Pallas-Yllastunturi National Park

Finland'S Third Largest National Park, A Chain Of Treeless Fells Crossed By The Hetta Pallas Trail, With Yllas At Its Southern End · Muonio, Lapland

Pallas-Yllastunturi is a long chain of rounded, treeless fells running roughly north to south through western Finnish Lapland, from the village of Hetta in Enontekio down past Pallas and Olos to the Yllas ski area near Akaslompolo. It was created in 2005 by joining the old Pallas-Ounastunturi park, one of Finland's first national parks from the 1930s, with the Yllas fells, and it is usually described as the country's third-largest park at roughly 1,000 sq km. People come for the Hetta-Pallas trail, a classic multi-day fell walk of roughly 55 km with free open wilderness huts, for the view from Taivaskero, the highest top at a little over 800 m, for autumn ruka colour in early September, for cross-country skiing on hundreds of kilometres of tracks, and for northern lights over open fell. The air at Pallas is often described as among the cleanest measured anywhere. The honest caveat: this is gentle, bare upland rather than dramatic peaks, the weather on the tops turns fast, July brings dense mosquitoes, and the park is spread out, so without a car you see only one corner of it.

Pallas-Yllastunturi National Park, between Hetta, Pallas, Olos and Yllas, Muonio, Lapland, Finland

Open all year, day and night, with no gates and no entry fee. Visitor centres keep their own hours: the Pallas centre by the fell hotel and Kellokas at Akaslompolo are typically open daily in the main winter and autumn seasons and shorter or closed in the quiet months of May and late October to November - check the current schedule. Road access is from Muonio and Kittila; the nearest airport is Kittila, and Kolari has a seasonal rail link. Book huts that are reservable, the Hetta lake boat and winter accommodation ahead; open wilderness huts cannot be booked.

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