Posio

The Posio area has traditionally been inhabited by nomadic Forest Samis and even the name Posio means a certain part of a traditional Sami pole tent. The first Finnish settlers arrived during the late 1500s, to the Sirniö area. They came from south-east, following the lake district of eastern Finland northward. This is still heard in the speech of the locals as the Posio dialect belongs to the Kainuu dialects of the eastern dialect group instead of the far north dialects of the western dialect group, spoken in the rest of Lapland. The priests from Pudasjärvi parish are known to have travelled here to hold services already in 1688. However, the nearest church remained in Kuusamo until 1927, when Posio got its own.

Geographically Posio belongs to the Koillismaa highlands. The landscape is hilly and most of the area is around 300 m above sea level. There are much more lakes in this area than elsewhere in Lapland, and Posio is a prominent "summer cottage municipality" (kesämökkikunta) as there are thousands of private holiday homes by the lakes. The speciality of these highland lakes is a local form of vendace, which is about 4–5 cm long and has soft bones. This vendace, known as Kitkan viisas, "the wise one of the lake Kitka", is considered a delicacy, and since 2013 the name has got protected designation of origin (PDO) status in the European Union.

The climate in Posio is sub-polar temperate. The area enjoys one of the heaviest annual snowfalls in Finland. A postcard-like view showing masses of frozen snow on tree branches is fairly typical to this area.

Posio has around 3,100 inhabitants (in 2021), half of which live in the parish village Ahola. The most famous person living in Posio is interior designer Anu Pentik (1942–) and around 100,000 admirers of Finnish design visit the Pentik Mäki Cultural Centre next to the Pentik ceramic factory annually. Otherwise, Posio attracts mostly nature enthusiasts.

By plane:

The closest airport is Kuusamo Airport (KAO IATA), 63 km to the east. The airport has direct connections from Helsinki International Airport by Finnair. There are daily bus connections from Kuusamo to Posio.

Rovaniemi Airport (RVN IATA) is 133 km to the west, and has direct connections from Helsinki, operated by Norwegian, Finnair and SAS, and some flights from elsewhere. Also from Rovaniemi there are daily bus connections.

By bus:

Posio has coach connections from Kuusamo, Rovaniemi, and Oulu, which all have further connections to Helsinki. The bus connection from Kuusamo is 45 minutes, from Rovaniemi 2 hours, and from Oulu 4 hours. A one-way ticket costs about €13/adult from Kuusamo, €26/adult from Rovaniemi and €42/adult from Oulu. Check Matkahuolto for details.

By train:

The nearest train station is in Rovaniemi, which has good connections from the south. From the train station you need to take a bus to Posio.

By car:

Posio town centre is at the crossroads of Road 863 (Taivalkoskentie, from Ranua and Oulu), Road 947 (Maaninkavaarantie, from Salla) and Road 81 (Kuusamontie, from Rovaniemi to Kuusamo). Coming from the south, taking the car on the train is usually the most convenient way.