Skiing in Yllas, Lapland

Yllas or Yllästunturi is a Finnish Fell, which sits 718-metres above sea level. Not only is it one great fell to ski down, but it is also home to some of the cleanest air in the world! It located north of the Arctic Circle, and just a short 20mins drive from Kittila Airport.

There are two separates ski areas, which are based on either side of Yllas Fell; Sport Resort Yllas on the Yllasjavi Village side, and Yllas Ski Resort on the Akaslompolo Village side.

To get from one side of the fell to the other, you have to drive on one of Europe’s most scenic roads. The best way to explore both sides of the fell is by hiring a car. We hired a car for the full week. However, if you don’t have a car there is a ski bus which will get you from one side of the fell to the other. Both areas have ski hire, hotels, eating places, ski schools, and you only need one lift pass access the whole fell!

My partner and I visited Yllas back in January 2018. We stayed in the lovely Hotel Saaga, in Sports Resort Yllas, Yllasjavi village. We had great views of the slopes of our hotel room balcony. January is classed as ‘out of season’ for the Finish, therefore not all of the lifts/slopes were open! However, there were still plenty of slopes for us to choose from.

Sport Resort Yllas, Yallasjavi

Sports Resort Yllas is a small, quiet resort. We stayed in Hotel Saaga, which is part of a chain of Lapland Hotels. It’s Yllasjavi’s first hotel and it is based in the ideal location for skiing! There’s also a choice of villas and apartments to stay in if you did not fancy a hotel. Alternatively, there are more hotels down at the lake in the centre of Yllasjavi to choose from. However, these are a little away from the slopes.

The resort itself only has a small food store. So, if you are deciding to go self-catering, you would need to head down to Akaslompolo where the big supermarket is located.

Eating Places

If you fancy eating out, there’s a small selection of eating places to choose from. Our favourite was Hesburger. It’s equivalent to our McDonalds, so the prices are friendly. It’s located at the bottom of the slopes, near the gondola station. Perfect for when you need fuelling stop, out on the slopes.

By day 5, burgers for lunch everyday started to become not as enjoyable. For a change, we decided to go and have lunch in the Hotel Saaga bar. I had one of the most delicious hot chocolates there! A mint hot chocolate covered in cream and marshmallows, which cost us €4.50. The menu was small, but there was something for everyone. I had a cheese and ham toastie, my partner, Alex had a large burger and chips. I guess he wasn’t so fed up with the burgers as much as I was!

There are other choices of eating places too. However, we did not get the opportunity to try them.

The resort also has 2 ski rental shops, 2 excursion shops, an outdoor shop, and even a bowling alley if you fancy something different to do. If you have a hired car with you, parking is free, with lots of choices of places to park.

Skiing On Yllas Fell

The main reason we choose to come and stay at this resort was to ski/board on the wide, quiet slopes. One of the great things about Lapland in January.

Here is the official Sports Resort Yllas piste map which I have downloaded off the piste-maps.co.uk:

We spent most of the week skiing at the Sport Resort Yllas where our hotel was located. There were plenty of runs to choose from for all abilities, including 2 snow parks, and a nursery slope for the beginners. If you are a beginner and are only staying on the green run 1, the magic carpet that gets you onto the slope does not require a lift pass.

On both sides of the resort, most of the lifts are either button lifts or T-bar lifts. A lot of resorts in Europe have replaced their old T-bar lifts however, Finland still likes theirs. From previously snowboarding in Finland, I found T-bars difficult to keep your balance on the board. This holiday as a skier, I still didn’t enjoy using them as found them quite uncomfortable! Some of them travel too long of a distance and some travelled too steeply for my liking. My legs kept cramping up, on them. I found some of the button lifts were just as bad too. When it’s cold, you freeze on them! Personally, the lifts were the only downside of the resort.

The Summit Of Yllas Fell

To get to the summit on the Sport Resort Yllas, there is a Gondola. Unfortunately, the first 2 days of our holiday it was shut due to high winds. On our 3rd day, the gondola finally opened, and the sun came out.

At the summit, the views were breathtaking! We watched the Artic sunrise into midday, standing in the bitter wind, seeing for miles and miles. However, within an hour the weather soon turned. The summit became submerged in the cloud, and visibility decreased to less than a couple of metres. This was not fun when trying to find the right route down the fell, knowing there were 2 black routes. which I did not want to accidentally take.

To be able to ski down from the summit staying in this resort, you need to be able to do red or black runs. We did run 28 which I thought was a nice gentle red run, which leads into a blue run further down. The views were lovely coming down the runs, once you got out of the clouds.

If you didn’t fancy trying a red or black run but wanted to go to the summit, you can always stop for a drink or bite to eat at the little mountain hut, then catch the gondola back down. Or you could ski on a blue run down the other side of the fell, into the other resort. Just make sure you can get back to the correct resort at the end of the day.

Here are my favourite runs at the Sport Resort side of Yllas fell:

Blues: 2, 5, 6, 7

Reds: 28

Yllas Ski Resort, Akaslompolo

At the Yllas Ski Resort, there is no accommodation to stay at. The accommodation all seems to be located down the hill at the bottom, in the village of Akaslompolo.

The ski resort itself has a building called Y1, which has ski rental, a Ski Pub, and a restaurant. We had lunch in the Ski Pub. The food was very nice, and in a great location, based at the bottom of the ski slopes.

In Akaslompolo, they have lots of accommodation all quite spaced out, eating places, and a supermarket. We only visited the supermarket.

Our ski pass for Yllas covered both resorts, so on our last day, we put our skis/board in our rental car and drove over to this resort. It took us just under 15 minutes to get there, driving along, one of Europe’s most scenic roads.

Here is the official Yllas Ski Resort piste map which I have downloaded off the piste-maps.co.uk:

Our one week holiday was that jam-packed with stuff, we only got a chance to ski one day at this side of Yllas Fell. This resort offers a lot more green nursery slopes compared to the other side of the fell. Therefore, it’s great if you’re a beginner.

There were plenty of blue, red, and black slopes to choose from. For the more daring (not me), there are 2 snow parks to have a go at. This side of the fell, just like the other, had mainly button lifts and T-bar lifts. Their resort has one chairlift but we didn’t get the chance to go on it. Some of the button lifts and T-bars went very steeply up the mountainside, especially on the ones which take you up to the red and black runs. Some looked very long too! The weather wasn’t great on the day we visited Yllas Ski Resort.

My favourite runs at the Yllas Ski Resort (Y1) side of Yllas Fell:

Greens: 2, 3

Blues: 7