Saariselkä (http://www.saariselka.fi/eng/) is a largish winter sports center high up in Finnish Lapland, some 250 km north of the Arctic Circle and nearly 1000 kilometers away from the southern capital Helsinki.
Nestled in a valley, Saariselkä is a compact strip of a village with one gas station, one main supermarket, one liquor store and a slew of hotels, shops and restaurants, but it's quite manageable on foot and located only 30 km away from the town of Ivalo and its airport. The fells of Kaunispää and Iisakkipää, both equipped with ski lifts, are the primary centers for winter sports.
