Hetta-Pallas: A 3-day, 55-km hike through Finnish Lapland

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by triketora

It took some convincing to get my partner to commit to doing the Hetta-Pallas hike. As Americans with limited ability to get away from work, we only take a week of summer vacation, and that week is supposed to be the top-up for our depleted batteries that gets us through to the winter holidays. Three days of backcountry hiking with heavy loaded packs and staying in communal wooden huts without modern amenities, if you’ve never done such a thing before, is not the obvious centrepiece for a rest and relaxation holiday; not to mention the additional logistics — for us, coming from New York — of three days of plane, bus, taxi, boat, and waypoint hotel on the way there, three days on the way back.

It was wonderful, though. We loved our entire experience. It turns out that a few days in the pristine, picturesque fell landscape of late summer in Finnish Lapland was the perfect reprieve from the noisy jostle of New York City and the constant existential anxiety of startup founder life. Finland isn’t rugged and dramatic with craggy cliffs like Norway even just over the border, nor otherworldly like its other Nordic neighbor Iceland, another destination for outdoors enthusiasts, but it’s beautiful and serene and the peaceful expanse inspires awe and reflection.

None of the things we worried about were really too bad at all. The transit to Hetta was long but soothing in its own way as we journeyed north and further north into the Arctic Circle; we got to watch the scenery pass by and read quietly on our Kindles. Our packs were moderately heavy at 20 pounds apiece but once we properly strapped in and got going, they were well manageable, even as we trudged up rocky ascents. The huts were cozy and functional and although there was the inevitable snoring and farting of hut companions at night, being worn out from the physical exertion of hiking helped us to sleep through regardless. There was a rustic charm in having to fetch and boil our own water from the river for drinking and food prep. 

As an unexpected bonus, our hike was bookended by exquisite meals at Lapland Hotels Hetta and Lapland Hotels Pallas which are otherwise extremely retro, dormitory-style hotels as you might expect in a park. The head chef is a rising star who just won Finland’s Young Chef of the Year in 2024 and his talents are on full display with the dinner menu.

The Trail and the Huts

Hetta-Pallas is a 55km, point-to-point hike within Pallas-Yllästunturi National Park in Finnish Lapland. It’s famous within Finland, not just as a backpacker’s hike and perhaps even more so as a cross-country skiing trail in the winter, though it’s less known internationally and most of the people we met on the trail were Finns who wondered what had brought us all the way there.

Most people start in Hetta, which is farther north, and make their way south to Pallas.

There are multiple campsites along the way, some of which have reservable huts so that you can be guaranteed an indoor sleep spot. The reservable huts are spaced to split the trail approximately into quarters, which makes for a very comfortable 4-day hike; or you can do it in 3 days if you skip the middle hut for a longer hike on the middle day, which is what we did. If you are even more ambitious, the hike is doable in 2 days with an overnight stop at the halfway point.

Starting from the trailhead at Hetta, the reservable huts that you encounter are:

The trail ends in Pallas at Lapland Hotels Pallas, coming right up to the corner of the parking lot.

Day by Day on the Trail

Day 1: Hetta to Sioskuru (15km)

After you get the boat transfer to the trailhead from the one guy who does them (and who also runs the jewellery shop, Koru Laakso, which is where you go to request the transfer, prior reservation not needed), the well-marked trail starts gentle and flat through pine and birch forested woodlands before climbing above the tree line.

In mid-August, the color of the trees and the ground cover is just starting to turn. It’s not yet the full red, orange, and yellow of “ruska” fall foliage, but you can imagine how beautiful and rich the warm tones of leaf and brush will be.

As consolation for missing out on fall colors, though, you get the end of blueberry season. You can partake in the Finnish tradition of berry-picking to gather fresh fruit as topping for your morning oatmeal or to pop directly into your mouth.

Day 2: Sioskuru to Hannukuru (13km), Hannukuru to Nammalakuru (14km)

The stretch of trail from Sioskuru to Hannukuru is the easiest of the four segments, mostly flat on easy, wide dirt trails and the occasional duckboard paths through areas still wet underfoot. It’s the classic fell landscape, relatively “barren”, with few trees until you descend again towards the campsite at Hannukuru.

This is by far the biggest campsite along the whole hike, with the most spots in the reservable huts, abundant grounds to pitch a tent, and a wood-burning sauna with a path directly to the swimmable lake a few paces away. I enjoyed watching a fellow hiker take his fluffy white dog in for a dip.

We originally intended to stay at Hannukuru on our second night, actually, but given how fast we made it there, we decided to trek onwards to Nammalakuru after a short break to replenish our water supplies from the well.

Thank goodness we got that water. We were arrogant from how easy the last bit of the trail had been, and we were completely rocked by the steep elevation gain and steady climbing. There was a lot of scrambling, sweating, and swearing that surely that trail marker in the distance MUST be the top, until we got further and saw that there was yet more incline. It felt endless but eventually we made it to Nammalakuru, and still with many hours of daylight left, too, thanks to the late late sunset of arctic summer.

Day 3: Nammalakuru to Pallas (13km)

The last section of the trail has still more elevation gain though it’s not nearly so aggressive, and the fell landscape is arguably the prettiest in these final kilometres. The best moment is coming up to the mountain ridge when suddenly the views open up and you can see all the expanse of forest beneath you, with shiny, glinting pockets of water.

The last descent overlooks the Pallas hotel. We had worried about how we would get to our post-hike accommodations but as a fellow hiker assured us, the hotel is impossible to miss. For how refreshing a multi-day retreat into untouched nature is, it’s a nice feeling to saunter down towards modern amenities and know that you’ll be able to set down the heavy pack, shower and be clean again.

The local reindeer herd makes a good welcoming committee, too.

