Helsinki is the airport. Lapland is the trip.
Which aurora chase actually keeps driving until the cloud breaks. What a husky team costs when you steer it yourself. Whether Rovaniemi or Levi is the better base in February. Reviews of every tour you can book in Finland.
The lights, the dogs, the reindeer and the frozen canyon.
Four bookings a first Lapland week is built around. What each one costs, and what the people who took it say.
01The first clear nightNorthern Lights Tour with Guaranteed SightingsThe guaranteed chase. It drives as far as the forecast says it has to, and takes you out again the next night if the sky stays shut.
02The daylight oneDaytime Husky SafariTwelve dogs, a wooden sled and a track through the forest while there is still light to see it by.
03The slow oneApukka Reindeer JourneyReindeer walk at reindeer pace. An hour in the trees, a fire, and a herder who has done this his whole life.
04The day outKorouoma Canyon and Frozen Waterfalls TourNinety minutes south of town the canyon waterfalls freeze solid and turn pale blue. Five kilometres on foot, most of a short day.
Three ways to spend a Finnish night outdoors at minus twenty.
The aurora is not a place you drive to, it is a forecast you chase. Here is what the three approaches cost and what you are actually buying with each one.
One capital in the south, and a long line of towns above the Circle.
Finland is a thousand kilometres tall and the winter gets better the further up it you go. Six places worth basing a trip on, and the best day out in each.
The days out that fill first in Rovaniemi.
The whole Finland list →These carry more travellers than anything else in the country. Prices are per person and the winter season is short.
1
Northern Lights Tour with Guaranteed Sightings
Chase the Northern Lights from Rovaniemi in a small 4x4 group, with long driving range, professional photos, warm gear, and a refund policy.
From · $164
Read our review →
2
Northern Lights Rovaniemi: Guaranteed Viewing & Unlimited Mileage
from $228
3
Lapland Northern Lights Tour with BBQ
from $81
4
Reindeer, Huskies & Santa Claus Village
from $213
5
Small-Group Northern Lights Wilderness Tour
from $136
6
Korouoma Canyon and Frozen Waterfalls Tour
from $136
7
Apukka Husky Adventure
from $237
8
Sightseeing Canal Cruise with Audio Commentary
from $33
Lapland traffic: huskies, reindeer and two-stroke engines.
Nobody flies to Rovaniemi to sit still. A team of Alaskan huskies you steer yourself, a reindeer that walks you through the forest at its own pace, or a snowmobile with a headlight and forty kilometres of frozen lake in front of it.
Rovaniemi is a small town with a very large winter.
Everything in Rovaniemi →
Two hours north of Helsinki by air and sitting on the Arctic Circle, which is why the sledding, the sky and Santa all happen here rather than anywhere else. These three carry more travellers than anything else in Lapland.
Guaranteed sightings, or take your chances
The guaranteed runs drive as far as the forecast says they have to, and take you out again the following night if the cloud never lifts. The cheap ones stay near town and take what the sky gives them.
Drive the team, or ride behind one
On the self-drive runs two of you share a sled and swap over halfway, one steering and one sitting in the basket. The short rides keep you in the basket the whole way and cost about half.
Frozen waterfalls, five kilometres on foot
Ninety minutes south of town the canyon walls carry a run of waterfalls that freeze solid and go pale blue. The walk is five kilometres over snow and it takes most of a short winter day.
Lapland is not a cheap winter. This is the shape of it.
Every tour on the site grouped by what it costs. Helsinki is where the affordable days are. North of the Circle a day out starts near a hundred dollars and climbs from there.
Helsinki tickets and walking tours, the Ranua zoo gate, an hour at a reindeer farm, a rented parka.
Most of Lapland: the aurora chases, the snowmobile safaris, the walk into Korouoma.
Self-drive husky teams, all-day combinations, and dinner under a carved snow ceiling.
A postbox, a hotel made of snow, and a hole cut in the ice.
Reindeer and snow happen all across the north. An official Arctic Circle postmark, a building that melts every April, and the swim you take straight out of a sauna do not.
