Join us on our Finnish Lapland photo tour, where we’ll capture the breathtaking beauty of Northern Finland at the height of winter.
This is the perfect time to photograph the iconic Lapland trees, transformed by heavy snow into mesmerizing shapes, known locally as Tykky. Plus, it’s Northern Lights season, giving us the chance to chase and photograph the Aurora dancing over the pristine, frozen landscapes of Finnish Lapland.
Our tour takes place in January, when the sun barely rises above the horizon, creating an incredible atmosphere for photography. The Arctic Circle’s clear days offer just a few hours of golden light, creating a surreal experience where every moment feels like an extended sunrise to sunset.
And, if witnessing the best Northern Lights displays is on your bucket list, January is the ideal time! This month boasts some of the highest recorded aurora activity in Northern Finland, making it the perfect season to explore this winter wonderland.
During this Finnish Lapland photography tour, we will focus on the southern region of Lapland, exploring its most stunning locations.
Over 8 days, we will capture the iconic mountains of Riisitunturi National Park and venture into the remote area of Mount Kuntivaara, where we’ll enjoy a sleigh ride all the way to the top of the mountain. Here, we’ll witness the fascinating phenomenon of snow-covered trees, also called “Tykky”, a spectacle created by the unique combination of low temperatures and arctic conditions. Each year, these snow-laden trees unveil new shapes and forms, providing endless opportunities for capturing stunning and original images.
January is an ideal time to witness the Northern Lights, being one of the best months in terms of solar activity. We have carefully selected the tour dates to coincide with the new moon, ensuring dark skies that can make for unforgettable Aurora sessions.
We’ll also visit Oulanka National Park, home to some of Finland’s most spectacular rapids and ancient watermills on the edge of the rushing water. In addition to the breathtaking landscapes, you’ll also have the opportunity to photograph Finland’s reindeer up close.
All of this will unfold under the beautiful golden light of the Arctic winter, which, when the days are clear, gives us around 8 hours of constant sunrise to sunset light conditions.
Throughout the trip, our team of experienced guides will be on hand to assist you every step of the way, offering expert advice and guidance to help you capture the perfect shot. Whether you’re an experienced photographer or a novice enthusiast, our goal is to ensure that you leave Finland with a portfolio of breathtaking images and memories that will last a lifetime.
Our Finnish Lapland photo tour offers flexibility to adapt to the weather. We will carefully select the best spots to photograph Lapland´s landscapes under the best possible conditions in each location.
Given that the days are very short during this time of the year, the photography sessions will last the entire day, from around 9 AM when there is light until around 3 PM when it gets dark.
At night, if there are clear skies, we will head to the area with the best weather conditions in the region to capture the Northern Lights.
This will be the schedule we’ll follow for the majority of the days.
Our Finnish Lapland photo tour begins at Kuusamo Airport (KAO), where we will pick you up. From there, we will drive for approximately 30 minutes to our accommodation, where we will be staying for the duration of the trip. Here, we will do the tour orientation and a personal gear review session to make sure that your camera equipment is ready for the adventure!
Afterward, we will head to pick up the snowshoes that we will use at various locations throughout the trip and make a quick stop so you can buy some snacks for the next few days.
If the conditions are good for Northern Lights, we’ll head to a nearby area to enjoy the show.
We kick off our trip to the Finnish Lapland with an immersive experience in the breathtaking Riisitunturi National Park. This park, renowned as one of Finland’s most accessible and fascinating natural gems, will greet us with its majestic snowy landscapes.
Our primary goal for the day will be to practice walking with snowshoes and get used to taking pictures in very cold conditions. Of course, this will go hand in hand with capturing the unique beauty of the “Tykky” trees, one of the most iconic images of the region. In Riisitunturi, we’ll venture into an enchanted forest where each tree seems to tell its own story through its unique shape.
After an intense day of photography, we’ll return to our accommodation for a break before doing a masterclass on Northern lights forecast and photography.
