Teno Eräkieväri is a fine place to begin if you are looking for a place where to start the Natural Nordic wilderness experience of Lapland in Finland, and no need to look further, I can recommend the location to you.  It is the Teno Eräkieväri on the shore of the Teno river.   The far north border region between Norway and Finland has a great, pleasant climate during the summer months between May-July.  Temperatures around + 15 to +20’C (in 2011).

Pictures of the Nordic Tundra landscape.

I have visited and stayed at a border town (Nor/Fin) called Karigasniemi (Kari-Gas-Peninsula), and the Teno Eräkieväri hub, a small town that gets fair amount of tourist driving through to North Finland or across the border to Norway, and also the Teno river/Inari river is a great place for salmon river fishing during the summer, it is a relatively short summer fishing season for tourists (June 1, to August 8).  The Salmon run up the river in mid-late summer and spawn there upstream.

All year round activities from the Teno Eräkieväri of Nordic Finland.

There is also ice fishing available in the area during the winter months. And there are many other activities and things to do, e.g. there are arctic lakes close by for fishing, and also canoeing, bushwalking, berry picking, hunting, cycling, nature photography, and the reindeer.

Outdoor activities from Teno Eräkieväri.

There are two grocery shops in Karigasniemi (one with a butcher shop, and the other with a shoe/gumboot/and clothing store),  there is also a church, two gas stations, a pub with food service, and a Pizza shop, hardware store, timber mill products, hairdresser and other day to day products.  Kari-gas-Niemi is said to be a town with several cultures and languages, the Sami, Norwegian and Finnish, many people there can use all the above languages.  There is accommodation at Kari-gas-Niemi caravan park, and the local Pub and other riverside cabins available further out of town.

Teno Eräkieväri for Accommodation.

Teno Eräkieväri is about seven km north from Kari-gas-niemi along the road towards Utsjoki (Uts-river).  The place is called Teno Eräkievari, their web link is here:  Teno Eräkievari Accommodation + Restaurant.

They have two riverfront cabins at the site for rent, as well as other riverfront cabins /small houses further out.  Also, there are accommodation rooms available at Teno Eräkievari; 2 x 4 person rooms, and 7 x 3 person rooms for rent.  Also, an electric sauna house is available for paying guests.  There is a riverfront sauna house also available for hire at a moderate hour rate €10 pp per hour, whether a house guest or just visiting.

Other activities at the Eräkieväri are (check seasonal changes) e.g. hire a local fishermen to row a boat for trawling the Salmon in the Teno river, it is a local knowledge/method that takes the lure/fly fishing to the spots where the salmon are to be found, the rowboats that they use during the trawling do have motors, but they don’t use them while fishing. Hourly rate for the rower is €35 per hour, boat hire is €50 per day, excluding the cost of the fuel.

Canoe hire at the Teno Eräkieväri on the shore of the river Teno.

I hired a canoe from the Teno Eräkieväri for a day, it was great fun, it cost €30 per day.  The Teno river is an awesome river to canoe, it is relatively calm (June-August), it is also possible to paddle upstream because the river is wide and the current is not that forceful.

See pictures of my Teno River canoe trip from Teno Eräkieväri.

The Teno Eräkievari has a Bar +Restaurant and a small souvenir/post card shop, coffee and sweet buns (called Pulla) also served.  Teno Eräkieväri has a nice calm relaxed atmosphere with lots of natural wood decor in the coffee shop area, it is decorated in a Sami cultural theme, with lots of natural wood products, and also a bear wall rug and some stuffed animals in the function hall.  Other activities are also available during the winter snow months.  Always remember to carry a small bottle of mosquito repellant when outdoors, because during the summer months the mosquito can be overwhelming especially in the wet swampy areas when bush walking.  Here are some photo images from Teno Eräkieväri dining/function area, it really presents well, and you get a feel of the Nordic/Fennoscandia Sami culture and environment in the far north of Finland.