Jenny

Hi all~<BR>I was hoping someone out there could help me find a tour operator that has "soft adventure" tours in Finland (Norway is my second choice). I have found a few tour groups that do some tours in Finland but it is more "sit in the bus" and town tours... I would desperately love to find a tour operator that offers walking/easy hiking/nature tours! Finland and Norway are so beautiful and "earthy" that I can't believe I'm having such a hard time. Any suggestions? Thank you so much!!!<BR>PS-- If anyone asks "why don't you just pack up and fly there and visit the parks without paying the money for a tour group??" --I am a single woman who has only been abroad once before and I'm not brave enough yet to do it by myself--I would be most comfortable with a nice group of nature lovers!<BR>Many thanks to anyone who can help....

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Nancy

You might check out OAT (Overseas Adventure Travel). I'm not sure if they go to the Scandanavia countries but they rate their tours according to how much hiking, etc. (easy to hard). I'm sure they have a website. If they do have tours there they probably cover at least 3 countries on one trip.

elina

Jenny, I am Finnish and I live in Finland, so I don´t know anything about foreign tour operators. But I can assure you that you really would be just fine here all by yourself. I don´t remember that I would have been in any kind of danger or felt threatened in all my 50+ years. This country is safe. Even our presidents have always walked the streets of Helsinki unguarded and done their shopping like normal people. One liked to have his morning coffee in the coffee tent on the market palce among the rest of the market goers. <BR><BR>The public transportation runs like clockwork and is easy to use. And there are hundreds of kilometres marked hiking paths all over the country. There are also local small (very small) tour operators that arrange hikes (also easy ones), rapid shooting and so on. Plus people usually speak also English. <BR><BR>Perhaps you could e-mail Finnish tourist agency, they should be able to give you information. Their web site with e-mail connection is www.mek.fi <BR><BR>Also check www.finlandforyou.com<BR>There are some tours and info for example about safety.<BR><BR>www.metsa.fi is the site of ministry of forestry. There is info on hiking, trails, national parks and so on.<BR><BR>You are having a hard time finding anything, because Finland is not a tourist "hot spot". Climate is one reason (although right now it has been almost +30°C for ages already and all the waters are incredibly warm). And another is that you would have to be a nature lover to enjoy your travels here, because clean and untouched nature is the best asset of this country.

John

Check out the adventure travel menu at www.johnnyjet.com or Gorp (gorp.com) - Gorp shows 20 adventure listings for Scandinavia, for example.