Sodankylä

Sodankylä (Northern Sámi: Soađegilli) is a municipality and the namesake town in Finnish Lapland. Internationally it is perhaps best known for its highly renowned Midnight Sun Film Festival. It is the second largest municipality in Finland with land area nearly half the size of Belgium.



The municipality is bilingual, both Finnish and Northern Sámi being official languages; the northern part of it belongs to the Sámi native region.

Understand
Sodankylä is situated in the heart of Finnish Lapland. It provides a perfect environment for both the active hiker and the person seeking peace, space and silence as almost all the people here live in the villages by the highway E75. Vast conifer forests, unspoiled wild nature, wide open aapa-type mires and rugged fells of Northern Lapland in particular, are characteristic to this area. The Luosto ski resort, the Tankavaara gold village, and most of the Urho Kekkonen National Park are located in the Sodankylä municipality.

The area consist mostly of taiga forest scattered by vast open mires and individual treeless fells. In the northern part there is the wide, one of the most popular hiking destinations in Finland. The area was inhabited by nomadic Sami people until Finnish settlers arrived here during the 17th century. When the border between the Russian Empire and Norway closed in 1852, nomadic Sami reindeer herdsmen lost their pastures, and some families decided to move south-east into the uninhabited forests in northern Sodankylä. This is why Sami dresses you'll see here resemble those used in northwestern Scandinavia.

The aftermath of World War II known as the Lapland War caused widespread damage at the area. Very few buildings here survived the scorched-earth policy of the retreating German troops.

To ensure availability of hydroelectric power, the huge and  were created during the 1960s and 1970s. Formation of the Lokka reservoir is still a sensitive topic as – in addition to Posoaapa, until then one of the largest mires in the whole Europe – the reservoir drowned also three local villages, and the villagers lost their homes, croplands and pastures.

The Jaeger Brigade is the northernmost military unit of the Finnish Army, and the barracks are located on the north-west outskirts of the Sodankylä town. Military personnel and conscripts are a visible part of the street view. Despite the name Sodankylä literally meaning "War's Village" in Finnish, it has nothing to do with military but is most probably derived from a name Sova. However, the town is commonly known as Pyssykylä ("Gun Village") around Lapland.

Despite its pristine nature, in fact the mining industry is a major source of income to this society. The producing copper-nickel ore is one of the largest employers around. The gold mining at has ceased, but operations are (as of 2020) expected to continue in near future. There are just 8,300 inhabitants living in Sodankylä but thanks to the mining industry the net migration is positive, and the municipality has somewhat safe economy. Debate around a new copper-nickel mine at Sakatti is at least hot. The quarry would bring employment and money, but it would destroy Viiankiaapa, a protected-by-law mire complex, risk the purity of local rivers and cause harm to the reindeer herding.

The northern limit of Norwegian spruce forests roughly follows the border between Sodankylä and Inari.



Towns and villages
Sodankylä is a town and a large municipality. This article covers most of it, including:



Get in
There is no passenger traffic to Sodankylä airport and the nearest railway station is at Rovaniemi, so the only way to get in is by road, in practice by car or a bus. The distance to the Sodankylä town from Rovaniemi is 130 km and from Ivalo 160 km (both have airports). It is possible to buy a train ticket to Luosto but your trip will continue from Rovaniemi train station with a bus (VR JunaBussi service).

Long distance coaches along national road 4 (E75) between Rovaniemi and Ivalo stop in the centre of Sodankylä as well as at the bus stops by the road. As this is one of the most important intercity lines in Lapland there are several daily connections. A single ticket from Rovaniemi costs about €25/adult to the town and about €44/adult to Tankavaara. Use Matkahuolto travel search for detailed schedules for the day of travel.

The Onnibus daily F42 line Rovaniemi–Ivalo stops only at some stops: the coach station, Torvinen (for Luosto), Vuotso, Kakslauttanen, and Tankavaara. The Onnibus does not accept cash payment and their ticket is usually much cheaper if purchased from their own online store than from Matkahuolto or the driver.

In summer, a daily direct connection from Nordkapp is available.

All long-distance coaches stop at, which is nicely in the very heart of the town.

Get around
You can get around in the town itself easily by foot. Almost everything you will need is located either on the Jäämerentie road or within a few blocks off.

However, many attractions are located tens of kilometres outside of it and there are just a few buses a day (mainly just along highway 4), hence a car is the most practical mode of transportation. Experienced road cyclist probably enjoy biking these roads, but it is worth understanding the distances and being able to help oneself if something happens.

Outside the highway 4 the traffic is very low and distances between inhabited locations are huge. On the other hand, on the highway 4 there is a notable amount of truck traffic. Never stop your car on the lane.

See
Sodankylä is one of the best places on Earth for watching the Northern lights. This was acknowledged already in 1913 when the (SGO) was established. Today the observatory is part of the University of Oulu. It is a scientific research station and not open to visitors. You can check their aurora forecasts and watch the all-sky aurora cameras online though.

The Midnight Sun is shining from May 31st until July 14th creating a six weeks long polar day (at the latitude of the town). Thanks to the atmospheric refraction real polar night when Sun doesn't rise at all lasts only four days and is darkest around December 20th. During the winter months the daylight is sparse anyways.

Do
A large variety of activities are available around the municipality in winter as well as in summer: snowmobile driving, ice fishing, reindeer farm visits, snowshoe walks, cross-country and downhill skiing, riverboat cruises, fishing, hiking and cycling.

For most fishing in the rivers, you need permits from the owners of the waters, usually fishing cooperatives. Check who the current agents are.

There are skiing tracks at least by Sodankylä (including Kommattivaara), Levi, Rajala (including Kaarestunturi) and Sattanen, including a short illuminated loop. If you have backcountry skis, there are endless woods to explore.



Backcountry
As expected, there are lots of space for wild camping according to the right to access. Choose somewhere off, don't light campfires and leave no trace. For national parks and wilderness areas, preferably camp by infrastructure such as lean-to shelters, if there are any in reach. In some of the parks camping is restricted in the less remote areas; overnighting in Sompio is restricted to the campground.

Buy
If you want Sami related souvenirs, make sure they have the Sámi duodji patch to guarantee their authenticity.

Nearby
Two national parks and some resorts are fully or partly in the municipality, but covered in other articles: