Yes, you will meet your professional bear watching guide at the designated meeting point, and you will be safely escorted to the hides. Bear Kuusamo’s guide(s) will be with you during the evening and provide in-depth information about bears, their behavior, and their habitat.

After the evening watching, the guide(s) escort you back to the parking area. Our guide(s) will leave with the evening guests. So, if you book the overnight tour, you will spend the night at the hides independently. In the morning, you may depart from the hides independently. It is only a short walking distance from the hides to the parking lot via clear, designated paths. If you wish, our guide can also come to pick you up and walk you back to the parking area.

At the moment, we have seven hide buildings in three different environments. Their sizes vary from 6 m2 to 40 m2.

Please take weather-appropriate clothing and good walking shoes.

For example, in summer, if it’s a warm day, shorts and a t-shirt are fine. Note that from late June to mid-August, mosquitoes may be active outdoors, so a long-sleeved shirt and trousers are advisable. There are usually not many mosquitoes inside the hides, but you may bring a mosquito hat if needed. We also recommend darker clothing to reduce reflections in the windows.

Please, avoid any strong perfumes and use only odorless mosquito repellents! Bears have an excellent sense of smell, and strong scents may also act as bear deterrents.

Yes, you can always take pictures of the bears with your phone. A camera is not necessary.

Yes, you can pre-book a hide exclusively for yourself by paying a small extra fee. This ensures the private hide is reserved, as we block other bookings to make it available. If you don’t want to pay an additional booking fee for exclusivity, we cannot guarantee a private building; however, we always try to accommodate everyone’s wishes when bookings allow.

If you want to pre-book a private hide, please get in touch with us at bear@bearkuusamo.com.

Each building has a dry toilet in a separate, secure area. In four of the log hides, we have built-in bunk beds with comfortable, ergonomic mattresses, sleeping bags, and pillows. In smaller bear-watching hides, we provide comfortable, ergonomic mattresses, pillows, and sleeping bags for use on the hide floor.

Our largest hide building also has a gas stove, a gas heater, a fan, and electronic charging facilities for camera batteries or phones (via solar power).

For photographers, we have bean bags and 3/8” screws with which you can attach your camera(s) to the bench/photo leveling planes (a tripod is not needed). In the largest bear observation building (Karhunpesä), we also have two video heads available for you to use. You can also borrow binoculars at the hides; we have one pair in every hide.

Drinks and snacks are not included, but you’re welcome to bring your own. We recommend avoiding any strongly scented foods and “noisy” packaging, as excessive noise can disturb the bears. Remember to take enough drinking water with you! There’s no tap water available at the hides. Alcohol and smoking are not allowed at the bear hides.

Yes, you can drive your motorhome, camper, van, normal sedan-type car, or even a big rig, such as a truck, to our parking area and meeting point at Kuntijärventie 127, which is about a 200-400-meter walk from the hides. During summer and autumn, the gravel road (Kuntijärventie) may have some potholes, but it’s totally drivable with any vehicle.

Please note that in spring (usually in early May), when snow and ice melt, the road surface may be damaged by thawing. Drive with care (this applies to the last 13 kilometers of Kuntijärventie; otherwise, you can use good tar roads).

We welcome all families – there’s no age limit, and under-18s even get the experience at half price. Every year, even babies visit us.

Four of our hides are modern log buildings with improved sound insulation, and we always try our best to accommodate families with small children in these hides. Please note that it’s still required to be quiet inside the hide, which means no shouting or running around.

Ultimately, parents are liable for their kids’ behavior, and if there’s too much loud noise, you might be required to leave. That happens extremely seldom, though, and most parents are surprised by how well kids can concentrate on the bears. You can freely bring books, tablets, pens, paper, and quiet games to entertain kids.

Yes, if you have booked bear watching with us, you can park your motorhome or camper at our upper parking lot overnight, free of charge. There’s space for up to 10 motorhomes/campers. Prebooking is essential so that we have enough space for everyone.

Please note that there are no amenities at the parking area (no electrical hookups, toilets, or any other services). The nearest services for motorhomes are in Kuusamo, 43 kilometers away. Please take care not to leave any trash or other signs of your stay. Thank you!

