and anything you decide to add once you are there.
Designed by
Katja Marika Hellmann
TravellerTrip designer · Jyväskylä, Finland
Katja lives in Jyväskylä, seven hundred kilometres south of Levi, and has been coming back for long enough to have opinions about which trail is worth the drive and which lake is worth the cold. She planned these nine days the way she travels — one base, a car, and nothing booked that could not be moved — and walked every kilometre of them.
FAQs
Lapland Concierge's advice
Do the big walk early in the week rather than late. Autumn weather here turns without much warning and you want the long day banked before it does.
When is the ruska in Levi?
The birches turn from late August and the colour usually peaks in the first two weeks of September, a little earlier on the open fells than down in the valleys. By mid-October the leaves are down and the first snow is not far behind. This trip works across the whole August to October window — the colour is the September part of it.
Do we need a hire car for this itinerary?
Yes. Three of the nine days drive out of Levi — Pallas-Yllästunturi, Jerisjärvi and Kaukonen — and none of them is on a bus route that works for a day trip. Reckon on about €55 a day from Kittilä. The Levi days themselves are all walkable from West Point.
Can you really swim in the lakes in September?
Yes, briefly. Immeljärvi, Särkijärvi and Levijärvi sit at roughly ten to fourteen degrees in early September and drop through the month. The swims here are short by design, and each one has a sauna or a warm car on the other end of it.
What does nine days in Levi cost in autumn?
About €3,230 for four, or €810 each, on the figures on this page: eight nights in the apartment at €110, a hire car at €55 a day, €25 a day for the food shop, two guided days and four meals out. The flat, the car and the shop divided four ways come to €400 each — everything above that is a choice you can make or not. Flights are on top and you book them yourself.
Are the trails free to walk?
Yes. The Levi trail network and the trails inside Pallas-Yllästunturi National Park are public and waymarked, and so are the laavu and kota shelters on them, with firewood provided. Everyman's right covers walking, and picking berries and mushrooms, on all of it.
Will we see the northern lights in autumn?
Possibly, from the end of August, once the nights are properly dark again. September is a good month statistically, but nobody can promise a sighting and nothing on this trip is sold on one. The lake cruise on day seven is the darkest place you will stand all week.
Is nine days too long for Levi?
Not at this pace. Six of the nine days are walking days on different trail networks and no two repeat each other. Nine days would be long for a trip built on booked activities — which is exactly why this one is not.
What is the weather like, and what should we pack?
Between about +2°C and +16°C, with rain around one day in three and evenings near freezing by October. Base layer, mid layer and a rain shell, boots you can walk seventeen kilometres in, and something warm for the evenings. Daylight runs from fourteen to nineteen hours in August down to about nine by the end of October.