Everything you need to know before renting a cottage in Finland.
For so many years in a row now, Finland has been named the happiest country in the world. Ask a Finn what happiness looks like, and the answer is rarely a beach resort or a five star hotel. It's a wooden cabin by a lake, a sauna heating up for the evening, and absolutely nothing on the schedule, just the people you're with and however many card games get played before midnight. This is mökki life, and it's less a type of holiday than a national way of being.
The good news is that you don't need a Finnish grandparent or a lakeside inheritance to experience it. Renting a cottage is how most visitors, and plenty of Finns without one of their own, get their share of this particular kind of quiet.
Since 1967, Lomarengas has been helping people find exactly that: a good cottage, a fair deal, and a proper night's sleep with the windows open to the forest, lake or whatever speaks to you. In addition to cottages, you'll also find ski chalets and other holiday homes in our selection, all rated and inspected by yours truly.
This guide covers everything you need to know before booking: the types of holiday homes on offer, when to go, where to go, what to check before you commit, and what affects the price. Wherever you land in Finland, the same rule tends to apply: the fewer plans you make, the better the holiday turns out.
Not all Finnish holiday homes are the same, and the right one depends entirely on what kind of holiday you're after, and who's there to share it with you. Bringing people together is at the very heart of Finnish cottage culture. Lomarengas offers cottages and other types of holiday homes for many different needs.
Lakeside cottages, the classic choice: a cabin with its own stretch of shoreline, a pier to swim from, and often a sauna with a view. Finland is often described as the country of thousands of lakes, and it's no wonder lakeside cottages are the most popular type of holiday home we offer.
Lapland holiday homes, where Finnish winter turns into an experience in itself. The Northern Lights, husky safaris and a snowy winter wonderland are internationally known images of the Arctic, and a holiday home is simply the best base for experiencing them. This is where Lomarengas differs most clearly from a hotel room: our selection is built around holiday homes and apartments, giving you your own kitchen, more room to spread out, and your own pace, often with a private sauna too. Properties range from peaceful, tucked-away spots in the wilderness to others right in the heart of a resort village, with every service within walking distance. Many are built as kelo cabins, made from naturally weathered pine logs, a style Finns have always loved and one visitors tend to fall for just as quickly. Lapland is also home to some of the country's best known ski resorts.
Ski resort cottages, sometimes called ski chalets or ski cabins, found not only in Lapland but right across Finland, since skiing, both downhill and cross country, is one of the nation's favourite winter sports. Resorts such as Ruka, Tahko and Vuokatti all have holiday homes nearby, giving you a private kitchen and sauna instead of a hotel room at the foot of the slopes.
Inland and forest cottages, which don't sit on the water at all, are a way to get to know the Finnish countryside on its own terms: rolling fields, working farms, small villages and forest as far as the eye can see. Plenty of our properties are set inland, deep in the forest or close to a village, and suit anyone who wants the quiet of rural Finland without needing a boat or a beach towel.
Archipelago cabins, on Finland's southwestern coast, offering something different again: island life reached by boat, and a slower rhythm than the mainland.
Every property in our selection, whatever the type, is quality rated according to our own criteria and checked by our team, so you know exactly what to expect before you arrive.
Finland doesn't really have an off season for cottage life, just four very different ones, and that's exactly what makes it a destination worth visiting all year round.
Koli National Park in winter. Photo: Jussi Helttunen / Visit Finland
Winter, from November to March, brings a different kind of magic across the whole country. Cross country trails criss-cross almost every region and are free to use in nearly every case, and a good pair of skis can turn an ordinary weekend into something memorable. Ski resorts are spread across the country too, from Lapland's fells to smaller hills further south. Lapland simply takes winter furthest: proper Arctic conditions, the Northern Lights, and a season built entirely around the snow. A holiday home means your own sauna after a day outdoors, no queue for it, and everyone back together under one roof instead of scattered across separate hotel rooms.
Pro tip: rolling in the snow straight after the sauna is a proper Finnish tradition, brief, bracing, and oddly addictive once you try it.
Spring, in April and May, brings the first proper warmth, melting ice and the return of birdlife to the lakes. It's a quieter, more contemplative time to visit, and often the best value on the calendar.
Pro tip: May 1st, Vappu, is one of Finland's biggest celebrations of the year, picnics, sparkling wine, and even the calmest Finns letting their hair down a little.
Summer, from June to August, is peak season, and for good reason. Days are long, lakes are warm, and the famous Midsummer weekend sends much of the country to the countryside at once. Popular lakeside areas fill up months in advance, so if you have a specific date or region in mind, book early.
Pro tip: in Lapland, the sun does not set at all in midsummer. That means the nights are as bright as the days
Autumn, in September and October, is ruska season, the Finnish word for the burst of autumn colour that sweeps across the forests. The forests turn red and gold, the lakes go still, and the crowds thin out. Finland's forests also serve up some of nature's purest gifts for food lovers: wild mushrooms, lingonberries, blueberries and chanterelles are all there for the picking. It's one of the best kept secrets of Finnish cottage life: fewer people, lower prices and arguably the best light of the year.
