Western Enontekiö Wilderness Areas

Hike: one marked trail, the Kalottireitti - Nordkalottleden, leads through the area, 60km of it inside the wilderness. Off-trail trekking is free and unrestricted.

Canoe: the best-known route, the Poroeno - Lätäseno, is extremely demanding and not for beginners.

Visit the centre: Kilpisjärvi Visitor Centre, opened in spring 2003, presents the area's unique natural features, provides current weather information and takes reservations for the bookable wilderness huts.

Ski: maintained trails circle Kilpisjärvi, around Saana Fell, to the Three Nations' Border Point and around Salmivaara Hill. Inside the wilderness there are no maintained trails, but you may ski on snowmobile tracks, and in late spring the snow is thick enough to choose your way freely.

Fish: angling and ice fishing are Everyman's Rights (Lakes Toskaljärvi, Luohtojärvi and Peeran lammet need an Enontekiö 1551 permit). River fishing needs the national fee plus a 1551 permit, and the Lätäseno fishing area a 1550 permit. Common catches: trout, Arctic char, grayling, whitefish, perch and pike.

Halti: Finland's highest point sits on the fell's slope at 1,324 metres above sea level, on the border with Norway about 55km from Kilpisjärvi. Around 3,000 people climb it every year via the Nordkalottleden Trail.

Saana Fell: this striking 1,029m fell by Kilpisjärvi resembles a mushroom to some, an overturned boat with a keel to others. Sacred to the Sami, who burned fires here to the God of Thunder, it is only the 25th tallest fell in Finland but the second best known for its impressive shape. Legend says giants once lived here: sullen Saana fell in love with lovely Malla, but a fierce northern wind froze the land on their wedding day, and Lake Kilpisjärvi formed from Malla's tears.

Other sights include Muotkatakka, at 565.8m the highest point on Finland's national road network, the Lapland War Memorial Monument marking where the war's final shot was fired in 1945, and Saivaara Hill (830m), topped by a memorial plaque to President Urho Kekkonen.

Malla is Finland's oldest nature reserve, first established in 1916 and made a strict nature reserve in the young independent Finland in 1938. It covers approximately 30 sq. km, its calciferous soil supporting a diverse array of fell vegetation, with the Malla Fells rising directly from the shore of Lake Kilpisjärvi.

Recreational use is restricted to protect the area. In the snow-free season, walking is allowed only on the marked trail (approximately 11km) from the Siilaskoski rapids past the Kitsiputous waterfall to the Three Nations' Border Point. A boat connection runs from Kilpisjärvi to the Koltalahti jetty, only about three kilometres from the border intersection. In winter, cross-country skiing is allowed anywhere. A route over the fells forms part of the 800km Nordkalottleden Trail from Kvikkjokk in Sweden, through Kilpisjärvi past Halti Fell, to Kautokeino in Norway.

Pikku-Malla Fell, with a hiking trail to its top, gives a beautiful view over the lake. The birdlife is arctic and unique, with Bluethroats, Bramblings and Ring Ouzels in the birch forests and Long-tailed Skuas, Eurasian Dotterels and Golden Plovers up on the bare fells.

The Three Nations' Border Point, 11km from Kilpisjärvi, is a cairn where the borders of Finland, Norway and Sweden meet. Norway and Russia (then administering Finland) erected the stone monument in 1897, and Sweden added its stone in 1901. It is Sweden's most northerly point and the westernmost point of the Finnish mainland.

Waterfalls include the River Kitsijoki Falls in Malla Strict Nature Reserve, the 17m Pihtsusköngäs Falls about 45km from Kilpisjärvi, and the River Tsahkaljoki Falls 2km from Hotel Kilpis. At Iitto on Highway 21, 56km north of Karesuvanto, wooden boardwalks lead right to rare palsas, perennially frozen peat and mineral wetlands that can be 2,000 years old, seven metres tall and 20 metres wide.

Changes in altitude are dramatic and the terrain at points extremely demanding, the tops of the highest fells in Yliperä often covered with scree. The bedrock is younger and more alkaline than in the rest of Finland, so rarities such as the Glacier Crowfoot, Arctic Bellflower and Rhododendron lapponicum grow here and nowhere else in the country, most protected by law.

• Wildlife: the snow beds of Käsivarsi are the most important habitat of the Norway lemming, and a total of 89 mostly migratory bird species nest here, including the Peregrine Falcon, Red-throated Diver and rarities like the Lesser White-fronted Goose and Snowy Owl
• Fishing: the fells are a fishing paradise, with Arctic char in many lakes and rivers like the Poroeno, Rommaeno, Valtijoki and Lätäseno full of trout and grayling, the largest graylings caught here weighing up to 2kg
• History: the Komsa culture settled the Arctic Sea coast as early as 10,000 years ago, and reindeer husbandry began around 2,000 years ago