Ever dreamed of visiting Santa at his home in the Arctic Circle? We travelled to Rovaniemi hoping to do just that
**We were lucky enough to have been gifted free or reduced price tickets for some of the attractions mentioned below in this article, in exchange for promotion through our social media channels. All opinions expressed remain our own.
Introduction
We decided to go on a winter family holiday with a difference this year, to Lapland, famously the home of Santa Claus. Would it live up to expectations…?
To give a flavour of our time there, as well as helping with some ideas for the best places to go, we have produced this 7 day winter itinerary for visiting Lapland with kids.
Where is Lapland?
Lapland is located in Finland, being the country’s northernmost region. Much of the region is so far north that it is inside the Arctic Circle.
How cold is it in Lapland?
If visiting in winter, Lapland can be very cold. Temperatures of -20°C are pretty common, with it sometimes dipping to colder than -35°C! Be sure to bring plenty of warm clothes and be properly equipped for such low temperatures, especially if visiting with kids. It is honestly tough being outside for longer than about half an hour when it is so cold.
What is there to do in Lapland?
Famed as being the home of Santa Claus, or Father Christmas, much of Lapland tourism centres around this jolly old fellow. Expect a lot of Santa themed places and experiences to visit.
Away from all things Santa, the area is home to vast areas of beautiful and unspoilt woodland wilderness. In winter times, as well having endless snow to enjoy on the ground, the long hours of darkness bring a chance of viewing the spectacle of the Aurora Borealis, or Northern Lights, in the night sky.
Winter activities include reindeer and husky dog sled rides, snowmobiling, skiing, sledging and ice fishing. Not forgetting of course Finland’s all-time favourite activity, the sauna.
In summer, eternal sunshine bathes the region and its local festivities, providing an alternative and no less peculiar experience. Woodland walks, fishing and mountain biking can all be enjoyed in the great outdoors during summer.
What Time of Year Should I Visit Lapland?
Lapland can be visited at any time of year, with the different seasons bringing different attractions. That said, even though the Santa Claus Village remains open all year round, most of the Santa-based tourism focuses on the winter months, with many attractions closing outside of this time.
If visiting in winter, December and the run up to Christmas is the busiest time, peaking during the school holiday weeks. We opted to visit in January. All the attractions were still open and the crowds were much smaller. I think it was a good time to visit and I’d recommend anyone else to do the same. It was nice for my kids to be able to see Santa after Christmas and say ‘Thankyou’ for their presents. In my opinion, this was just as special for them as seeing him in the buildup to Christmas and far outweighed for us the prospect of fighting the December crowds.
How long do I need in Lapland?
If you are just wanting to visit Santa (with or without kids!) and experience the region’s coldness and wild charms, a few days should be enough.
If, like we were, you are wanting to see a bit more of all that the region has to offer, a stay of around a week provides enough time to experience more variety.
Obviously, if time is no object, a stay of longer provides even more opportunity to relax and enjoy your surroundings, or spend longer on other winter activities, such as skiing. Also, if desperate to see the Northern Lights, don’t expect to just turn up and see them. Their appearance is actually quite rare, especially for big displays. The longer you can stay in the area, the more likely you will be to be lucky enough to see them.
Getting To and Around Lapland
Lapland can be reached by direct flights from various European destinations. The airport to fly into is Rovaniemi.
However, being only a small airport, flights into Rovaniemi are quite limited and often expensive. There are many more flight options into Finland’s capital city, Helsinki. From Helsinki it is possible to then take an overnight (and very comfortable) sleeper train up to Rovaniemi. This train ride actually only adds to the excitement for little ones making their way up to visit Santa.
Once in Rovaniemi, there are various public buses that run between the different attractions. The timetables are sometimes a bit difficult to locate and are not always that reliable. The buses are warm and easy enough to use once onboard though. There is also a large fleet of local taxis, including many minivan taxis that can take up to 6 passengers (which was very useful for us having 4 kids with us). Taxi fares are expensive, so expect to budget that into your stay.
While you obviously can walk around Rovaniemi town, you should not underestimate how quickly you can get cold when outside (especially small children). Even a 20 minute walk can leave you frozen, so we found that we quickly opted for taking taxis over walking.
Where to Stay in Lapland
Lapland, being a big region, obviously has many different places and styles of accommodation to stay in. Most tourism centres around the city of Rovaniemi, the region’s capital. This is therefore a good starting point when looking for local accommodation. As well as many hotels and guesthouses, the city also has woodland cabins that can be rented, in various locations just outside of the city. These provide a beautiful and peaceful escape. We opted to stay in such a cabin during our stay.
The major tourist attractions, including the Santa Claus Village, also offer a range of on-site accommodation for anyone wanting the convenience of staying right in the heart of the Santa action.
Elsewhere in Lapland, there are peaceful wooden chalet retreats all over. It just depends on how remote and isolated you want to be during your stay.
For a truly unique experience, consider a stay in the Arctic SnowHotel, sleeping either in a frozen room sculpted from snow and ice, or in one of their glass igloos with uninterrupted night sky viewing.
Magical 7 day Winter Itinerary for Lapland
Day #1 – Helsinki
If, like us, your journey into Finland takes you first to the capital city, Helsinki, there is plenty to explore there. The grand old buildings and open parkland of the old city and harbourfront provide pleasant spaces to wander around.
Try some local Finnish delicacies to eat at the beautiful and historic Vanha kauppahalli fresh food market hall. Reindeer and salmon meals feature heavily.