If conditions for the Northern Lights are favorable, after dinner, we’ll have another chance to capture the Aurora. We will try this session in a local area with small wooden houses in an open meadow, offering a wide view of the northern horizon—perfect for watching the auroras.
On the third day of the Finnish Lapland photo tour, we will embark on a journey to another stunning natural area in Syöte National Park.
On our way to Syöte, we will make a stop at a very special and secret spot. Here, we will photograph an old watermill located in the middle of a small stream, where the snow forms perfectly rounded shapes on the rocks. This hidden gem is rarely photographed, offering us a unique opportunity to capture truly special images.
Once we finish in our first location, we will head to the summit of the highest mountain in Syöte National Park, which is accessible by road, making the journey much easier. This is one of the most magical locations we will visit—the entire mountaintop serves as a natural panoramic viewpoint, offering breathtaking views of the vast Finnish forests. Scattered along the mountainside, we’ll find some local cottages covered in snow, creating an enchanting scene.
As the golden sunset light bathes the landscape, the sun will set to our right, casting a soft, warm glow over the snow. Of course, we won’t forget the “Tykky” trees with their snow-laden branches adding depth and framing our compositions, enhancing the beauty of the scene with the cabins and the setting sun.
The same as every night, if the conditions are good for Northern Lights, we will go to one of the locations to try to capture them.
On the fourth day of our Finnish Lapland tour, we’ll get ready for one of the highlights of the trip. We’ll visit and photograph the Kuntivaara Mountain Peak, an area of difficult access that very few people know about with some truly unique trees atop its summit.
Kuntivaara is renowned for its distinctively “Tykky” trees that are perfect for accumulating massive amounts of snow. These petite trees, due to their size, are less affected by the wind, allowing them to gather substantial snowfall.
To reach the remote summit, we’ll travel in sleds pulled by snowmobiles! Before dawn breaks, we’ll head to the foothills of Mount Kuntivaara, where our guides will be waiting for us with two sleds. We’ll hop aboard, and the snowmobiles will take us to the summit.
Once atop, we’ll be treated to spectacular 360-degree views of all the Russian and Finnish forests along with the beautiful snow-covered trees. At the summit, we’ll have access to a cabin where we can keep ourselves warm by a fire. Since we’ll be able to photograph just steps away from the cabin, you can pop in and out to warm up as many times as you like before heading out again to capture the stunning landscapes.
As with every other day, if conditions are favorable, we’ll chase after the Aurora Borealis for yet another spectacular night of photography.
After a few intense days of shooting, our fifth day will be more relaxed and chilled, allowing you to regain energy for the final part of the tour. We will leave some free time in the morning so you can organize your images or get the included 1-day gondola pass to enjoy the vistas from the top of Ruka Skii Resort. Around midday, we will head to a local reindeer farm for a special activity tailored exclusively for Capture The Atlas.
Here, we’ll have the opportunity to photograph reindeer in their habitat, surrounded by snow-covered forests and lands. Unlike typical farms, these reindeer roam semi-freely, allowing us to capture them in various place and backgrounds.
After the session, we will warm up with a hot chocolate or enjoy one of their delicious homemade pastries at the farm’s café.
In the evening, we’ll spend a couple of hours in the classroom working on some editing classes.
As always, we’ll monitor the weather forecasts and aurora activity closely throughout the day. If conditions are favorable, we’ll seize the opportunity to go out again to shot them.
For day six, we’ll reserve the whole day for a return to Riisitunturi National Park. This time, we will embark on a new path, visiting a different section of the park.
On this occasion, we’ll venture to the end of one of the trails, where we’ll find two picturesque cabins surrounded by “Tykkys” that also serve as shelter. We’ll spend the entire day photographing the landscapes and unique formations of this national park.
In the late afternoon we’ll continue with some editing classes where we’ll help you bring your captured images to life.
At night, we’ll keep our eyes on the weather and Aurora forecast for another night of chasing the “green lady”.
