Finland

The Arctic Circle runs through the village and is marked so you can step across it, and Santa is there all year. Fifteen minutes from the airport by bus, which makes it the start of most Lapland trips.

Best chances on clear dark nights between September and March, often watched lying down in a glass-roofed cabin. It depends entirely on the weather, so allow several nights.

There are said to be more saunas than people, so hotels, pools and public bathhouses all have them. The form is to sit in the heat and then go straight into a lake or the sea.

An eighteenth-century sea fortress spread over six islands, still an inhabited neighbourhood. The ferry runs on a normal city transport ticket and takes fifteen minutes.

A granite outcrop hollowed out and roofed in copper, so the walls are bare bedrock. The acoustics are good enough that concerts are frequent.

Finns disappear to lakeside log cabins in summer and spend it on sauna and swimming. The Saimaa region is the heart of it, with boat routes across the lakes.

Built by Sweden and continued by Russia, surviving close to its original form. Walking the whole island chain takes two or three hours.

The largest wooden old town in the Nordic countries, with over six hundred buildings. People still live here, so walk quietly.

An eighteenth-century log church raised by a village carpenter without drawings. It opens seasonally, so check before going.

Land pressed down by ice is still rising a few millimetres a year, so new islands keep appearing. A rare place to see geology happening.

The design district, the market square and seaside saunas are all within a walk. Tallinn is two hours by ferry and Stockholm an overnight crossing.

Santa’s village, aurora tours and husky and reindeer sledding all leave from here. The overnight train from Helsinki saves a night’s accommodation.

A medieval castle and cathedral, with thousands of islands scattered offshore. The archipelago ring route is a well-known cycling trip.

Red-brick factories converted into shops and museums, with a living public sauna culture. An hour and a half from Helsinki by train.

Better aurora odds than Rovaniemi, and a museum of Sámi culture at Inari. In winter there is a stretch when the sun does not rise at all.

Island-hopping by ferry, staying in the villages. Åland is autonomous, so the feel and the language shift slightly.

The south thaws while the north is still winter. The quietest and cheapest time.

The sun does not set in the north, and the lakes and archipelago open. Finns are on holiday too, so cabin country fills up.

Lapland turns red in the ruska season and the aurora becomes visible again. The mosquitoes are gone, which makes walking far better.

The season of aurora, sledding and ice hotels. In the north the sun barely rises and temperatures reach twenty or thirty below.

Up to ninety days in any one hundred and eighty across the Schengen area. The European travel authorisation scheme is being phased in, so check the official guidance before you leave.

The one Nordic country on the euro. Card payment is universal enough that you can travel without cash.

Usually no swimwear, with separate areas by gender, and you sit on a towel in a public sauna. Talking loudly is the main thing to avoid.

Lapland regularly sits twenty to thirty below, which ordinary winter clothing will not handle. Tour operators often lend suits and boots, so ask when you book.

Overnight trains run from Helsinki to Lapland and can carry your car. Winter hire cars require snow tyres, and reindeer wander onto the roads.

The pan-European number reaching police, ambulance and fire, with good English. Signal drops out in forest and in the far north.