On Courage, Curiosity & Travel

There's something compelling about watching people test themselves against the wild - which might explain why so many of us have been glued to the new season of Alone Australia this month. Ten contestants, dropped into Sápmi, the Sámi homeland of Finnish Lapland, learning to survive with almost nothing.

Image: Visit Ylläs

We've spent a lot of the past few weeks thinking about that appetite - the pull towards a destination that asks something of you, even briefly. Not everyone wants to be quite that alone, or quite that cold, but there's a version of the challenge a lot of us are drawn to: wanting to push ourselves a little, and to come away knowing something new about a place, and about ourselves - even if what we're after by the end of the day is a proper bed and a hot dinner.

Image: Visit Ylläs

Autumn is, in our view, one of the best times to visit this part of the world. The crowds of summer have gone, the fells and forests turn deep red, orange and gold with what Finns call ruska, and the nights grow long and dark enough to give you a genuine chance at the northern lights. It's a quieter, more contemplative season than winter's crowds, dog sleds and snowmobiles, but it's also more affordable and one we think doesn't get nearly enough attention.

That's exactly the appetite our new Autumn Wilderness Adventure is built for, albeit a little further south and west, in the Ylläs region of Finnish Lapland. It's one of several packages we've built in and around Lapland, and if none of them quite fit what you have in mind, we're always happy to design something around your own interests.

Image: Visit Ylläs/Eetu Leikas

On this holiday, over seven days, guests hike through Pallas-Yllästunturi National Park at the height of ruska season, feed reindeer at a local farm, cycle along forest trails, and spend a night at a simple wilderness hut by a lake. It's here that the pace really slows down - learning to heat a wood-fired sauna the traditional way, carrying water up from the lake, trying a hand at fishing from the shore or foraging while the sauna heats, and easing into the sauna itself with cool dips in the lake in between. Dinner is eaten by candlelight, with no electricity and no running water, just the stillness of the forest around you - and if you're lucky, the northern lights overhead.

Image: Ylläs Experience

The days that follow bring a paddle home by packraft along a quiet forest river, a free day with the option of another hike or an evening chasing the aurora from one of the best viewpoints in the area. It's real, hands-on stuff - guided, comfortable, and built for anyone from couples to families with older teenagers who want a genuine taste of wilderness without giving up a warm bed at the end of the day.

Image: Visit Finland

But challenge doesn't always look like wilderness. Earlier this year we worked with a solo traveller in her seventies on her first trip to Europe - a different kind of brave, stepping into somewhere entirely unfamiliar on her own. Her challenge wasn't the cold or the isolation; it was the unknown, and our role was detailed planning and a lot of hand-holding so the unfamiliar felt safe rather than daunting.

Her 31-day journey through five countries - Sweden, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania - begins in early September, and we cannot wait to hear from her as it unfolds. It's a good reminder that bespoke means reading what kind of brave someone needs support with - and building the itinerary around that.

Whatever your version of brave looks like, we'd love to hear about it - reach out any time, and let's build something wonderful together.

Image: Visit Finland/Markus Kiili