As our adventure in Finnish Lapland comes to an end, we reserve this final full day for one of the most photogenic and renowned areas within Oulanka National Park. We’ll start our day with a sunrise excursion to the Myllykoski rapids, a picturesque river section filled with rapids and countless photographic opportunities. Here, we’ll have the chance to capture the classic scene of rushing waters alongside the iconic Myllykoski watermill.
In this area, there are also pools with unique ice formations where extreme sub-zero temperatures, combined with circular currents formed by the rapids, result in the creation of small circular icebergs on the water’s surface.
We’ll embark on a short walking excursion in this area, passing over a suspension bridge that we’ll also photograph, until we reach a local hut.
In the late afternoon, we’ll do a last class focused on some image critique where we’ll provide some feedback and recommendations to edit your images.
To conclude our journey on a high note, we’ll keep a close eye on the weather forecasts so we can bid farewell to Finland with a last night of Northern Lights.
On day 8, the bus will take you back to Kuusamo airport where you can catch your flight back home.
Deposit: $2,000 USD
A $2,000 USD deposit is required to reserve your spot for this workshop. You can also pay in full at any time. The remaining balance is due 120 days before the start of the photo tour. If the remaining balance is not paid in full by the due date, you will lose your spot.
This workshop is mainly focused on landscape and Northern Lights photography
What you learn during the workshop will vary according to your goals and skills. Your instructors are professional photographers with extensive experience who will help you take your photography to the next level.
During the tour you’ll have the opportunity to learn:
Some of the photography basics you can learn during the workshop are:
Some of the advanced photography techniques you can learn during the workshop are:
Some of the post-processing techniques that you can learn with are:
Unai Larraya will be the tour leader on this Finnish Lapland photo tour. He is an expert landscape photographer with a deep knowledge of Lapland, where he has led photo tours before and scouted for the best photography spots. He will ensure that you end up with the best possible images.
Unai is an experienced landscape and wildlife photographer based in Northern Spain. He has refined his photography skills while traveling around the world over the past few years and teaching in many other CTA photo tours like Iceland, Lofoten, Patagonia, the Alps, the Dolomites, etc.
Since Unai started his photography journey, he has won multiple awards in recognition of his outstanding photography and editing skills.
With Unai, you’ll learn about composition, shaping light, color theory, focus stacking, wildlife techniques, and more. He will also show you how to implement all these techniques into your workflow to take your photography to the next level!
Dan Zafra will be the tour co-leader throughout this Lapland photo tour, and he will make sure that you get the best photography results and experience from this tour. He will help you with composition, technique, and post-processing in your wildlife, landscape & Northern Lights images and use the best methods according to your skills.
He is based in Nevada and has explored the higher latitudes of our planet over the years on countless trips to Northern Norway, Iceland, Alaska, and Kamchatka, which has given him plenty of experience in arctic regions.
Dan is a renowned photographer who enjoys educating other photographers with photo tours, workshops, and tutorials. His online photography courses have helped more than 700 photographers over the last few years and he’s an expert Northern Lights photographer with images published by NASA and the Royal Observatory of Greenwich.
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You will receive a complete list of everything that we recommend for this workshop upon completing your registration for the trip. Below, you can find a summary of things you might need:
We also recommend a fast prime lens for Northern Light photography. Some of the best lenses in this range are:
This prime can also be a substitute for your wide-angle zoom for daytime images.
The weather in the Kuusamo area during January is severely cold, with very low temperatures ranging from 14°F to -13°F (-10°C to -25°C). However, during winter, there can be spells of extreme cold in the area, occasionally dropping to as low as -31ºF or -40ºF (-35º or -40º).
As the sun barely rises a few degrees above the horizon, the temperature remains very stable throughout the 24 hours of the day, and there are no major fluctuations between night and day, making it easier for the body to acclimatize. This is why it is extremely important to dress warmly for both daytime and nighttime sessions.
For this reason, you should come prepared and wear the right clothing and trekking gear. Below is our list of recommendations for this Finnish Lapland tour:
Some optional items that are highly recommended are:
You will receive a list with everything that you need and we recommend with links and examples once you complete the tour registration.
