Finland

Finland feels like a fairy tale. And not just that one about the bearded guy in a red suit, flying around delivering presents one night a year. Golden summers and deep dark winters, untouched forests and tech-savvy cities: it all just feels a little magical in Finland. The long days of sun-drenched summers set the country abuzz with festivals, whizzing bicycles and smiling faces, while the subzero winters offer the opportunity to cozy up to Finland’s more intimate side, in wood-fire saunas and warm cafes. You can discover your inner Nordic warrior trekking and skiing through wilderness wonderlands like Lemmenjoki and Oulanka National Parks. Traverse the waterways and swoon amid the Art Nouveau architecture of worldly Helsinki—making sure to stop into a Black Metal nightclub for a taste of something purely Finnish. You can literally get off the beaten path in cycler’s paradise Aland archipelago, or step into a whole other world amid the midnight sun and roaming Reindeer of Lapland, homeland of Santa Claus. It’s all set under the hallucinogenic swirl of Northern Lights, and it’s all in Finland. Enough to make you start believing in fairy tales again?