Saariselkä

Saariselkä [ sɑ risɛlkæ ː ] ( Finnish for ridge of the island, North Sami Suoločielgi ) is the name of a ski resort and a Fjellgebiets in Finnish Lapland.

The place Saariselkä is located in the south of the municipality of Inari, about 30 km south of the capital of Ivalo on the state road 4 and has 311 inhabitants. It is a significant tourist ski resort with approximately 10,600 bed spaces. With more than 240,000 overnight stays per year Saariselkä is the largest holiday center Finnish Lapland. Besides hotels and restaurants are located in the village grocery shops, a Alko store, an ATM, a gas station and a chapel. Are located on the slopes of the adjacent fells Kaunispää and Iisakkipää eleven tracks, of which five are illuminated. Nordic skiing is ( lit them 34 km) possible on the 230- km-long network of trails. Because of its natural conditions Saariselkä has fewer and shorter runs than other northern Finnish ski resorts such as Levi. For this, the place attracts in addition to the skiers in winter also many nature tourists in the summer and autumn, so that the seasonality is less pronounced than in many other tourist centers of Lapland: The season is the ski season in March and April, each with almost 34,000 overnight stays, but also in July and September, about 25,000 each nights are registered.

Furthermore, Saariselkä denotes the Fjellgebiet, the east of the town extends to the Russian border. It is uninhabited and is part of the Urho Kekkonen National Park. The highest point is 718 meters high Fjell Sokosti in the municipality of Sodankylä.