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A two-hour bus ride north of Rovaniemi, SODANKYLA has enough of interest to warrant a stop-off on the road to the far north. The bus station is in the centre of the town where you'll find the helpful tourist office at Jaamerentie 7 (Mon-Fri 9am-5pm, July also Sat & Sun 9am-3pm; tel 016/618168). Next door is the Andreas Alariesto Art Gallery (Mon-Fri 10am-5pm; June-Aug Sat 10am-5pm, Sun noon-6pm; rest of year Sat 10am-4pm, Sun noon-6pm; ?2.50), which has an engaging collection of Alariesto's early-twentieth century bold, colourful paintings, depicting the life, struggles and myths of the Sami. Just behind towards the Kitinen River is Lapland's oldest surviving church , dating from 1689, its plain roof of rough-hewn timbers crowding in on the narrowest of naves. A good time to come to Sodankyla is in mid-June for Lapland's biggest annual cultural event, the Midnight Sun Film Festival (tel 016/614 52, www.msfilmfestival.fi ). During the festival, the town swarms with film buffs from Scandinavia and beyond who descend on this modest place to catch works by invited directors such as John Sayles, Jim Jarmusch, Terry Gilliam and Finnish regular s the Kaurismaki brothers, all of whom tend to mingle in with the festival crowd creating a unique atmosphere. If you want accommodation during the festival, you'll need to book as far ahead as possible, but at other times there should be no problem in finding somewhere to stay. For comfort try Hotel Sodankyla (tel 016/612181; GBP25-30/$40-48/?45-54) just opposite the bus station. There's a campsite (tel 016/612181; June to mid-Aug) just across the river which also has cabins from 160mk. Places to eat can be found along Jaamerentie with good pizzas at number 52, Poronsarvi .
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