Pallas-Yllästunturi National Park
Finland's most visited national park, known for its fell landscapes.
Pallas-Yllästunturi National Park is Finland's third largest national park, covering 1,020 square kilometres in Western Lapland. Its landscape is defined by a chain of fells stretching roughly 100 kilometres and taiga forests within the boreal forest zone. It is the most popular national park in Finland, recording 561,200 visits in 2019.
Quick Facts
- Location
- Lapland, Finland
- Area (km²)
- 1020
- Established
- 1938 (expanded in 2005)
- Visitation num
- 598 800
- Visitation year
- 2024
- Governing body
- Metsähallitus
Facts from the source article.
Hiking opportunities
The park offers dozens of trails for hiking and skiing suited to various difficulty levels, allowing visitors to experience its diverse nature. Some trails ascend fell tops, while others pass through forests and swamps. Activities include walking, mountain biking, paddling, skiing, and snowshoeing. Day hikes range from short trips to longer treks, with popular options such as the Pyhäkeron päiväretki Day Hike, Taivaskeron kierros Circle Trail, Pirunkurun ponnistus Trail, Varkaankurun polku Trail, Kesänkijärven kierros Circle Trail, and Tuomikurun kierros Circle Trail. Most routes are circular, and serviced campsites with Goahti, lean-to shelters, campfire sites, scenic locations, and wilderness or rental huts are available on all trails. There are 340 kilometres of marked summer hiking trails within the park, plus about 200 kilometres in the vicinity. Mountain biking is generally allowed on marked summer trails. Winter offerings include over 500 kilometres of ski trails and more than 100 kilometres of winter hiking trails, which also permit walking, snowshoeing, and mountain biking. The Hetta-Pallas Trail, the oldest marked hiking trail in Finland, dates from 1934 and runs approximately 50 kilometres along fell plateaus and through ravines, with several serviced wilderness and rental huts along the way. Trail information is available on ExcursionMap.fi.
Geography and nature
The fell chain dominating the park is the remnant of an ancient folded mountain range, now worn down to rounded summits. The highest point is Taivaskero at 809 metres, with other notable summits including Pyhäkero, Lumikero, Laukukero, and Palkaskero. The area contains diverse habitats: mires, heath forests, old-growth forests, open fells, and herb-rich forests. Vegetation is rich, with Scots pine, Norway spruce, and fell birch thriving. Treeless fell areas host low-growing plants such as dwarf birch, pincushion plants, Alpine bearberry, and crowberry. Creekside groves feature downy currant, ostrich fern, garden angelica, and mezereon. Heath forests support bilberry and cowberry, while moist old-growth forests contain wood crane's-bill, dwarf cornel, and rare mosses and fungi. Mires are a typical landscape, with Labrador tea, tussock cottongrass, cloudberry, and bog bilberry, as well as rare orchids in calcareous areas. The park has many lakes, ponds, and streams; the largest lake is Pallasjärvi, southeast of the Pallastunturi Visitor Centre. Large mammals include reindeer and elk, with reindeer often on fells and mires in summer. Other mammals include mountain hare, red fox, weasel, Norway lemming, various voles, and red squirrel. Eurasian brown bear and northern lynx live permanently in the area.
Responsibility
The park holds a European Charter 1 certificate for 2013–2018 and for 2019–2023, granted by the EUROPARC Federation. Recycling points at the Pallastunturi, Fell Lapland, and Yllästunturi Visitor Centres accept paper, cardboard, glass, metal, and batteries; biowaste can be composted in dry toilets, and small amounts of combustible waste may be burned at campfire sites. Air purity is measured at the Finnish Meteorological Institute's Sammaltunturi weather station, where the World Health Organisation records some of the cleanest air globally, with fine particle concentrations below 4 μg/m³.
History
The idea of establishing national parks in Finland was first raised in 1910, with a report proposing parks at Pallastunturi Fells and Pyhätunturi Fell. Botanist Kaarlo Linkola played a major role in the effort for Pallastunturi. A proposal to protect the Pallas-Ounastunturi Fells was approved at the 1928 Parliamentary Days, and Finland's first national parks were established in 1938, including Pallas-Ounastunturi National Park. Tourism began in the 1930s with fell skiing courses at Pyhäkero and Pallastunturi, and increased in Äkäslompolo. The current Pallas-Yllästunturi National Park was created in 2005, merging the old Pallas-Ounastunturi National Park, Ylläs-Aakenus Nature Reserve, and areas from other conservation programmes, covering 1022 km². The highest point of Yllästunturi Fell and its ski resorts are outside the park, but the ski resort on Laukukero at Pallastunturi Fell lies within it.
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