The Kola Peninsula stretches east, north, and south from Murmansk, and the most rewarding days out involve getting out of the city. The Khibiny Mountains (around Kirovsk and Apatity, three hours south by road) are the highest peaks above the Arctic Circle in European Russia, with hiking in summer and downhill and cross-country skiing in winter. The Sami village of Lovozero, about 200 km southeast, is the cultural heart of the Russian Saami and runs reindeer-sledge tours, traditional handicrafts workshops, and a small ethnographic museum.
Closer in, the village of Teriberka (130 km northeast) sits on the open Barents Sea coast — the road runs out at a windswept beach of giant wave-rolled boulders. The village starred in the 2014 film Leviathan and has become a popular weekend trip. Polyarny Krug (Arctic Circle marker) and the Kola Superdeep Borehole are both accessible with the right tour operator.