Northern Lights Forecast for Utsjoki

Northern Lights in Utsjoki

Utsjoki is the northernmost municipality in Finland and the only one with a Sámi majority, about 1,100 people living mostly along the Teno river (Deatnu in Sámi), which is the border with Norway. The main village stands where the Utsjoki river joins the Teno, and Highway 4 ends here at the Sámi Bridge into Norway. Finnish Meteorological Institute statistics put the aurora in the sky over Utsjoki on about three nights in four, when it is dark and clear.

Road 970 along the Teno

Road 970 follows the Finnish bank of the Teno from Karigasniemi, about 100 km upriver, through the village to Nuorgam, about 45 km north-east and the northernmost village in Finland and the EU. The villages sit on the river with the Norwegian fells just across the water, and the riverbanks and the fells are where people here watch the sky. Until the Sámi Bridge opened in 1993, the crossing to Norway was a ferry in summer and a road over the ice in winter.

The Áilegas trail and the three Ailigas fells

Áilegas, 342 m, rises right beside the village. A marked 1.4 km trail starts at the junction of Nuorgamintie and Ailikkaantie, with a detour to a viewpoint over the Teno valley and the village, and the top looks into the Kaldoaivi and Paistunturi wilderness areas. Two more fells along the Teno share the name: Nuvvus-Ailigas, 535 m, and the highest, 620 m, at Karigasniemi.

Kevo and its all-sky camera

The Kevo Strict Nature Reserve protects a canyon 40 km long and up to 80 m deep; in winter it is open only to skiers, and there are no marked ski trails. At Kevo, about 18 km south of the village, the Finnish Meteorological Institute runs an all-sky camera and posts its night-time images online through the dark season, a quick check on the sky over Utsjoki.

Fifty-one days of kaamos

The sun does not rise in Utsjoki from about 26 November to 15 January. Around noon the sky turns pastel for hours.

The church huts at Mantojärvi

About 5 km south of the village on Highway 4, fourteen church huts from the 18th and 19th centuries stand by Lake Mantojärvi. Sámi families stayed in them for church and market visits until the 1940s, and the stone church beside them dates from 1853.

Highway 4 north from Ivalo

Ivalo Airport, with flights from Helsinki and the nearest car rental, is 176 km away by road. A bus runs daily from Ivalo to Utsjoki, Karigasniemi and Nuorgam by way of Inari.