Hotel Kultahovi @ Inari

After staying at the Wilderness Hotel Nellim in Finland for some time, we finally bid goodbye to Nellim and proceed on to Inari. Airport transfers are included within the hotel package, but not transfers between hotels. We had to pay additional to the hotel to arrange for the transfer but my advice is to go for it. Nellim is not like other cities where you see taxis cruising around. There are usually no cars on the roads at Nellim so better let the hotel arrange for you. :)

The ride to Inari is pretty long because the distance between Ivalo to Nellim, and Ivalo to Inari are almost the same. If I recall correctly, we took slightly more than 2 hours to reach Inari. Needless to say I fell asleep in the taxi so that was why my memory is a little hazy on how long it took. :)

We paid for half boarding which means that breakfast and dinner are included. Food is not a problem because there are a few restaurants located around the area.

Below is a picture of Kultahovi hotel upon arrival. Looks very new. :)

Hotel Kultahovi is more like a regular hotel except that it has a river hotel section that looks like the Pasir Ris resort chalet. :) They have back doors that open out towards the river Juutua, and yes. That is important if you want to catch auroras because it's darker there. :)

The reception is just towards your right when you enter the hotel. Check-in time is about 2pm if I recall correctly so we sort of hang around the area as we were there at about 12pm.

Below is the picture of the restaurant's bar and interior.

Beyond the grey doors that you see in the picture above, which seems to be open only in the evenings, is the "fireplace area". :)

Yes, the fireplace area looks pretty neat at night. However, I didn't get a chance to take a picture of it at night because of our mini aurora watch activity every night. :)

Anyway, below is the picture of our hotel room. Like a typical hotel room, except that to the left of the window is a backdoor that allows you to go out directly to the river. Keep your lights dim at night because if you suddenly see a lot of people walking out at night, just go out and have a look because that may mean that someone spotted the auroras. Another way is to turn off all the lights and just stare at the night sky. :)

Below is the picture of the TV, kettle and the coffee/tea. You can watch TV comfortably from the bed but there is a catch though. The TV remote that we had could only function when the remote is nearer to the TV. :)

Below is the picture of the bathroom. Nice and neat. The sauna room is just next to it as you can see in the subsequent picture. This is slightly smaller than the one at Nellim but still, the functions seem to be similar.

The river is only about a 2 mins walk from the backdoor. There is a small bench by the river as shown in the picture below but it's winter so I've not seen anyone sitting there during my stay at the hotel. The subsequent panorama picture shows a quick glance of how the river looks like in winter. Pretty cool.

There is a very very small hill near the river (about 2 mins to walk up) and personally, I like it up there because I find that it's a good place to take aurora pictures. My wife was complaining though because there is a complex up there and it's lighted up throughout the night. Translated, it's not dark enough. However, the nicest photo that I like came from that location so I guess it's subjective.

Below is the picture of the tent that is located up the very small hill.

Below is the picture of what the hill is overlooking. I guess you will understand why I like the place, even though that area is much brighter, compared to if you were at the river side.

The stay at Inari was free and easy for us so stay tuned for my posts on what I did at Inari.