About Us

Our Story

The Home Of The Northern Lights

According to the satellite observations, Hankasalmi is one of the darkest areas in Southern part of Finland, so on bright nights it is worth gazing into the sky: during the winter season, the Northern Lights are seen in Hankasalmi every fourth night on average.

The name Revontuli – which translates to Northern Lights – has its roots in Hankasalmi being part of international northern lights research since 1975. One of the Meteorological Institution’s research stations for detecting northern lights activity is located in Hankasalmi. Besides, there is the Northern Lights research center, Hankasalmi Observatory, which is operated by amateur astronomers. They have got great results on their studies – as the first ones in the world, they are now about to start a big research about the possible sounds of the northern lights. Are the sounds real or not? So far nobody knows for sure… As a guest of Revontuli the Northern Lights Resort, you have one-of-a-kind possibility to get introduced to the operation of the Aurora Borealis research center, Hankasalmi Observatory.

You will find the Aurora Borealis Forecast for Hankasalmi here.

History – From a Road Motel To an International Holiday Resort

The year was 1993, when Markku Kinnunen saw an auction advertisement – a road motel in Hankasalmi was for sale. Markku’s wife and his three daughters were not too excited about Hanka Motel, but Markku had a good feeling inside. This is it, he thought. Despite of his family’s resistance, Markku bought the motel. Many people didn’t believe in the project – Hanka Motel had an unfortunate history with five former owners, who all had ended up filing for bankruptcy. But Markku believed. He had big visions for the future.

At the time, the Northern Lights research was living its golden age in Hankasalmi. Markku and his family decided to rename the motel after the “Northern Lights mania” – Revontuli. Today, at the time of internalization and the new research of the Northern Lights sounds, the name is more current than ever.

After the first shock, the family has always been Markku’s biggest support through all the entrepreneur years. All of Markku’s three daughters have taken part in Revontuli Resort’s journey. After their studies, two of the daughters chose another career. But Tiia came back to Hankasalmi and stayed.

Tiia had clear plans for her future – after getting her master’s degree, she would get employed to some big, international company – but the life didn’t go as planned. During her studies, Tiia had spent all the summers in Hankasalmi helping his father. In an entrepreneur family, it was obvious for her. Through her intensive involvement, Tiia’s interest in Revontuli and its development deepened. Entrepreneur genes, desire to develop and a courage to open new doors, made Tiia to stay in Hankasalmi.

Markku, Tiia, and their two employees, Aila and Jukka, who has been aboard from the beginning until today, started a fearless concept development – as Markku calls it, “the philosophy of grandeur”. During the first seven years, they enlarged the restaurant, built a whole village of cabins and started the Sauna World project with Smoke Sauna and Virmas Villa. Those were followed by accommodation building Draivi, a full-length golf course, bowling alley and American Diner restaurant.

Today, Tiia has taken the main responsibility of Revontuli Resort. -Tiia has updated the resort to the modern world and opened the doors for international market, Markku says. -Thanks to Tiia, we have more and more people coming from all around the World. I have had all the pleasure and trust to let Tiia take the resort over.

Tiia lives in Hankasalmi with her husband and three children. She is thankful for her parents making this all possible. -My father has been a great role model as an entrepreneur and encouraged to bravely take new steps. And when I make long shifts in the resort, the help of my mother is priceless. She takes our kids to the school and their hobbies, and makes sure they will never get hungry. Without my parents, Revontuli Resort wouldn’t be anything like it is today.

-The years have taught me a lot, but there is still a lot to learn, Tiia says. She ambitiously wants to become even better leader, manager, and customer servant. On the other hand, she wants to learn to stress less and take it easier. -The lessons will continue throughout the whole life, she laughs.

At Your Service

Markku and Tiia both agree, that the key to their success is an extraordinary, talented team behind them. -I am so proud of having such great people working with us, says Tiia.

-Our staff is continuously thanked for their warm and heartfelt service, Markku tells. -If there is a day we don’t remember that ourselves, our customers will remind us for sure.

As an evidence of this, Revontuli the Northern Lights Resort has been awarded as “The house of the best service” by the municipality of Hankasalmi.

Revontuli Team warmly welcomes you to enjoy our caring service and memorable experiences!

Sustainability in Revontuli

Environmental policy

Revontuli the Northern Lights Resort is a year-around comfort zone in Hankasalmi in Middle Finland. This future-oriented family business has been working since 1993. Our goal is to increase well-being and to create memorable experiences. The well-being of all the customers, personnel and the surrounding environment makes us work actively towards more sustainable future.

We have started a process of sustainability certification. We recognize the significance of our actions in local environment and are committed to act sustainably. We will inform of the progress in certification here.

We also participate the Sustainable Travel Finland -programme organized by Visit Finland to learn and to be constantly developing in making the Finnish travel industry even more sustainable. Please read more about the national Sustainable Travel Finland -programme here: Sustainable Travel Finland

Examples on our sustainable acts:

The majority of carbon footprint is caused by the use of energy in electricity and heating which are major carbon footprint sources in Finnish travel industry due to long distances and changing weather conditions. Revontuli the Northern Lights Resort produces heating energy in its own properties with renewable resources. Another major source of carbon footprint in travel industry is the traffic and vehicles. We are determined to renew our vehicles in the end their life cycle to more low-emission vehicles. All the golf carts are already charged with electricity.
We are in rural area, yet we are accessible with public transportation. We recommend using public transportation when possible to reduce the traffic caused emissions. Please read more about arriving to Revontuli Northern Lights Resort from below.
We have developed recycling and we will guide the customers to recycle as well. Unfortunately, plastics are not yet collected in our area but both customers and staff are guided to recycle other waste. We also recycle electronic waste and it is delivered to proper receiver. A fact of used batteries: did you know that used batteries can be used in making fertilizers for agriculture?
The 3-course Revontuli Menu is designed to make the best of the seasonal ingredients. We prefer to use local ingredients whenever available.
We recognize the meaning of circular economy in a travel business. Our purchasing decisions consider the life cycle of products and we aim to reduce waste generation in our premises. Whenever possible, we reuse a product or sell used furniture for re-use, for example.
The golf course is built to consider circularity as well. The fertilizers and irrigation water do not harm the lake as they circulate back to fertilizing the grass through the ponds along the golf course. Protection of the lake Iso-Virmas is important to us.
Our local staff is committed in sustainable acts and is ready to tell you more about our sustainability.

Our next sustainability goals:

We have started measuring our carbon footprint with a GHG-protocol acknowledged indicator. We aim to have the result from year 2021 soon. Carbon footprint will be measured yearly and we are committed to make actions to reduce it constantly.
We are determined to reduce the use of water. We have measured water flow (L/min) in our taps. We are going to renew necessary taps to water-saving taps. We also recommend the customers to consider water-efficiency.
We aim to add the percentage of renewable resources in our heating energy consumption.