Inari is Finland's largest municipality (but one of the most sparsely populated), with four official languages, more than any other in the country. Its major sources of income are tourism, service industry and cold climate testing. With the Siida museum in the village of Inari, it is a center of Sami culture, widely known as the "capital of Sámi culture". The airport in Ivalo and the country's key north-south European Route E75 (Finland's National Road 4) bring summer and winter vacationers seeking resorts with access to a well-preserved, uncrowded natural environment.

Finland's largest National Park Lemmenjoki is partly located in Inari, as is the Urho Kekkonen National Park. Vast parts of the municipality are designated wilderness areas: Hammastunturi, Muotkatunturi, Paistunturi, Kaldoaivi, Vätsäri, and Tsarmitunturi.

The village of Inari is Finland's northernmost holiday resort. The airport is located in the nearby village of Ivalo.

Inari has a chilly and humid climate with fairly cold winters and cool summers. Due to the polar night, winter time temperatures are often severely cold. However, the midnight sun contributes to surprisingly high summertime temperatures. The warmest temperature ever recorded at Ivalo Airport was 31.8°C (89.2°F) in July 1925, while the coldest temperature on record was -48.9°C (-56.0°F) in January 1999. However, in July 1914 Thule weather station in western Inari recorded an unofficial record high temperature of 34.7°C (94.5°F), which is the highest temperature ever recorded in Lapland. Inari is also among the driest locations in Finland, especially in the winter when the average precipitation total is less than half of the amount that Southern Finland receives. The driest year on record was 1941 when only 120,1 mm (4,7 inches) fell.

Sites of interest include:

• Hammastunturi Wilderness Area
• Ivalo River
• Lemmenjoki National Park
• Siida, Sámi Museum and Northern Lapland Nature Centre
• Otsamo fell
• Urho Kekkonen National Park