Getting In and Out

It’s a very long car, bus or train ride from Helsinki to Rovaniemi (±10 hours), and still quite a few more hours to get to the trailhead at Hetta, so you probably want to fly to Rovaniemi and then figure out regional transit.

From Rovaniemi, there are a couple options for getting in and out of the park to do the hike.

We opted for a combination of bus and taxi. On the way there, you can take the bus from Rovaniemi to Enontekiö (4.5 hours), where the stop is directly across from the departure dock of the boat transfer to the trailhead and also walking distance (20 minutes) from Lapland Hotels Hetta, thus a very convenient place to stay before the hike. Upon finishing the hike in Pallas, you can stay at Lapland Hotels Pallas, as we did, and there is another series of buses that you can take from there back to Rovaniemi. Due to timing we had to book a taxi to get us from the hotel to the bus stop at Levi to catch an earlier bus to Rovaniemi, but if you’re not tight on schedule, you can definitely work out a bus-only itinerary.

The car options involve either driving to Hetta and booking a car transfer to move the vehicle to Pallas at the endpoint of the hike, or leaving the car at the hotel parking lot in Pallas and hiring a taxi to get to Hetta. No matter your method of arriving in Hetta, you need a boat transfer to get to the actual trailhead. The guy at Koru Laakso who does boat transfers also does car transfers and offers a discount for the package deal.

Note that Rovaniemi is a bigger town with more flights going in and out — RVN has declared itself Santa’s official airport— but Kittilä is another option that is even closer to the Hetta-Pallas hike. The Kittilä airport is on the bus routes to/from Rovaniemi so if you find flights that work for you, the buses should be easy to manage as well.

Packing List

I found this blog post from Aino on the “In the Woods, Dear” blog an invaluable resource in putting together my packing list. I’d make a couple of small tweaks for this specific hike, though, especially if you’re staying in the reservable huts.

  • Hiking backpack and rain cover (50-60L is sufficient for a 3-day trip)
  • One set of hiking clothing and gear
    • Technical tank top (or 2-3 if you get sweaty)
    • Technical or merino wool long sleeves top
    • Loose long-sleeves blouse (for warm days when you want sun and bug protection)
    • Hiking pants or leggings
    • Hiking socks
    • Waterproof hiking boots (ideally with ankle support)
    • Rain jacket
    • Sun hat
  • A change set of clothing and gear for camp, including sleeping clothesComfy shirt
    • Comfy shorts
    • Comfy pants or leggings
    • Comfy socks
    • Camp sandals (most people seem to have Crocs which double as water shoes)
    • Insulating mid layer
    • Warm jacket
  • Undergarments
    • Sports bra (or 2-3 if you get sweaty)
    • Underwear (or 2-3 if you want to change occasionally)
  • Swimsuit (if you want to go swimming or use the sauna)
  • Cooking, food and drink supplies
    • Stove, fuel, and pot (not needed with the wilderness huts on the Hetta-Pallas trail, no reservation needed to access)
    • Mug
    • Water bottle
    • Matches (to light the gas stoves in the wilderness huts)
    • Water purification tablets (some of the water points explicitly tell you to boil the water; if you don’t have time to boil, purification tablets are good to have on hand)
    • Freeze-dried meals (the kind where you just add hot water directly into the bag)
    • Snacks
    • Tea
    • Coffee (preferably instant coffee granules instead of bags to steep, since you need to carry all your trash out)
  • Camping and sleeping supplies
    • Tent, sleeping bag, pillow, sleeping pad (not needed if you book a spot in the reservable hut, and for cutting weight it’s lovely to not have to bring all of these)
    • Sleep sack (a thin liner that goes around the pillow and bedding provided in the reservable hut; the website says to bring sheets but you do not want to bring normal bedsheets)
  • Personal hygiene
    • Toothbrush
    • Toothpaste
    • Small towel
    • Toilet paper
  • Miscellaneous
    • Personal medication
    • Sunscreen
    • Mosquito repellent
    • Trash bag and Ziploc bags
    • Dry sacks
    • First aid kit
    • Battery pack (10000 mAh was way more than sufficient for me to charge my phone; I kept it in airplane mode but I did use it to track the hike on Strava)
    • Eye mask
    • Ear plugs
    • Camera (optional, and heavy, so make sure you really want to bring your gear)
    • Kindle (optional, but you may have a lot of down time to while away at camp depending on how much you hike per day, so recommended)
    • Cards or other games for entertainment (optional)
    • GPS (probably not needed because the trail is so well signposted, there are wooden arrows on tall poles every 40-80 paces, and even in heavy fog you can usually always see to the next marker; but at least have a map)
    • Hiking poles (not really needed for this hike)

Itinerary, Including Transit to/from Helsinki 

In the end, this was our itinerary. Hopefully it can be a useful reference or inspiration! Enjoy.

Day 1: Fly from Helsinki to Rovaniemi, stay at any hotel in Rovaniemi
Day 2: Bus from Rovaniemi to Hetta, stay at Lapland Hotels Hetta
Day 3: Walk to jewellery store/dock, get boat transfer to trailhead, hike to Sioskuru, stay at reservable hut (day 1 of hike, 15km)
Day 4: Hike from Sioskuru to Nammalakuru, stay at reservable hut (day 2 of hike, 27km)
Day 5: Hike from Nammalakuru to Pallas, stay at Lapland Hotels Pallas (day 3 of hike, 13 km)
Day 6: Taxi to bus stop in Levi, bus from Levi to Rovaniemi, stop for late lunch, taxi from Rovaniemi to airport, fly from Rovaniemi to Helsinki, stay in Helsinki

Suggested Reading

In the fashion of wine pairings with good meals, I like to do book pairings with my travels. On the Hetta-Pallas hike, I especially enjoyed these thematic reads:

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