Restaurants in Lapland: planning your meals

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Where are all the restaurants?

Visitors from Switzerland, Germany or Italy often expect to find a café, bakery or open restaurant at any time. Around Ranua and Impiö, the choice is smaller and opening hours can be limited.

Why is the choice smaller?

Distances are long and communities are small. A restaurant open every day is not viable everywhere.
Many Finns eat at home. Cooking together, including outdoors, is part of everyday life.
Eating out is expensive and often a treat rather than a routine.
Some places open seasonally or mainly at lunchtime. Food is also served at hotels, service stations and supermarkets.

A meal we would happily have swapped

We were recently using vouchers at a formal restaurant: seven pieces of cutlery, three wine glasses, white tablecloths and butter shaped like flowers. As the third course with its French-sounding name arrived, a message came from our friends in Impiö.

The photo showed a fire and a makkara sausage on a stick. No elaborate table setting or advice on the wine’s mineral notes. Just fire, food and friendship.

We would have swapped immediately: the foam on the plate for sooty fingers, the carefully poured wine for smoke in our hair, the silver spoon for a stick we had carved ourselves. Our hearts would have been more at ease around that fire.

What does this mean for your stay?

If you want a hot meal in the evening, plan ahead. Mökki Tikka has a well-equipped kitchen, so you can cook whenever it suits you, comfortably and within your budget.

For a special evening, we recommend the catering service from simojarvi.fi. Kristian and his team deliver homemade local food to the house: an option after a winter day outdoors or when you would like a break from cooking.