 Poster: A snowHead
|
We had booked a week to Yllas through Crystal but for reasons I won’t bore you with, 2 weeks before we went away, we were forced to book an independent flight home early so only had 3 nights. FYI, Crystal couldn’t do anything with the cost of the holiday (I didn’t expect anything due to late notice) but helpfully, they refunded our extras (ski carriage & lift passes).
Firstly, the alpine skiing - we had planned for this to be a holiday with a bit of skiing, not a “ski holiday” so the limited terrain and lift infrastructure didn’t worry us too much. We were on the Akaslompolo side, so only drag lifts and T bars. Because of this, and the shortness of the trip, I can’t comment too much on the extent of the skiing as we only skied for a couple of hours on a couple of days. And it helped me confirm I’m just too old for bloody drag lifts. The actual runs, although limited were nicely groomed, wide and confidence giving and so, so quiet. At 3 in the afternoon, you could still ski corduroy and hardly saw another soul. It was COLD (January in the arctic circle, who knew?!) and high winds seem to be common, closing a lot of lifts, making the extent of the skiing barely worth it. We drove to the Yllas Sport resort once, went up on the Gondola and got out to zero visibility, gale force winds and wind scoured concrete-snow. So we downloaded in the Gondola…
Cross country skiing – we had a 90 minute classic Cross Country lesson and LOVED it. This is what you should come to Yllas for. The lesson was €114 for 2 people which seems reasonable. The quality of teaching was excellent – and pitched at just the right level. We aren’t looking to be experts, just to have enough skills to potter round the trails. I naively never considered the undulating nature of the trails and expected them to be flat – the downhills were slightly terrifying and hilarious in equal measure. After the lesson, we went out to explore and it was just wonderful. Again, the trails were so quiet and the little wooden huts periodically dotted around the place with a fire burning to warm you whilst you rest were a revelation. We’ll definitely do this again!
Fat biking – we rented e-fat bikes for a morning (we made a last minute decision to take the electric ones) for €45 each. Without the assisted peddling, I think I would have lasted an hour – I have reasonable cardio fitness and run and do a bit of road cycling, but the trails wound up and down through forests and hills, it was hard even on the ebikes!! This was however brilliant fun, we covered around 25kms in snowy wilderness, stopping for breakfast at a restaurant in the middle of NOWHERE, and ate reindeer sausage at one of the aforementioned huts, cooked on a spike in the fire.
Accommodation – we stayed in the Akas Cabins – they’re nothing fancy but cosy and lovely and warm. The open fire and a really good sauna in the cabin made it hard to leave!!
The food – I expected Finland to be expensive but didn’t think it was too bad in our limited experience. Breakfast of coffees and cinnamon buns was around €10. A nice burger and chips and drinks for 2 was around €40. We actually went to the very well stocked supermarket and ate in our lovely cabin a couple of nights. Alcohol – spirits and wine have to be bought from the off licence.
We had to drive to Rovaniemi, around 2 and a half hours south for our return flight (which was later cancelled but I won’t go into that saga…  ) – driving was a breeze, the rental car had studded tyres (as standard), so winter driving was no problem.
Yllas is beyond beautiful but I wouldn’t come here for the downhill skiing. We didn’t scratch the surface of all of the other activities on offer and we’ll definitely come back to Finland for another winter break some time (and another attempt to see the Aurora!!)
|
|
|
|
FAQ