'''Levi''' [http://www.levi.fi/pages/index.php?id=1&language=eng_win] is one of the largest winter sport resorts in Finland. It is located in the Kittila municipality in Finnish Lapland. Levi is very popular place among young people, especially those living in rural areas in Lapland, and has significant nightlife.

Get in

By plane

Kittila airport (IATA: '''KTT''', ICAO: '''ETKT''') [http://www.finavia.fi/airport_kittila?airport_url=%2Flentoasema_kittila] is some ten kilometers south from Levi. Airport has direct connections to Helsinki by Finnair and (during season) Blue1. Busses coming from south travel via airport to Levi. You may also use taxi.

By train

Overnight trains operate from Helsinki and Turku to Rovaniemi and Kolari (getting from Turku to Kolari require change in Tampere). From these you have to take bus. Trip takes 2:30 hours from Rovaniemi and 1:15 hours from Kolari.

By bus

Busses operate from Helsinki to Levi requiring change in Rovaniemi. Trip takes over 16 hours!

Get around

Levi has internal bus traffic. In the Levi center you may easily walk or ski around. For longer trips to the forests, hire a snowmobile. Althought driving licence is not required it's illegal to drive snowmobile if you're under 15 years old or drunk.

See

There is not too much to see. Almost everything is concentrated around tourism and virtually all visitors come here for wintersports. At the summertime hiking in nature is popular and at the autumn incredible colors of ''ruska'' will offer unforgettable experience.

From the top of Levi fell there are great views to surrounding forests and nearby fells (Aakenustunturit, Pallastunturit, Yllas). Town '''Kittila''' is about 10 kilometers south. On the northern side of Levi center there is '''Sirkka''' village inhabited by local people.

At the summertime nights are lit by '''midnight sun''' while during winter '''auroras''' are visible almost every cloudless night.

Do

Winter sports. There are 230 kilometers of skiing tracks and 886 kilometers of snowmobile routes. For downhill skiing Levi has 45 pistes longest piste being 2500 meters long and maximum vertical drop is over 300 meters. Piste information is available at Levi.fi [http://www.levi.fi/pages/index.php?id=58&language=eng_win].

Hotel Levitunturi [http://www.hotellilevitunturi.fi/english/hotel.html] has a spa.

Buy

Eat

Local restaurants offer good variety of local delicacies. Especially worth of trying are '''reindeer''' (''poro'') in all its forms, '''willow grouse''' (''riekko'') and several '''fishes''' such as salmon (''lohi'') arctic char (''nieria'') and common whitefish (''siika''). These are usually fried or smoked and eaten with mashed potatoes.

In addition to local specialities also hamburgers, pizzas and kebabs are available.

Drink

Sleep

Being one of the largest resorts in Finland one could think there will be no problem to get bed in Levi. However, during the holiday season it may appear surprisingly difficult to find one! Most popular times are around christmas and New Year, Easter and Finnish winter holiday held during three weeks period in March. Right after the New Year, when local people get back to work, skiing resorts get crowded with Russian tourists. There are (incredible) 20,000 beds available making Levi actually one of the largest human concentrations in Lapland. Accommodation alternatives vary from camping to luxurious cottages and spa hotel. List of accommodation resources is available at levi.fi [http://www.levi.fi/pages/index.php?id=13&language=eng_win].

Get out