When is the best time to visit Finland?

Most guides agree on Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, Aug, Sep, Dec. Rovaniemi: December to March for snow and the aurora, June to July for the midnight sun, and September for the autumn colours. Helsinki: June to August for the long light, and December for the dark, the lights and the sauna. Levi: December to April for the snow, and September for the autumn colours on the fells. Ylläs: December to April for the snow and the cross-country trails, and September for the autumn colours.

When is the rainy season in Finland?

No guide in Finland has a month above 250 mm; the wet months are wet, not under water.

Finland travel tips

Best time to visit Finland

Every guide's best months, checked against its own thirty-year rainfall: a filled month is recommended, a hatched one has over 250 mm of rain. Most of Finland agrees on Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, Aug, Sep, Dec.

Place	J	F	M	A	M	J	J	A	S	O	N	D	In words
RovaniemiDecember to March for snow and the aurora, June to July for the midnight sun, and September for the autumn colours													December to March for snow and the aurora, June to July for the midnight sun, and September for the autumn colours
HelsinkiJune to August for the long light, and December for the dark, the lights and the sauna													June to August for the long light, and December for the dark, the lights and the sauna
LeviDecember to April for the snow, and September for the autumn colours on the fells													December to April for the snow, and September for the autumn colours on the fells
YlläsDecember to April for the snow and the cross-country trails, and September for the autumn colours													December to April for the snow and the cross-country trails, and September for the autumn colours
SaariselkäDecember to April for the snow, and late August to September for the autumn colours													December to April for the snow, and late August to September for the autumn colours
RukaDecember to April for the skiing, and August to September for the Bear’s Ring and the autumn colours													December to April for the skiing, and August to September for the Bear’s Ring and the autumn colours
InariJanuary to March for the snow and the returning light, and August to September for the lake and the autumn colours													January to March for the snow and the returning light, and August to September for the lake and the autumn colours

best month · over 250 mm · the letters are the months, January to December.

The guides in Finland

Log cabins lit for Christmas among snowy pines — Rovaniemi, Finland

RovaniemiFinlandThe capital of Lapland, eight kilometres from the Arctic Circle, with the airport ten minutes out and Santa Claus a bus ride away

Helsinki Cathedral rising above the waterfront buildings in Helsinki, Finland

HelsinkiFinlandA granite capital on the Baltic, built around the sauna and the sea, and where most Lapland trips change planes

The aurora over the snow-loaded trees of a fell outside Levi — Lapland, Finland

LeviFinlandFinland’s biggest ski resort, built around one fell, with the liveliest evenings in Lapland and an airport twenty minutes away

A snow-covered fell in Pallas-Yllästunturi National Park — Ylläs, Finland

YlläsFinlandTwo quiet villages either side of Finland’s biggest ski fell, at the edge of a national park, with 330 km of cross-country tracks

A fat bike on a snowy trail between frosted trees — Saariselkä, Finland

SaariselkäFinlandA small fell village two hundred kilometres inside the Arctic Circle, where Urho Kekkonen National Park starts at the last cabin

Ruka village under the ski fell — Kuusamo, Finland

RukaFinlandA ski fell just south of the Arctic Circle with the longest season in Finland, and the Bear’s Ring trail ending at the bottom of the lifts

A reindeer sled in the snowy forest near Ivalo, in Inari municipality — Lapland, Finland

InariFinlandThe centre of Sámi life in Finland, on a lake with three thousand islands and five weeks without a sunrise