Endless forest and still lakes roll past the window, and then a lone wooden cottage, a jetty or a thermos on a warm rock makes you look closely. Big space and small, careful details sit side by side: candles in windows, tidy boots by every door.

The climate is temperate in the south and subarctic in the north, with bright summer evenings and a snowy, dark winter. Layers are wise in any month. A Local Friend turns a list of places into a day that makes sense, so the lake, the coffee and the sunset fall in the right order.