Northern Lights Forecast for Ylläs

Northern Lights in Ylläs

Ylläs is a 719 m fell in Kolari municipality, western Lapland, about 110 km north of the Arctic Circle, with a village on each side: Äkäslompolo to the north and Ylläsjärvi to the south. Both are ski villages built around a lake, and Pallas-Yllästunturi National Park starts at the edge of both.

The Ylläs Swing, Kellokas and the Scenic Road

The two lakes are the obvious places, and the Äkäslompolo side has most of the easy ones.

• Lake Äkäslompolo. A short walk from the village, the Ylläs Swing on the shore looks out over the water toward Kesänki fell and the northern sky. On calm autumn nights the lake reflects the aurora.
• Kellokas Visitor Centre. The yard behind the national park’s visitor center on the Äkäslompolo side has a wide view over the park and the northern sky.
• The Scenic Road (Maisematie). The road over the flank of the fell between the villages has a parking area used for sunsets and the aurora, and the ski resort’s parking area on the Äkäslompolo side looks straight north. You can wait in the car; do not park on the road itself.

The cross-country network is 330 km, of which 38 km is lit. For the aurora, pick an unlit trail.

Tuomikuru and Kukastunturi

Two spots need a walk. From the Ylläsjärvi side, a trail leads into the national park to the Tuomikuru day hut, where the sky is open in every direction around the firepit. Kukastunturi, a fell about 6 km north of Äkäslompolo, has a bare top with a view all round; in autumn the easiest way up is by bike.

The night train to Kolari

Kolari, the northernmost railway station in Finland, is 35 to 40 km from the villages, and VR’s night train from Helsinki runs there overnight. Buses meet the trains for the last stretch. The other way in is by air: Kittilä Airport is 35 to 50 km east, depending on the village, with Finnair from Helsinki all year and direct flights from several European cities in winter, and airport buses run to both villages.

Kino Ylläs and the autumn lakes

The season runs from late August to late April. Autumn is cloudier than spring here, but the lakes are still open, and in September the Kino Ylläs festival shows films outdoors at Ihmisen Rinki, an open-air auditorium on the slope of the fell. Ylläs is just inside the polar night zone, so for a short spell around the winter solstice the sun does not clear the horizon.