We stayed at the Hotel Ivalo in the town of Ivalo. It’s a family owned business. They just lock the front door at night and go to bed. But we stayed here two nights and were very comfortable. You can see the hotel in the first photo. I put this photo in to show that one highlight is that they have a neon thermometer on the outside of the hotel. And yes, it was Zero Degrees, which is Celsius, so 32 degrees Fahrenheit. This was at some point in the morning.

Vicky and I enjoyed the rocking chairs in front of the fireplace in the second photo. The dining room is behind and the bar is to the right, behind the fireplace. It was a nice place to sit and relax.

We ate dinner next door to the hotel the first night. The restaurant is a separate building but I think that it is a part of the Hotel Ivalo. You can see it in the third photo.

Pete (Vicky’s brother) and Nora were eating with us and you can see them and the inside of the restaurant in the fourth photo. It was warm and cozy as you will notice that we are drinking cold beer with dinner.

Dinner was a very good mushroom soup, reindeer meat over potatoes, salads, Karhu beers, and an apple cake with fresh cream for dessert.

The hotel actually had some amenities, such as Saunas. Saunas are an important Finnish tradition. We saw saunas everywhere we went. They had both a men’s sauna and a woman’s sauna. Tradition is that you take a sauna naked, so no photos. For me, the sauna was way too hot, but that’s how they like it. But I couldn’t resist a photo of Vicky and Nora on their swing on the bank of the Ivalo River.