When to go
Christmas with Santa Claus in Lapland sounds appealing, but it's also the coldest -40°C at worst and darkest time of the year, since the sun quite literally does not rise at all. This is, however, a very good time to see the aurora. By the end of February both the weather and the light improve, with temperatures on the better side of -10°C and nearly 12 hours of light a day, although the sun is low and it still feels like perpetual dusk! But the Finns only start to pack in at Easter, when things really start to heat up and it's possible to ski in bright sunshine wearing only a T-shirt. It takes quite some time for the accumulated snow as much as 2 meters to melt off, and skiing may be possible as late as May.
In late spring and early summer, the landscape turns muddy as the snow melts, bringing on the curse of the Lappish mosquito hyttynen, and if you think this sounds like a trivial nuisance you have never had to face up to the hordes that inhabit Lapland — don't venture out without industrial-strength insect repellent. Mosquitoes are far less present in the centers of the cities but it's virtually impossible to avoid the bite. Even though the mosquitoes' bites are itchy and their noise is irritating, they are completely harmless and contain no diseases.
On the upside, the famous midnight sun is visible almost everywhere in Lapland. At Rovaniemi the sun doesn't set at all between the beginning of June and the beginning of July, with this period growing longer as one travels farther north. Some foreigners have difficulty sleeping during these nightless periods, though a simple sleep mask should go a long way.
By late July the mosquitoes start to die out and they're usually gone by late August. Hiking in the middle of ruska, the colourful time of autumn, is a worthwhile experience.
Understand
Lapland is the Wild North of Finland and the last refuge of Finland's Sámi people, who subsist on reindeer herding and increasingly these days selling trinkets to curious visitors.
There is not too much history to see, because at the end of the Second World War, retreating German troops implemented a scorched earth policy to punish their Finnish allies for agreeing to peace with the Soviet Union, razing everything in their path. By the time they were done, 100,000 people had fled, 675 bridges blown up, all major roads mined and the capital Rovaniemi had only 13 houses left standing.
But then, people don't come to Lapland for the architecture, they come here for the nature. While there are no craggy mountains or fjords here, the endless pine forests and the treeless rounded fells tunturi poking out between them can also be breathtakingly beautiful.