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Salla National Park is the newest of Finland's 41 national parks, which was officially opened in June 2022 in Lapland region on the border with Russia. The main feature of the park is Sallatunturi Fell (478 m / 1568 ft), around which it is formed to protect its fragile flora and fauna, and diverse landscape consisting of ridges and gorges, old-growth forests, and wetlands. In total there is 1 named mountain in Salla National Park.
The name of the national park and its main feature, Sallatunturi Fell, comes from the historic settlement and relatively large region of Salla in eastern Lapland.
It is believed that the first settlers appeared here immediately after the melting of the glacier that covered all of northern Europe. They were (and still are) the Sámi, indigenous Lapland hunters, and fishermen who have been doing the same thing for about 10,000 years. In the process, reindeer breeding was added to it, a characteristic of all of Lapland, as well as tourism.
The meaning of the name itself is not exactly known, but it is believed that the word comes from the Sámi "guollejaur," which means "fish lake”. The Sámi usually names the places after terrain features or animals.
The name of the park in Finnish is Sallan kansallispuisto or Sallatunturin luonnonsuojelualue.
Salla is one of the 21 municipalities of Lapland, which in turn is one of Finland’s 19 regions. In terms of area (5873 sq km / 2267 sq mi), it is midway between the largest metropolitan Rovaniemi (8016 sq km / 3094 sq mi) and the smallest Pelkosenniemi (1881 sq km / 726 sq mi).
However, it is one of the key areas of Lapland, as it is located on the important national west-east road between Rovaniemi and Kandalaksha, the largest city on the White Sea in the Murmansk region of Russia. The former is 150 km (93 mi) or 1:45 hours by car, the latter is 203 km (126 mi) or 2:35 hours by car.
Salla is also infamous as one of the three relatively large areas, parts of which Finland lost to Russia during the Winter War in the mid-20th century, along with Petsamo in northern Lapland and the northern part of the Republic of Karelia, so the region was larger before.
The main feature of the Salla National Park’s landscape except rocky mountains are Kaunisharju eskers with views of rivers and lakes, Pahaojankuru and Salmijoki ravines with unique microclimate, Aatsinginhauta Valley with extensive mounds of hundreds of thousands of boulders, and several others.
The water bodies of the park are represented by its largest lake Onkamojärvi in the south, as well as many smaller wilderness lakes: Pyhäjärvi, Kalliojärvi, Latvajärvi, Kuolajärvi, and others. There are also many bogs, including the largest one, Topsakka.
The easiest and quickest way to get to Salla by public transport is by bus from the three nearest regional centers: Kemijärvi in the west, Savukoski in the north, and Kuusamo in the south. Kemijärvi, on the other hand, can be reached by Vr.fi train from Rovaniemi, where you can take a direct flight from Helsinki, the capital of Finland, by Finnair.fi.
Then you have to walk or hitch a ride about 15 km (9.3 mi) south to the northern boundaries of the park, where Sallatunturi Fell is also located.
The flora and fauna of Salla National Park are typical of Lapland in general but have some peculiarities.
The main plant of the park is the vast old-growth spruce and pine forests, which were officially protected by the state long before the formation of the national park. It was known as Salla Nature Reserve until 2022. Except for hills and reservoirs, the park’s forests almost completely cover its diverse terrain.
The main animal of the park is the Western capercaillie, which can be seen both on its emblem and in person. During my hikes in Finland, I have seen them many times, both in summer and winter. Usually, they hide in the bushes of blueberries or snowdrifts, and when they hear and see a man, they jump out of them sharply, to jump to another place. Сapercaillie is a one of the birds that cannot fly actively and for a long time, which makes them one of the most accessible to observe.
But other birds (crane, swan, goose, yellow wagtail...) and larger animals can also be found here, including, of course, reindeer, which are kept in large numbers by Sámi. South of Sallatunturi Fell is Salla Wilderness Park, where you can watch and even ride animals for sure:
Salla Wilderness Park
Poropuistontie, 4A, 98900, Salla, Finland
Daily from 10 am to 4 om
+358403525248
As with Pallastunturi Fell, the other famous mountain in Lapland, which includes seven peaks, Sallatunturi (478 m / 1568 ft) is the collective name for a series of fells. In particular, it consists of the highest Pieni Pyhätunturi and isolated Iso Pyhätunturi, located a bit to the northeast of it.
