Engel­berg in Octo­ber sunshine

It is Octo­ber. A so-cal­led mid-sea­son in many holi­day and tra­vel desti­na­ti­ons. It is too warm, too rai­ny or too cold to go through typi­cal desti­na­ti­on attrac­tions. At times the sea­so­nal chan­ge – for examp­le, lack of snow – makes some acti­vi­ties impos­si­ble to be car­ri­ed out.

Mid-sea­sons are pro­ble­ma­tic for tra­vel indus­try, as the volu­mes drop but cos­ts are still run­ning. Infra­st­ruc­tu­re is still the­re, and peop­le are employ­ed by year­ly con­tracts. What can be done to inte­rest peop­le out­side the image of ste­reo­ty­pi­cal sea­son and its activities?

A dar­ke­n­ing evening in Lapland during October

We belie­ve in year-around tra­ve­ling. It has many bene­fits. As a tra­ve­ler, you might find bet­ter offers for trans­por­ta­ti­on and accom­mo­da­ti­on as it is quie­ter at the desti­na­ti­on. Boos­ting mid-sea­son makes over­all tra­ve­ling more sus­tainab­le, as the sur­roun­dings and natu­re in loca­ti­on is not too hea­vi­ly affec­ted by mas­ses. Also, you might pro­vi­de a life­li­ne for many smal­ler entre­pre­neurs who offer their ser­vices year-around, des­pi­te the main sea­so­na­li­ty. Most of all, mid-sea­son chal­len­ges you to think out­side of the box about the pro­gram and acti­vi­ties you might want to try.

Even though one of the big­gest pro­blems facing mid-sea­son tra­ve­ling comes from the ques­ti­on what to do at the loca­ti­on, we belie­ve it is the easiest out of them all. If you want to expe­ri­ence local cul­tu­re inde­pen­dent of the tra­ve­ling sea­son, just fol­low the locals and what they do.

Lap­pish life­style is calm and slow-paced year-around. Now, when Octo­ber is offe­ring its quick­ly dar­ke­n­ing evenings and fros­ty mornings, the locals enjoy out­door acti­vi­ties and ease them­sel­ves for the upco­m­ing win­ter season.

Long, cris­py-aired hikes in the natu­re is a stun­ning expe­ri­ence when Autumn folia­ge is offe­ring its best colour ran­ge. Lunch by the bon­fire is as atmo­s­phe­ric and makes the rest of the day feel unrus­hed, as the­re is no need to hur­ry back to the accom­mo­da­ti­on to cook. When the sky starts to shim­mer with stars, a cand­le-lit cabin with a war­ming sau­na gives you the chan­ce to total­ly relax and enjoy your tra­ve­ling company.

Switz­er­land is in the cen­tral of Euro­pe, thus, impos­si­ble to ima­gi­ne it would take any breaks from buz­zing. Alpi­ne cli­ma­te makes the divi­si­on of main sea­sons very clear, sum­mer and win­ter. Bet­ween them you might find asto­un­ding peri­ods of calm­ness and cul­tu­ral marvels.

Octo­ber is the time of har­vest and just ending Alp­ab­zug, a seri­es of fes­ti­vi­ties in about every small vil­la­ge and town, whe­re cows are wal­ked down from the Alps to the gree­ner val­leys. They are deco­ra­ted with Swiss flags, flowers and huge cow bells, making sure that ever­yo­ne hears this chee­ry event happening.

Alpi­ne cli­ma­te is rough but also very colour­ful. The­re might still be excel­lent, warm and sun­ny days for long hikes avail­ab­le, and you can do what the locals do, pon­der around as our Tuo­mas likes to put it. What else does a human being need, some dai­ly acti­vi­ty, beau­ti­ful views to look at, an excel­lent din­ner by the end of the day and repeat this on the next day?

Don’t make your tra­vel plan­ning too hard, make it as easy as the locals do. You might be sur­pri­sed how much the mid-sea­sons have to offer.

Autumn folia­ge, “rus­ka”, in Luos­to Lapland