Korvalan Kestikievari has always been a family run business. Seppo and his wife Jaana are the third generation to be looking after travellers needing a place to stay whilst on their journey in the north. They live on site and can be easily contacted for help with any enquiries. Their children still go to school, but help out during the holidays and on weekends. As a family, they enjoy the peaceful natural surroundings and all the possibilities the wilderness offers. On site there are many outdoor activities and tours available for travellers to fill their days in both summer and winter, eg. fishing, canoeing and swimming in summer, and cross-country skiing, snowshoe hiking and ice-fishing in winter. For more adventures it is possible to join the snowmobile and husky-sledding tours (there are more details on Korvala's website). Winter overalls and boots can also be rented.

Korvala has an interesting history. Seppo's family first settled in the region in 1733, a hundred years before any roads existed in the area. The building of the first road, the Arctic Ocean Passage, was started in Rovaniemi in 1848. It made its way northwards through the wilderness to Sodankylä, and then onwards until it reached the Arctic Ocean in the 1920's. Korvala's homestead was established in 1889 by the new road. Here the inn known as Korvalan Kestikievari was built to accommodate travellers. In those days, inns were located at 10km intervals and travellers walked, skied or were taxied in horse drawn sleighs and carriages driven by the owners of each inn. Every inn offered food and a place to sleep. Korvalan Kestikievari is the only inn and guesthouse in the region that has stayed in operation since those days, so has been welcoming travellers for over one hundred years. Nowadays, the accommodation is in small, self-catering lodges, known as Korvala's log cabins. Seppo has built all the cabins and still does the maintenance. He also runs the snowmobile tours in winter. Jaana looks after the husky kennel and the training of the dogs, and runs the sledding tours in winter.

Korvala is ideally located half way between Rovaniemi, now the capital of Lapland, and Sodankylä, Luosto and Pyhä to the north. Rovaniemi offers many opportunities for shopping and dining, as well as the famous Arktikum Science Centre and Lapland's Provincial Museum, while the Arctic Circle and Santa's Village are found on the way to Rovaniemi. The National Park and ski resorts of Pyhä and Luosto offer striking scenery and well-kept hiking and ski trails. Hiring a car makes it easier to visit all these places, but regular and reliable bus services run too. There are also local hiking and ski trails around Korvala, providing many opportunities to explore and enjoy the endless wilderness all year round. Easy to access but far from the crowds, Korvala is lucky to be at the same time both reachable and remote.