We will also organize a pre-tour online meeting where we’ll explain the different clothing and gear recommendations and reply to your questions.
As the weather in Lapland can be extremely cold, we have arranged the option to get back to the bus accompanied by a guide in one of the rounds to the bus that will be planned.
However, we highly recommend making the most of the scarce six hours of constant golden light that the day offers, as returning to the bus will mean losing part of the short hours of daylight.
The currency in Finland is the Euro (EUR). Credit and debit cards are widely accepted everywhere in Finland. You can exchange some cash if you like before the trip.
Finland follows the visa regulations of the Schengen Area. Depending on your nationality and duration of stay, a visa may be necessary. We are here to assist you with the visa application process and provide guidance. It’s essential to verify the specific visa requirements for your country of residence prior to your trip.
Most countries (Such as the United States and Canada) don’t need a visa to visit Finland for less than 90 days. Remember to consult the official embassy or consulate of Finland for the most up-to-date and accurate visa information based on your nationality and circumstances.
IMPORTANT NOTE: Starting from 2025, travelers from visa-exempt countries need to apply for an ETIAS travel authorization to enter most EU countries. The current list of nationalities which need to apply for an ETIAS travel authorization includes the USA and Canada.
Visit the Official EU Travel website to find more information about ETIAS.
During this Finnish Lapland photo tour, we’ll stay in a top-rated hotel in the village of Ruka, in shared rooms for two people, with a private bathroom.
This is one of the best hotels in the perfect spot to reach all our photography locations and host the photography presentations and classes we’ll run during the tour.
We will be staying at this hotel for the entire trip. For an additional fee of XXXX, you can also request a private room. Private rooms are limited and subject to availability.
This is not a dedicated hiking photo tour, but we will include some moderate hikes that you should be prepared for.
Just because a hike is listed does not mean we will definitely do it. These are the available options in the area, and we will choose specific hikes based on weather and snow conditions.
Factors like snow or fog can make the hikes more challenging. While none of the routes are extremely steep and they are suitable for all levels, snow and ice can significantly increase the difficulty. Additionally, using snowshoes requires more effort than walking in regular boots.
We recommend being in good physical shape and prepared to enjoy this experience.
The estimated duration is without any stops, but during the hike, we will make frequent stops to capture photographs of different spots
Hike | Elevation Gain | Distance | Estimated Duration | Path |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Riisitunturi Path 1 | 200 feet | 1.25 miles (2km) | 1 hour | Path with very hard-packed snow, but we will be walking on snowshoes so you will not sink at all. We will make many stops along the way so we will probably not walk more than 300 feet without stopping. Wide path with practically no incline, suitable for all publics, zero danger. |
Riisitunturi Path 2 | 360 feet | 2 miles (3,3km) | 1 hour and 30 min. | Same as above |
Riisitunturi Circular path | 400 feet | 4 miles (6,5km) the complete route | 4 hour – complete route | Same as above. Full route here. |
Koruoma national park | 330 feet | 1 mile (1,6km) | 45 min. | Wide path with very hard-packed snow, with 2 uphill slopes, suitable for all levels. |
Kiutaköngäs rapids | 100 feet | 0.65 miles (1km) | 45 min. | Single track with practically no incline, suitable for all publics, zero danger. Since it is close to the river and there may be some ice, microspikes are mandatory. |
We recommend being in good physical shape to enjoy this experience |
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To reach Ruka, you should book your flight to Kuusamo Airport (KAO). The price of round-trip flights to Kuusamo from Europe ranges approximately from $450 to $700, and from the US, it is approximately $900 to $1,100.
Several airlines operate flights to Kuusamo, including Finnair, British Airways or Air France. Regardless of whether you fly from Europe or the United States, it is difficult to find direct flights to Kuusamo. The most direct route is usually to fly to Helsinki or Rovaniemi, and from there there are daily flights to Kuusamo.
We strongly recommend booking your flight to arrive one day before the start of the tour (Jan. 24th) in case there are flight cancelations because of bad weather.
