Connecting to us through Finland is generally the easiest option if you are relying on public transport since there are easy train and bus connections to Enontekiö from most regional airports.
BY AIR
Flights from Helsinki connect north via either Finnair (to Kittilä or Rovaniemi), SAS / Blue1 (to Rovaniemi or Kittilä) or Norwegian.no (to Rovaniemi).
Kittilä is a short 2-hour shuttle and Rovaniemi is three hours but with a very easy bus connection. The bus stops pretty much right outside our door.
Enontekiö Flights
In December there are a number of charter flights flying into Enontekiö almost daily and it is sometimes possible to get a last-minute seat with them. (For instance, with Thomson, Canterbury-Travel, or Transun.
FYI: For those thinking about day-trips to Lapland in December, we definitely recommend Canterbury-Travel.
Kittilä Flights
The closest larger commercial airport to us in Finland is Kittilä, with Rovaniemi slightly further away. Onward land connections from both Kittilä and Rovaniemi are easy, year-round.
For British customers, Monarch is flying from Manchester (only in December) and LGW (throughout the season) to Kittilä. Various other charter flight companies also offer seats to Kittilä through the ski season from a variety of UK airports. Some allow flight-only bookings and others only offer last-minute seats if you ring them directly. Charter flight companies include, but are not limited to, Jet2, Flybe, Thomas Cook Airlines, Ski-flights.com and Thomson Airways. It might also be possible to book with one of the Santa Tour operators in Santa season if you are willing to spend a bit of time on research..it definitely saves ground-transport time to and from airports at both ends!
For french customers, 2 different charter flights (from Jet-tours and Timetours) fly into Kittilä from various French airports once a week from 19th December to April 1st. The three first flights are on Mondays and the rest are on Saturdays.
For German customers, Lufthansa is flying into Kittilä (and Ivalo) from Munich and from Frankfurt (via Munich).
Rovaniemi Flights
British tourists might also be able to fly directly to Rovaniemi, the capital of Finnish Lapland, with Norwegian. There are generally two services a week on Mondays and Fridays. Norwegian also runs daily services between Helsinki and London.
A number of other smaller airlines also fly directly to Rovaniemi from various hubs across Europe. Germania, for instance, flies in directly from Zurich in Switzerland.
OVERLAND AIRLINE CONNECTIONS
Please note: You will need to be patient with us when it comes to organising your transfer to Hetta from the regional airports. If you need to know the cost immediately, we will have to say that the options are either the bus (and it is always, anyway, important to support regional transportation services in these remote regions) or the taxi. However, if you can be patient and wait until we have the flight details of everyone in your group, we can try to figure out the most economical way of getting you all to us from the regional airports since shared taxi costs often work out even cheaper than getting the bus.
BY BUS / SUBSIDISED SHUTTLE / TAXI
If you fly direcly into Enontekiö there will be a number of private taxis waiting outside to offer the 4km shuttle to Hetta and we include pick-ups with our 5-day tours.
If you are arriving from Kittilä airport or Rovaniemi airport in the South, the Rovaniemi bus (Matkahuolto), travels north twice daily to Hetta (departing at 11.30am and arriving at 4.15 and departing at 17.10, arriving 21.50.). (For the return journey, the bus departs Enontekiö at either 7.30 am or 12.46pm and arrives at Rovaniemi at 12.15pm or 17.35pm.)
This same bus picks up people en route at Kittilä, Kittilä airport, Levi (@14.00 & 19.55), Muonio and Palojoensu. Hetta is normally the end of the line although at some times of the year, the bus may carry on to Kilpisjärvi so make sure to ask in Palojoensu in case you might need to swap buses.
For the last few years, it has cost c.€30 per person, each way, between Kittilä airport and Enontekiö and the timetable has been as follows:
Kittilä airport to Enontekiö - twice daily departure from KTT @ 1340 or 1930. Arrival ENON 1615 or 2150.
Enontekiö to Kittilä airport - twice daily departure from ENON @ 0731 or 1246. Arrival KTT 1000 or 1515.
If you have a few hours to spare between your plane landing and the scheduled bus, one option might be to take the airport shuttle to Levi, (rather than just waiting at the small airport).