South of Sallatunturi you will also find several other mountains outside the park boundaries, but which are also considered symbols of the whole area: Palotunturi (469 m / 1538 ft), Aikkipetsi (384 m / 1259 ft), Ruuhitunturi (472 m / 1548 ft), and Vilmatunturi (432 m / 1417 ft).
The park is also home to two famous lookouts: Kaunisharju Natural Phenomena Observation Point on Kaunisharju eskers, and Onkamo Lookout on Onkamojärvi Lake.
But all of the above mountains offer great views, also of the eastern part of the historic region of Salla, which is now part of Russia. The Finns call it an "Old Salla". On the Russian side are Sotitunturi (532 m / 1745 ft), Syarkitunturi (471 m / 1545 ft), and the highest of them—Rohmoiva or Gora Rokhmoyva (658 m / 2158 ft). On a clear day behind these mountains, you can also see the separate peaks of the Khibiny Mountains on the Kola Peninsula.
The Salla peaks themselves belong to the defunct Karelides mountain range, which stretches from southern Karelia to northern Lapland along the eastern border of Finland and western of Russia. They are the remnants of once high mountains, which at their peak reached the height of the Alps with their highest peak of Mont Blanc (4810 m / 15,780 ft) in the Mont Blanc Massif of the same name.
Salla National Park has several marked hiking trails of varying lengths and levels of difficulty. All of them are circular, which is very convenient. So here are the options you have:
You can also hike through the whole park on the national Finnish UKK Trail, named after Urho Kaleva Kekkonen, one of Finland's greatest presidents of the country. This almost 900 km (560 miles) long trail starts at Lieksa near the Koli National Park in North Karelia and ends at the village of Tulppio in the municipality of Savukoski north of Salla in the same Lapland. The park’s section called Topsakantaiva between Hautajärvi and Sallatunturi is 45 km (28 mi) long. It can be hiked in sections from 7 to 18.7 km (4 to 12 mi) in 6 days, which is also very convenient.
Sallatunturi Fell and national park is home to namesake Salla Ski Resort with 10 km (6 mi) of slopes and 6 ski lifts.
The nearest larger resorts are Pyhä Ski Resort (11.4 km / 7 mi of slopes and 9 ski lifts) on the north, Suomu Ski Resorts (13 km / 8 mi of slopes and 5 ski lifts) on the west, and Ruka Ski Resort (19.1 km / 12 mi of slopes and 22 ski lifts) on the south of Sala.
Learn more about Finland's ski resorts in the World Mountain Lifts section, including open and closed slopes and lifts in real-time.
The park's Visitor Center is a little south of Sallatunturi. It is also one of Finland's 24 nature centers, which contain extended expositions devoted both to specific features of the regions and parks in which they are located, and to the country as a whole (others: Haltia, Koli, Syöte...).
Salla Visitor Center
Hautajärventie, 111, 98900, Salla, Finland
+3580206394398
Since Salla National Park is a new park, there are no open wilderness huts—the most comfortable and common option for overnight accommodation in Lapland with a self-speaking name. At least for now at the time of publication of the guide in fall 2022, perhaps they will appear later. However, they do exist beyond the park's borders in the Salla area. For example, Lehtikorkia hut is located on the snowmobile track between Salla Tourist Centre and Kemijärvi. As an option inside the park, you can choose from windowless and doorless lean-to shelters or pitch your own tent at one of the camping sites.
The main settlement of the park with the same name, Salla, is located on the road Rovaniemi—Kandalaksha between two lakes, Ruuhijarvi and Märkäjärvi. It has 3,415 (2021) inhabitants, many of whom are engaged in reindeer herding and tourism.
It is a typical Sámi village without many architectural or cultural attractions, but you can always find a few. In Salla, this is first of all an impressive structure of crossed logs of different colors, placed on the roundabout in its center. Second is the Church of Salla, an example of Finnish religious architectural minimalism. The third is the Museum of War and Reconstruction, dedicated to the history of the region in the 20th century.
The official tourist site of the village is Visitsalla.fi.
Explore Sallatunturin luonnonsuojelualue with the PeakVisor 3D Map and identify its summits.
