Curating inspiring travel projects & the people behind them as we explore turning Wild Rose Maine into a one of one, unique, hospitality experience.
Janne Honkanen wanted to be a professional snowmobile driver and that is exactly what he did until an accident in the late nineties left with a broken back. When his first dream was cut short Janne returned to his native Finland where, hoping to stay close to the snowmobiling ecosystem, he taught people how to ride and took them on tours of Lapland.
Then he lost everything, again, as his snowmobiling business hit hard times and he was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor.
Still, he stuck to snowmobiling, while working for his former business as it crawled back from the edge, he had a third dream: create a transformative travel experiences with Finnish hospitality at its core.
His vision was to bring visitors together in Lapland, and connect his guests with local people, local culture, local foods and experiences.
He started a travel business called Luxury Action in 2009 that focused on doing just that, then followed it up by building Octola Lodge, a private wilderness retreat in arctic Finland.
You can't book Octola on Booking.com or any of the OTAs, you can't even book on their website, instead, the lodge allows you to request to a booking by giving them some details on your party and the dates you are looking at and THEY will get back to YOU.
"Remoteness is luxury." – Janne Honkanen
Oh, and as far as your airport transfer goes, you can get a traditional ride or arrive via snowmobile from the airport which is only 20 minutes from the lodge by car, about an hour by snowmobile.
Accommodation options at the lodge include 10 suites – you can book the entire lodge, or one of the two wings – a 6 bedroom wing and a 4 bedroom wing.
There is also the two bedroom owners villa on the property for smaller families, or couples, complete with private Jacuzzi and sauna.
The newest addition to Octola are the igloo suites, which start at ~$7500 for a two night minimum stay, while the lodge and owner's villa will cost much more and require a week long stay.
Your actives, which are created and curated by Laplanders, will vary depending on which of the 8 seasons (yup) you find yourself in the Finnish wilderness.
You can drive a McLaren on F1 tracks over frozen lakes, salmon fish under the midnights sun in the summer, or, and maybe best of all, take a group of children to Santa Claus Village – all arranged at the Lodge.
There are over 100 reindeer that roam the grounds, you can watch them, feed them, and have them pull you and your sleigh through the forest. Or better yet, helmet up and take everyone on a snowmobile trip to Santa's Village. Rumor has it this is where the real Santa lives, and judging from the happiness vibe coming from the live web cam feed, that feels true.
The lodge sits on 300 hectares of private forest, which works out to something like 750 acres, or about 500x the land at Wild Rose Maine!
Janne and his team have shown us that building an incredible lodge in a unique destination, and tying the guests to activities traditional to your destination can create a one of one travel experience worth dreaming about.