Yes, our main hide building (Karhunpesä) is wheelchair-friendly, and you can drive right next to the hide. If you need this accessibility, please get in touch with us at bear@bearkuusamo.com beforehand so we can make the arrangements.

Dogs are not permitted inside the bear watching buildings or in their vicinity for apparent reasons; we wouldn’t see any bears. However, dogs may remain in your vehicle or motor home, which can be parked at our upper parking lot at the designated meeting point (Kuntijärventie 127).

If you arrive early or stay overnight, you can walk your dog freely on the main road (Kuntijärventie), but always keep your dog on a leash, and do not proceed towards the bear hides from the parking area (don’t cross the signs marking the private area). Thank you!

We have bean bags to support your cameras and lenses when you use the photography openings, and 3/8” screws with which you can attach your camera(s), ballheads, and swings to the bench. Hence, you won’t need a tripod. The main building (Karhunpesä) also has two Manfrotto video heads.

Every hide has several photo bag openings in different directions. The openings provide views to the north, east, and west, optimizing the use of light.

We offer bear watching tours and bear photography from the beginning of May until the end of September.

After September, bears are already preparing for winter hibernation and are rarely seen. We also want to give them the peace to prepare appropriately without disturbing them. Bears in Finland hibernate for the wintertime, in Kuusamo usually from mid or late October to March. The first bears arrive at our site usually in mid-April.

Every time of the season has its own advantages, and it also depends on what you want to see and photograph.

In early May, there may still be snow on the ground, so you may have a chance to see and photograph bears on the snow. Early season has some added benefits, as you’ll have better chances to see the wolverine. Also, birding is best in the Northern Hemisphere. Early May is still lekking season for capercaillie and black grouse, which you may see on your drive to the hides. Many migratory birds stop by our swamp, too.

The bear mating season is in June, which offers some of the most dramatic action: fierce fights between males, dance-like choreography between males and females that move together for a couple of weeks, youngsters running away from the action, and females separating their cubs. Especially the male bears move around a lot searching for females, and many new bears arrive at our hides in early/mid-June. For the last few years, even mating has occurred (and been photographed) at our bear watching hides.

After the mating season, in July and August, the bears are in their peak “mass-gathering season”, and during this time, we see the largest number of bears per evening.

Between late August and September, the area has its autumn ruska season, so the surrounding nature will usually be stunningly colorful. Bears are still active until the end of our season, but are present in smaller numbers, as some males start migrating back to Russia for the next hibernation.

Yes, and we also host many birders, especially in May. Although birding is seasonal, white-tailed sea eagles, ravens, magpies, and hooded crows are present throughout our bear watching season. Occasionally visiting birds of prey include black kite (very rare in Finland), goshawk, buzzard, kestrel, short-eared owl, and, more rarely, golden eagle.

May is the best time for birding in Kuusamo, and many migratory birds stop by at our hides too. Spring visitors include common cranes and many waders, such as snipes, ruffs, dunlins, and sandpipers.

Summer species include wood sandpiper, green sandpiper, common sandpiper, greenshank, wigeon, common teal, golden eye, mallard, brambling, Siberian jay, wagtail and yellow wagtail, barn swallow, snipe, and elusive jack snipe.

In autumn, there are again possibilities to see migratory birds, more birds of prey, and jays.

Sometimes you might hear or see a capercaillie, black grouse, or hazel grouse, but it’s more common to see those birds during their lekking season in April-May or autumn along your drive towards Bear Kuusamo.

As bear hunting is strictly prohibited on our privately owned land, and also across the border in Russia in Paanajärvi National Park, bears can move around safely to visit our hides until they start to prepare for hibernation.

We’re also located along an old wildlife migration channel between Finland and Russia, which many male bears pass through after foraging in Finland during the summer and heading back to Russia.

Some bear watching sites that don’t offer tours in September are located on government-owned land, where hunting is allowed starting from late August. Also, currently, some bear watching operators in Finland willingly allow hunting on their private land. We think it’s unethical to offer bear watching on the same land where hunting is permitted later in the season. Unfortunately, this is still legal in Finland. In our opinion, predator-watching and photography tours need stricter regulations and ethical guidelines, and we are working towards developing good practices across the industry. Read more on our responsible policies here.