Skiing in Finland

[Dublassie]

We are a latge family who ski every year . The teens are good skiers .
Has anyone every skied in Finland and could recommend a resort that would suit a family who like to ski all day ?
Any accomodation recommendations also most welcome .
From a quick search it seems like the ski resorts are quite small ?
Very grateful for any help/ experience . Thank you !

I haven’t skied in Finland but can ootherwise recommend Åre in Sweden. I would think that’s bigger than anywhere in Finland.

Resorts in Finland are tiny compared with the resorts in the Alps. Yllas has 53km of slopes. Levi has 38km. Ruka has 19km.

By contrast, Saalbach-Hinterglemm Ski Circus in Austria has 270km, St Anton/Arlberg has 300km, Zillertal has 150km and Ski Welt 275km. In France Paradiski has 200km, as does Les 2 Alpes.

Åre in Sweden has 90km of pistes, but for a family of good skiers that want to ski all day the Scandinavian resorts are really small.

Thanks both ! We have been in Saalbach twice and always go to the Alps really . Will check out Sweden ! Just thought Finland might be a bit different .

Look at the piste maps for the various resorts. Åre has 90km of pistes but if you look at the piste map, you'll see that many of the pistes run next to each other - i.e. you start and end at the same place, so you're basically just skiing down the same hillside each time. This is very different to the Ski Circus in Austria or the Three Valleys in France where there are multiple areas linked together and where you can ski from one village to another. Scandinavian resorts are also on hillsides rather than on steep mountains.

On an average ski day a decent "holiday skier" probably covers 30km at a reasonable pace and with a coffee stop and a lunch stop. Blasting around the mountains with good teenage skiers one might expect to cover 50km or more, so none of the Scandinavian resorts will keep the family occupied for more than a day or two. What you can do in Scandinavia that you cannot usually do in the Alps are activities like husky sledding or snowmobile driving on a frozen lake. Scandinavia is also very different in terms of mountain restaurants and apres ski - basically there isn't much of either, and what there is can be extremely expensive; around three times the price compared with Austria.

I love skiing in Finland, but the resorts are tiny compared to the rest of Europe. It's a great place to go if you're a beginner, or want to do other activities alongside the alpine skiing (Cross country skiing, snowmobile, dogsledding). If you're a good skier you could probably knock all of Ruka off in a long morning, especially because the lift queues are so short/quick. Yllas has more slopes, but due to weather conditions the 'over the top' lifts can be closed, so some days only half of them will be easily available to you without taking the ski bus round to the other side.

Thank you all, I think it will be back to The Alps or the Dolomites !!

Yes Ruka is great for tiny kids but not ski crazies. Go to Whistler, that’s my top tip!

Love, love, love Finland. But yes the ski resorts are smaller. It is fells rather than mountains. Take Pyhä and Luosto, the fells are ancient mountains that used to be as tall as the Alps but now are not.

What you get instead though is relaxing, extremely snow sure and quiet. You won't queue for lifts at all so you'll get more runs in every day. You can do cross country or wilderness skiing for a change. You'll find huts with fires burning to sit and warm up. You won't find masses of crowds. Nor will you get scalped for lunches and drinks out. In Saariselka the main café at the bottom of the ski lift had a whole ground floor when we went with loos that you could use to sit and eat your packed lunch. The resorts are really well set up for day trippers and local residents as well as people staying in the hotels.

Depends what you want I suppose. If you want apres ski and parties then it might not be for you. But if you want quiet and relaxing then give it a go. You might find the forests and saunas make up for not having as many slopes.

Yes and I recommend Levi. It is gorgeous. Great ski-ing and a lovely town.

Ah thank you Oakley and Sparkle ! Can't afford Whistler at the moment Penisb but it is on the list !!
Yes am wondering would the whole experience of Finland make up for the lack of km . The snow sounds fab .
Maybe it we went for less time .
Off to the Dolomites on Saturday though , cannot wait !!