Best husky tour in Enontekiö: which ride for which party
Illustration photo: a sled dog in harness, not at the Hetta kennel.
The short answer
For someone unsure about dogs, book the short taster round the kennel's land, where a guide can drive the sleigh. For a first proper ride, take the six-kilometre trip, and for drivers who want time on the runners, the twelve or twenty. Keen mushers should book the five-hour day with a cabin stop. A party that wants no strangers along should look at Muonio's private rides instead.
The kennel in Hetta sells a husky ride for almost every kind of visitor. The useful question is who is going.
If someone is unsure about dogs
Book the taster. It is a loop of two kilometres round the kennel’s own land, with ten to fifteen minutes in the sleigh and the rest of the hour and a quarter spent among the dogs, and a guide can drive when one is free.1 It costs 60 euros for an adult sharing a sleigh.
If it is your first real ride
Take the six-kilometre trip, with about three quarters of an hour of driving: enough to find out whether you want more before paying for it. The comparison of the three standard rides is on husky safari in Hetta.
If you came to drive
Choose by time on the runners rather than by distance: the twelve and twenty kilometre rides give you about two hours or more, and the thirty-kilometre day gives three and a half to four, with a cabin stop, at 305 euros a head.2
If you want the dogs to yourselves
That is not sold as a day in Hetta: the kennel’s private safaris are multi-day trips.3 The nearest private day rides are in Muonio, 54 minutes away, compared on private husky tours in Enontekiö.
Questions people ask
Can someone come along without driving?
Yes. The taster ride lists an expert guide to drive your sleigh, when one is available, so a guest who only wants to sit in the sleigh can do that on the shortest outing. On the longer rides the kennel prices a guide-driven sleigh at the same rate as a sleigh to yourself, which makes a passenger-only guest more expensive than one who shares and drives.
How do we pay?
At the kennel, before the tour. Its questions page says it takes cash and all standard cards except American Express, and generally takes payment before starting. It also says short tour bookings are generally non-refundable, so fix the date you book around rather than pencilling in several and cancelling the spares.
Is there a husky ride after dark?
Yes. The same kennel runs a six-kilometre ride under the night sky through the winter, about an hour and a half with the farm visit, driving instructions and head torches, at 175 euros for an adult sharing a sleigh and 125 for a child aged three to twelve. It says it cannot promise the weather, and it rates the route intermediate at night, so a first-timer is better off on a daylight ride first.