Just Lapland

Cross country skiing is a great sport and has become very popular in the last couple of years. It has been a time honoured tradition for the locals to cross country ski on Christmas eve under the lights and with over 300km of floodlit cross country ski trails on offer you have plenty to keep you going. The tradition goes back years and years to when the people of Finland used wooden skies to get around the vast wilderness of Lapland. The wooden skies were slow and were simply designed to stay on top of the snow in order for you to get from one place to another. These days things have moved on a little. Cross country skiing can be in addition to the other activities you do in Lapland and with the trails open until quite late you can go out during the evening for a spot of skiing.

Cross country skies can be hired for a small fee from one of the many ski hire shops and you can usually hire them for the weeks holiday, children are also well catered for. If you have never cross country skied before, you can have family lessons run through some of the activity centres or you can simply get out onto the tracks and have a practice, once you are confident enough, you can go off and choose one of the many trails. You can opt for the longer or shorter tracks depending on your experience and requirements. Children take to cross country skiing extremely well, often better than the adults. However long you are in Lapland make sure you take the time to experience the cross country skiing, it is not only good exercise but the beauty of the Yllas national park is simply breathtaking.