Summer hiking from Raattama, Pallas-Yllästunturi on foot

Winter gets most of the attention here, but summer in Raattama is its own season: light through the night, the fells bare and green, and a national park that starts 500 metres from our Saivo cabin. This is what we tell guests who come to walk.

The park

Pallas-Yllästunturi National Park covers 1,020 square kilometres and has 340 km of marked summer trails. The Pallas fell chain runs through the middle of it, with Taivaskero, 809 metres, as the highest point. Maps, trail descriptions and hut bookings are all on the national parks service's site, luontoon.fi, which is the place to plan from.

From Raattama the park is next door. The nearest marked routes start from Pallastunturi, 25 km from the village towards Muonio, where there is a visitor centre with an exhibition and the Lapland Hotels Pallas hotel.

Day hikes

The classic is the Taivaskero circle trail, 9 km from the Pallastunturi visitor centre to the top of Taivaskero and back. It climbs about 340 metres and takes around three hours. On a clear day the view runs over the whole fell chain and a good way into Sweden and Norway.

Shorter walks also start from the visitor centre, and the Pallas fells are open terrain above the treeline, so even a short climb gives a wide view. If you would rather not drive, the forest and lakeshore around Saivo are good for an evening walk straight from the door.

The Hetta-Pallas trail

Finland's oldest marked hiking trail, from 1934, runs 55 km through the park between Hetta and Pallastunturi. Most people walk it in three or four days, sleeping in the wilderness huts along the way: Sioskuru, Hannukuru and Nammalakuru have both reservable and open huts, and there is an open hut at Montell. The Hetta end starts or finishes with a short boat crossing over Ounasjärvi.

The trail has no river crossings and a dense chain of huts, which makes it a good first multi-day hike, but roughly 40 km of it is above the treeline, with long climbs, rocky fell tops and duckboards over bogs. Waterproof boots and proper rain gear are not optional. Camping is allowed only near the huts and campfire sites.

Raattama makes a sensible base for it: Pallastunturi is 25 km away, so you can leave a car at one end and arrange the other. In winter our ski trails reach the same huts from this side.

When to come

The best time for summer trips is from Midsummer to the end of September. From early May to the end of July it is light through the night, so a late evening walk is a real option. Late August and September bring the autumn colours and fewer insects; by the end of September the first frosts come, and the hut season on the fells winds down in October.

What to bring

• Waterproof hiking boots and a rain jacket. The weather on the fells changes within an hour.
• Warm layers even in July. A hat and gloves weigh nothing.
• Insect repellent in midsummer.
• A map or the luontoon.fi trail map saved on your phone. Reception is patchy in the park.
• Drinking water or a filter: not every hut has a well.

Staying in Raattama

Our two cabins both have a wood-fired sauna, which is the right way to end a day on the fells. Saivo is on the lake with a rowing boat in summer and the park boundary 500 m from the door; Villa Tupasvilla is in the village, 500 m from the shop. Both are booked through Airbnb.

If you want a suggestion for a route that fits your group, ask us. We know which ones are worth the drive.