Muonio

Standing by an important salmon river, Muonionjoki, the area has been inhabited for at least 7,000 years. The meaning of the name Muonio is unknown but probably of Sami origin. It appears first in manuscripts from mid 16th century and in a Swedish map from 17th century in forms Monanisk kyla, Mononiske or Muniosuij. The original name of the municipality was Muonionniska ("top of the rapids of Muonio[river]") which was abbreviated into its current form in 1923. There is notable amount of ancient holy places of the Sami people in the municipality.

Being inhabited by the Sámi for ages, the first mention of Finnish landownership in Muonio is from 1575, actually before the Crown of Sweden had taken the lands into its ownership, which officially happened in 1584. From the early 1600s Muonio area was administered from Pajala (in present Sweden) until 1812 when the newborn borderline between the kingdom of Sweden and the Russian Empire made Muonio an independent parish.

In the World War II aftermath known as the Lapland War the destruction was somewhat complete; well over 80% of all buildings were destroyed by retreating German troops. For example in the main village only the church and a few storehouses were saved.

For some decades Muonio has been one of the places where international car manufacturers test their new car models in harsh winter conditions. The proving grounds are vast but hidden in the forests. This business is shrouded in the utmost secrecy, but it provides a significant source of income to this small community.

Muonio has about 2,300 permanent residents, about half of them living in the main village. Like many other municipalities in Finnish Lapland, present day Muonio lives mostly from tourism. This was heavily boosted in late 1990s by shifting the municipality border so that the Pallastunturi fells became part of Muonio instead of Kittilä.

Muonio village is at the crossroads of road 21 (E8) and road 79. Olostunturi skiing resort is located by road 79 some 8 km from the village and the Finnish road 957 to Pallastunturi area departs road 79 about 12 km from the main village.

There is a 1 border crossing from Sweden 1 km south of the centre. The customs office (defunct?) is on the Finnish side of the border.

By plane:

The nearest airports are in Kittilä to the southeast, Hetta to the northeast, and in Pajala southwest across the border to Sweden. Rovaniemi airport is farther away but with much better connections, especially off season. There are coach connections at least from Rovaniemi and Kittilä airports.

By train:

The nearest railway stations are in Kolari and Rovaniemi.

There is a direct coach connection to Muonio from the night train, which arrives 11:05 in Rovaniemi.

The night train to Kolari has a bus connection to Muonio, but it only runs during the school year. Call taxi with a reduced fare (€22) is also available.

By bus:

There are a few daily coach connections from Rovaniemi, Oulu and Kemi. The ticket costs €50–70/adult from Oulu and around €45/adult from Rovaniemi. The trip takes about 3½ hours from Rovaniemi. At summer a daily direct connection from Tromsø is available.

Call taxi exists from Levi to Pallas and Äkäslompolo with a reduced fare (Pallas €117, Äkäslompolo €130).

By car:

If driving from Germany or Central Europe in general, the shortest alternative is to drive through Sweden along road E4 all the way to Luleå and then through Pajala to the Finnish border and on to Muonio.

Unless you like driving long distances or visit destination en route, a good alternative would be to take a ferry from Germany to Helsinki, then to board an overnight train from Helsinki and drive just from Kolari, Rovaniemi or Oulu (no unloading of cars in Kemi).

If you arrive from Sweden, turning away from Swedish national road 99 to road 404 in Muodoslompolo will take you to the border crossing.