Santa Claus Village
The village straddles the Arctic Circle eight kilometres north of Rovaniemi, and the line is painted across the ground so you can stand with a foot either side of it. The post office takes letters all year and stamps them with the Circle postmark. Reindeer sleighs run in the yard behind it, and in December the queue for them is the only queue in Lapland.
- 1Reindeer, Huskies & Santa Claus Village★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 1,543 reviews
- 2Santa Claus Village and Arctic Circle★★★★★★★★★★ 4.3 · 355 reviews
- 3Meet Santa Claus, Reindeer Sleigh Ride & Huskies★★★★★★★★★★ 4.7 · 106 reviews
The snow hotels
The snow hotel is carved fresh out of each winter’s snowfall, slept in for three or four months, then left to run off into the ground in spring. Inside it holds a few degrees below zero whatever the weather does outside, so the beds come with proper sleeping bags and the restaurant serves dinner on plates cut from ice.
- 1Snow Hotel Tour and Ice Restaurant Dinner★★★★★★★★★★ 4.4 · 345 reviews
- 2Arctic Snow Hotel Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 4.4 · 302 reviews
- 3Snow Hotel Tour with Food by the Fire★★★★★★★★★★ 4.4 · 144 reviews
Sauna, and the hole in the ice
A Finnish sauna is not a spa treatment, it is where the evening happens. The point of it is the part afterwards: a hole cut through the lake ice, a ladder down into it, and about thirty seconds in water at one degree. Nobody stays in longer than that. Almost everybody goes back for a second round.
- 1Traditional Sauna and Ice Swimming Experience★★★★★★★★★★ 4.9 · 431 reviews
- 2National Park Hike & Finnish Smoke Sauna Experience with Campfire Lunch★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 182 reviews
- 3Best Of Lapland: Sauna, Ice swimming, Dinner & Northern Lights★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 158 reviews
Cloud over Lapland, and a week you have already paid for.
The aurora needs a clear sky and nobody can sell you one. So the trips that hold a Finnish week together are the ones that work in cloud: animals in daylight, a fire under a roof, and heat you can walk straight into.
Helsinki is two days, and one of them belongs on the water.
The city sits on a scatter of islands with a sea fortress at the mouth of its harbour and trams that reach most of the rest. In summer the archipelago boats run all day. In January the same harbour freezes over and the saunas fill up instead.
Every Helsinki day out →
Some of Lapland exists for four months and then melts.
Most of a Finnish week can be arranged at the hotel desk the night before. These four cannot. Two of them only exist while the ice holds, one is a size you have to give in advance, and one is December.
- 01Snow Hotel Tour and Ice Restaurant DinnerCarved out of this winter’s snow, slept in until spring, then left to melt into the ground. There is no summer version to fall back on.
- 02Korouoma Canyon and Frozen Waterfalls TourThe waterfalls are only worth the drive while they are frozen. The canyon walk runs on the ice, not on the calendar.
- 03Rent Winter Clothing SetsThe set is made up to your height, weight and shoe size before you land. It is not something you can sort out at the airport.
- 04Reindeer, Huskies & Santa Claus VillageThe village is open all year. December is not. The sleigh rides and the Santa slots are timed, and Rovaniemi fills.
By place, south to north
By kind of day, dark or light
Two days in Helsinki, then straight up the line to the Circle.
Santa Claus Village
KorouomaLately: more of Lapland, and a little of the south.
Keep going through the new ones →
Northern Lights Auroras from Kemi-Tornio with Pickup
Read our review →
Santa Claus Village, Husky and Reindeers Combo Safari
Read our review →
Archipelago Exploration at Porkkalanniemi peninsula
Read our review →
Real Northern Lights Hunting Experience (Small Group)
Read our review →
Porvoo All-Way Guided Sightseeing Tour from Helsinki
Read our review →
Authentic Reindeer Farm Experience in Rovaniemi
Read our review →
Snowmobile Tour with Small Group in Remote Wilderness 3 Hours
Read our review →
3H Private Snowmobile Experience in Rovaniemi’s Forest
Read our review →