Levi is a small village with a lively ski centre complete with plenty of amenities like cafes, a spa, shops, ski-slopes, (and, in summer, a high-ropes tree-tops course, downhill bike park, panorama hike at the top of the gondola etc). It is only c. 10km from Kittilä en route towards Hetta so shuttle costs are minimal.
There are (10 min) shuttle buses running between Kittilä airport and Levi, each day at 7am, 9.40am, 11.30am, 12.20pm, 15.05 and 18.00. When returning to Kittilä airport, they leave from Levi at 10.45, 13.05, 13.45 and 19.40. Each shuttle costs between €4.70 and €8 per person).
The shuttle bus will put you down outside of a large hotel (Levi Tunturi) which can look after your bags for a couple of hours. The bus to Hetta also stops outside the same hotel.
Subsidised mini-bus taxis between Kittilä Airport and Hetta are available on Thursday, Saturday and Sunday evenings (connected to the evening flights) for €35 per person. The minibus effectively picks up clients from the airport and shuttles them northwards as far as Kilpisjärvi and Hetta is one of the destination stops en route. NB: These subsidised taxis need to be pre-booked (with Elli-Marja Kultima of Kilpisjärven Taksi: +358 (0) 400 138 262) - although we can do this on your behalf if communication proves challenging.
NB: The only downside of the subsidised taxis is that since the evening flights can be a couple of hours apart, you might find yourself waiting at the airport for additional clients coming in on the later flight - or arriving at the airport a little earlier than you might otherwise need, on your journey home, in order to satisfy as many customers as possible. On the plus side, that means you may have a chance to spend some time in Levi, en route, if you want to take the airport shuffle between Levi and KTT airport.
FYI: The trans-border bus connections from nearby Norwegian (eg Alta or Tromso) and Swedish airports (eg Kiruna) can sometimes be challenging in the winter, even if flight connections might seem tempting. Tromso is by far the biggest airport in the region and also has direct flights from LGW two or three times per week with Norwegian. Norwegian also flies into Kiruna, the next biggest airport in the region. If you want to travel to us through the border region, you will need to figure out how to connect, onwards, using the Finnish bus timetable once you have reached the border villages. (We can sometimes arrange a pick-up from Karasuando / Palojoensu / Kautokeino but please check with us first to check that we have time!).
Hetta Huskies Group Transfers
We offer in-house transfers between KTT airport and Hetta to larger groups at €120/ direction when we have the capacity to do so. We have also occassionally picked up groups from Alta, Karasuando and even Kiruna or Tromso but please remember that we are a small team with a focus on dogs and only have one person and car that we can use for this, so this possibility is very limited. If we do not have the potential to shuttle you ourselves, it is always possible to arrange a taxi transfer.
Taxi Transfers to Regional Airports
You will need to budget c. €250 / direction for a taxi shuttle between Hetta (Enontekiö) and Kittilä. Per person costs are a proportion of this. Hence, with larger groups this can actually become quite cost effective and not much more costly than taking the bus. We would have to enquire on an ad-hoc basis for the transfer costs between Alta, Karasuando, Tromso and Hetta.
BY TRAIN
Finland's rail company 'VR' is also an option for continuing northwards from Helsinki or Tampere in the South. The trains are generally very modern and many have computer cars and allergenic cars as well as 2 or 3-person sleeping carriages complete with showers. Journeying by train becomes a fun adventure in itself and you can connect through to Hetta from the trainheads at Kolari or Rovaniemi using Matkahuolto, Finland's national bus company.
For more information on bus and train arrival and departure times see the following websites:
VR TrainsBY CAR
If you are driving, please be aware that the road sign network within the municipality of Enontekiö can be confusing since in Finland the signs pointing towards the county town of each municipality actually state the name of the municipality vs the name of the town / village. Whilst this is true throughout Finland, it is still confusing. ie the signpost indicating the turn from the main border highway towards Hetta at Palojoenso actually points towards Enontekiö vs Hetta.
Please note also that if you are planning to drive here in winter in your own car, you will need winter tyres (studs are not accepted) and we would recommend an integrated pre-heating system since most locals warm the oil in their cars for a couple of hours pre use).