Pro tip: Finland's everyone's right mean you can pick all of that autumn bounty yourself, on almost any land, without asking permission first, as long as you treat nature and other people with the same respect.
Ruska, the Finnish word for the burst of autumn foliage that colours the forests each year.
Where you go shapes the whole holiday, so it's worth matching the region to what you're actually looking for.
Lakeland, and Saimaa in particular, is the heart of Finnish cottage culture: thousands of lakes, islands and quiet shorelines stretching across the east and centre of the country. It isn't only a lakeside destination either, since the wider region also has plenty of forest cottages set back from the water.
Lapland, in the Arctic north, is built for both winter sports and summer's midnight sun, with resorts including Levi, Ylläs and Saariselkä, and national parks such as Pallas-Yllästunturi and Urho Kekkonen for proper wilderness hiking. Rovaniemi, the region's capital and Santa Claus's official hometown, sits right on the Arctic Circle and makes a good base for combining a little city life with the wild north beyond it. It's the region with the widest gap between seasons, and arguably the most dramatic scenery in either.
Kainuu, in eastern Finland, is a quieter alternative for those who want deep forest, good fishing and fewer other visitors. Hossa National Park, one of Finland's newest, protects crystal clear lakes and pine forest alongside rock paintings some 4,000 years old, reachable by canoe or on foot. Ski resorts such as Ukkohalla, Paljakka and Vuokatti round out the picture for winter visits.
Karelia splits into wilder North Karelia, home to the ridges around Koli, and historic South Karelia on Lake Saimaa. Koli's ridge, overlooking Lake Pielinen and the national park below, is widely considered Finland's most famous national landscape: hilltop spruces bent under rime frost around the small local resort, Koli Ski, in winter, and busy hiking trails in summer and autumn. And wherever you end up, a proper Karelian pasty (karjalanpiirakka) is worth seeking out, ideally straight from the oven with a butter egg spread (munavoi).
Ostrobothnia actually covers four separate regions. Coastal Ostrobothnia proper (Pohjanmaa), farming country in South Ostrobothnia (Etelä-Pohjanmaa) and the smaller Central Ostrobothnia (Keski-Pohjanmaa) share the same flat, unhurried character, with rivers such as the Lapuanjoki, Kyrönjoki and Ähtävänjoki winding past well preserved wooden towns like Kristiinankaupunki, and riverbank fishing as much a local pastime as lake fishing is elsewhere in Finland. North Ostrobothnia (Pohjois-Pohjanmaa), further north, breaks the pattern entirely: fell scenery around Syöte, ancient esker ridges at Rokua, and wide open mires give it a different feel, alongside Ruka, one of the country's most popular ski resorts, despite sitting just outside Lapland's official border.
The coast and archipelago also feature in our selection, for anyone drawn to island life reached by boat.
Puumala, Finnish Lakeland. Photo: Juha Markkanen / Visit Finland
Not every cottage suits every kind of holiday, and the details matter more than the photos, whether you call it a cottage or a cabin. Before you book, it's worth checking:
At Lomarengas, all of this information, from sauna type to cancellation terms, is checked and listed accurately for every property before it goes online, so what you read in the listing is what you'll find when you arrive.
Prices vary widely depending on location, season, size and standard. A lakeside cottage in July will usually cost more than the same property in September, and a cottage a short walk from water tends to cost more than one further inland. Rather than a fixed figure that would be out of date within a season, the most accurate price is always the one showing for your actual dates in the Lomarengas search and you can sort them by price. As a general rule, July, Midsummer, and the ski season weeks in Lapland cost the most, with prices easing off in the shoulder seasons.
Pro tip: weeks 8 to 10 are Finnish school holidays, when many Finns head for the same cottages and ski slopes. It only adds to the buzz on the hill, but if you'd rather have the place a little more to yourself, the weeks either side are just as snowy and usually easier to book.
Larger groups tend to get better value overall, since splitting the cost of a cottage between six or eight people is often cheaper per person than several hotel rooms, especially once cooking your own meals is factored in.
Every Lomarengas booking also includes cancellation insurance from If, a major Nordic insurance company, covering cancellations caused by the sudden illness, accident or death of the person who made the booking, or a close relative. Read more here. It's still worth checking your own travel insurance too, since it may cover situations the cancellation insurance doesn't.
Keep an eye out for additional costs such as cleaning fees, linen hire, or heating the hot tub. At Lomarengas, these are always listed clearly on the property page before you book, so there are no surprises at checkout.
The Northern Lights over Finnish Lapland in winter. Photo: Markus Kiili / Visit Finland
Bookings made through Lomarengas fall under Finnish consumer protection law, which means you have real recourse if something goes wrong. Whichever platform you choose, it's worth knowing what to check before you book:
However you picture your Finnish cottage holiday, a lakeside sauna in July, a snowbound cabin under the Northern Lights, or a quiet weekend among the autumn colours, the same principle holds. Leave the plans behind, and let the cottage do the rest.
Browse thousands of quality-checked cottages and book your Finnish getaway today.