We recommend this article to find the best way to get to Kuusamo Airport from your current location.
Meals are not included in the tour package. During daylight hours, we will be mostly engaged in photography sessions with some breaks in local cafeterias during some of the days.
We recommend bringing some snacks or a piece of fruit, which you can buy at the local supermarkets. Most days, we will return around 4:00 PM-5:00 PM, allowing you some rest time before our early evening classes, and we head out to dinner at the restaurant.
You'll be absorbed by the magic of Finland and have an intense experience that is conducive to learning and taking the best images.
Our photo trek is limited to small groups with a ratio of no more than six students per instructor. This is also an important factor for providing the attentive instruction you need during the tour.
We will photograph some hidden gems that we have discovered while exploring in the past and include a visit to a reindeer farm, and a snowmobile tour. We'll be close to the best locations during the best moments of light.
We will discuss your goals before the tour so we can create a dedicated instruction plan for you. It doesn’t matter your age or skills; we will design your plan and provide you with materials before, during, and after the workshop so the learning process is not limited to just the tour.
We have spent years designing national and international photo tours with successful results, helping photographers with everything from the simple task of getting off Auto to the ambitious goal of capturing complex images. Dan’s online courses have also helped more than 400 photographers over the last few years.
Beyond the photography, our photography tours help build strong bonds that last forever. After our trip, you’ll feel like you have been with a group of friends rather than on a standard tour. We are thankful to have plenty of repeat clients who keep traveling and learning with us.
Whether you are experienced or just starting out in photography, you are welcome, and I am convinced that you will progress quickly. Together, we will get you back home with a greater and deeper knowledge in many photography topics.
Also, we can Zoom or Skype beforehand to discuss your skill level, knowledge, and goals for this tour.
This is not a hiking Photo tour; however, there are some moderate hikes that we’ll take and that you should consider. Also, conditions like snow or fog can make the hikes harder. None of the routes include extreme steep sections, and all of them are suitable for the general public.
However, snow and ice can make walking a lot harder than in normal conditions, and walking with snowshoes requires more effort than walking in normal boots, so don’t overestimate your capabilities. So we recommend being in good physical shape and prepared to be able to enjoy this experience.
There is no age limit. This trip is perfect for anyone over 18 years old who wants to photograph Finland with us.
Non-photographer companions are welcome to join the tour, and they need to book a spot under the same price and conditions as any other participant. (We don’t allow non-participant companions tagging along with the group). We have had plenty of non-photographer companions over the years and all of them enjoyed an amazing experience. As long as they enjoy nature, beautiful landscapes, and are a bit patient with the schedules of a photo tour, joining the trip can be a great experience regardless of the shooting.
Absolutely. We can assign you a shared room in the different accommodations. Please state that information on the registration form and we’ll take care of it.
Drones are permitted in some locations. However, the harsh conditions make operating the remote control with gloves quite uncomfortable and imprecise. Additionally, you should store the batteries inside your jacket for a while before flying it, because the cold weather may trigger the drone’s safety system and keep you from flying it.
Our guides will provide guidance on the specific places that drones can be flown and the height and distance restrictions at each location, ensuring a safe and responsible drone flying experience. However, we are not responsible for any accidental damage or fines during drone flights.
I’ve had the opportunity to work with and help countless photographers over the last years:
Join us on an unforgettable journey through Finnish Lapland’s snowy wonderland! This exclusive photo tour will offer you the chance to photograph surreal landscapes, from snow-sculpted trees to the magical Northern Lights.
In January, the sun barely rises, casting a golden light perfect for photography. We’ll explore stunning locations like Riisitunturi and Oulanka National Parks, with the opportunity to capture the Aurora Borealis dancing across the sky.
Enjoy cozy accommodations, professional photography guidance, and unique excursions like snowmobile rides to Mount Kuntivaara and visits to a reindeer farm. Embrace Finnish Lapland’s enchanting beauty and return home with a portfolio of breathtaking images and unforgettable memories!
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