Lapland in September: between the last mosquitoes and the first aurora

Everyone goes to Lapland in February for the snow, or in July for the midnight sun. September is the gap in between, and it is the best month if you want the place to yourself.

The mosquitoes are mostly gone by the first week. The autumn colours start around the tenth. The aurora is possible from late August but you need luck and clear skies — I saw it twice in seven nights, both times around 1 a.m. from a fell with no lights for twenty kilometres.

The route

I started in Rovaniemi, took the bus north to Sodankylä, then rented a car for the rest. Public transport exists but thins out fast once you leave the main road, and the places worth stopping at are usually a few kilometres down a gravel turn-off.

• Rovaniemi → Sodankylä — bus, about 1h40.
• Sodankylä → Saariselkä — car, 2h with stops.
• Saariselkä → Inari — 1h, good road, reindeer on it.
• Inari → Utsjoki — 2h along the Teno river.

What September actually feels like

Days are still long enough to walk until seven in the evening, but the light is low and sideways all afternoon, which makes even a petrol station look dramatic. Nights drop to around +2 °C. The first frost usually arrives in the last week.

Bring a head net even in September. You will not need it, until the one evening you do.

Fell huts are open and free in this season, which changes the economics of a trip completely. A sleeping bag rated to zero is enough. Water comes from streams; there is no need to carry more than a litre.

Practical

• Fuel — fill up in Sodankylä and Inari; between them the stations are far apart.
• Shops — the last proper supermarket before Utsjoki is in Ivalo.
• Phone signal — fine on main roads, gone on the fells.
• Money — cards everywhere, even at tiny cafés.
• Car hire — book ahead; September still counts as season in Saariselkä.

If you go for the aurora, plan at least four nights. Two clear nights out of seven is normal; a single weekend is a coin flip.