Northern Lights Forecast for Kuusamo

Northern Lights in Kuusamo

Kuusamo is a town of about 8,400 people in the Koillismaa district of northeastern Finland, just south of the Lapland regional border and about 60 km south of the Arctic Circle. The municipality around it is one of the largest in the country, with fewer than three people per square kilometer, and most visitors are heading for Ruka, 25 km north. For the aurora, the town’s point is that the dark starts at the last streetlight: the nearest other towns are Kemijärvi at 140 km, Rovaniemi at 190 km and Oulu at 215 km.

Kuusamojärvi and the unregulated Kitkajärvi

Kuusamojärvi lies inside the town limits, and the cottage roads along its shore are the quickest way out of the lights. Kitkajärvi, northwest of town on the road to Posio, is the only large lake in Finland whose water level is not regulated. For reflections you need September and October, before the lakes freeze; after that they are flat, snow-covered ground with a wide horizon.

Riisitunturi and Oulanka national parks

• Riisitunturi National Park is about an hour’s drive (50 to 60 km) northwest, across the regional border in Posio. The fell rises to 465 m, above the tree line, so nothing blocks the horizon, and in winter its spruces carry the heavy crown snow, tykky, the park is known for. The Riisin rääpäsy loop from the parking area is about 4.5 km, and there is an open wilderness hut on the fell where you can spend the night.
• Oulanka National Park, established in 1956, lies along the Kuusamo to Salla road north of Ruka, with a visitor center beside the Kiutaköngäs rapids on the Oulankajoki. The 12 km Pieni Karhunkierros loop starts at Juuma, and in winter a 26 km ski route links Juuma and Kiutaköngäs.

Kuusamo town, rebuilt after 1944

The town center was burned at the end of the Lapland War in 1944, so the streets are plain and people come for the country around them. Snow lies for about 200 days a year, from October to mid-May.

Kuusamo airport is 6 km northeast of the center, with Finnair flights from Helsinki. Coaches run daily from Oulu and from Rovaniemi, about three hours away, and the night train from Helsinki ends at Kemijärvi, around 2.5 hours from Kuusamo by bus.