I just found out that there is a village in Finland that has pretty much dedicated their tourism to gold mining. What!? I know! The scenery looks amazing and the color doesn’t look too bad either. Best part? They are open all year long. They have indoor gold panning during the winter. PLUS, they are holding the 2019 World Gold Panning Championship in August.

Here’s a little from the article I found the village on…

“Finnish Lapland is the land of myths, legends, and dreams. Many are centered on Lapland’s gold fields and those people who, even today, are chasing after the world’s purest gold – the one found in and around the Lemmenjoki and Ivalojoki rivers.”

“Every year, the gold fever infects adventurers and tourists from near and far, too. Rising and falling for almost 150 years, the gold fever, with all its human drama of heroes and villains, has helped shape the cultural history of Northern Lapland. Kai. J. Rantanen, born in Southern Finland, was lured by gold as a young man while hitchhiking to Norway. He stopped in the Lemmenjoki area and never left.”