For an elevated view of the city, take a ride on the SkyWheel Helsinki. If booked in advance, it is even possible to ride the big wheel in a sauna carriage!
If staying in the city, there are many hotels and appartments for rent around the city centre. We stayed in an appartment with its own balcony and sauna, conveniently located close to the central train station.
If, however, you are heading straight off for Lapland, overnight trains run from Helsinki up to Rovaniemi and beyond (badged as the ‘Santa Claus Express‘, which is a nice touch). Private, 2 berth cabins can be reserved for the trip, complete with comfortable bunk beds to sleep in. Having small children, we squeezed 6 of us into 2 cabins. It is also possible to reserve cabins next to each other that have an interconnecting internal door. The journey takes around 12 hours to complete.
Day #2 – Santa Park, Rovaniemi
When first in Rovaniemi and Lapland, you’ll probably immediately notice how cold it is. If you thought Helsinki was cold, Lapland definitely takes it up (or down?) a notch. Because of this, a nice activity to start off with (or to save for any other day with a particularly bad weather outlook), is the Santa Park experience. This is because, being based in a giant underground bunker, the experience is completely indoors and heated throughout.
On entering the Santa Park, visitors can leave coats and bags at the cloakroom before descending an illuminted tunnel down into the experience. Once inside, the bunker has been designed with various attractions surrounding a central stage and cafe area.
It is possible to send a postcard from Santa’s post office, decorate gingerbread cookies, attend elf school, or take a ride on a modern VR machine. Add to this an acrobatic stage show and a chance to meet the main man Santa Claus himself, and you can be sure of a fun day out. The only downside is that some of the activities inside require additional payment on top of the entry fee to enter the attraction.
For somewhere to stay, look to reserve yourself a beautiful woodland cabin somewhere outside of Rovaniemi town. You can then cosy up in front of a fire while the kids play on sledges outside. We enjoyed our stay at the rustic but modernised Kieppi Chalet, managed by NortsaV Tours.
Day #3 – Santa Claus Village, Rovaniemi
At the epicentre of all Santa-based tourism in Lapland is the Santa Claus Village (or Joulupukin Pajakylä to give it its local name), which is located a short drive outside of Rovaniemi. While it inevitably feels a little bit ‘Disneyland in the snow’, it manages to retain a certain charm about the place, despite the waves of package tourists flocking for their chance to meet Santa. While obviously most activities in the village come at a cost, the chance to meet Santa is completely free. You only have to pay for the photos if you want to keep them.
Besides offering a chance to meet Santa, there are a range of other winter themed activities to do in the Santa Village. These can mostly just be paid for on arrival at the park, but it is advisable to pre-book the more popular activities during peak times. There is too much to do in the Santa Village in just one day, so I have allowed it 2 days in this itinerary.
The freezing cold temperatures mean that you shouldn’t be planning to do too many different outdoor activities in 1 day, or else you’ll find you pretty quickly stop enjoying them as you just get too cold. This is especially true of small children.
On our 1st day in the Santa Claus Village, we posed for the necessary arctic circle photos, then visited Mrs Claus, before taking a magical, twilight reindeer sleigh ride through the surrounding woodland.
We also ate some amazing food at the Santamus restaurant, which comes highly recommended.
While it is possible to stay right in the Santa Claus Village, after spending some time there, we happily returned for another night at our woodland cabin.
Day #4 – Santa Claus Village, Rovaniemi
As said previously, there is a lot to see and do at the Santa Claus Village, so I have given it 2 days of my Lapland itinerary.
For Day 2, we started by visiting the Husky dogs at the Arctic Circle Husky Park for cuddles before taking a fast-paced (and chilly!) dog-sled ride through the woods. We then retreated indoors for a visit to see the main man, Santa Claus himself.
We finished our day with a visit to the fun Snowman World. Sculpted out of snow and ice and run by the same team behind the famous Arctic SnowHotel (more on that later), Snowman World has snow and ice slides, a snow maze, ice skating rink and ice bar. The ice bar features family discos on Wednesday and Friday evenings.
Other activities that we couldn’t do with very small children in the Santa Claus Vllage (but looked fun) included snowmobile tours and snow go-karts.
That night we spent our last night at our woodland cabin outside of Rovaniemi.
Day #5 – Ranua Resort and Zoo, Ranua
Having spent several days in and around Rovaniemi doing all things Santa Claus, we were ready to explore a bit more of the local area.
Located an approximately 1 hour drive from Rovaniemi is the town and resort of Ranua. Ranua Resort is the region’s premier zoo and wildlife park, housing many rare arctic species that are adapted to living in this harsh environment, including a polar bear.
As well as offering the chance to see some of these animals up close, the resort area is also located in a beautiful and wild area of woodland. It makes a magical, winter environment to explore. For those wanting something more adrenalin-fuelled, snowmobile tours can be arranged.
The Ranua Resort also has a selection of modern, wooden chalets for rent, each themed on a different animal from the zoo. We very much enjoyed our stay in the wolf chalet, complete with private sauna and log burning stove to keep the cabin lovely and cosy.
For more information about the zoo, also see our review of staying at Ranua Resort with kids.
Day #6 – Arctic SnowHotel, Sinettä
For anyone looking to experience something a little different during their lapland stay, a visit to the excellent Arctic SnowHotel in Sinettä is a must. The hotel can be reached in an approximately 30 minute drive from Rovaniemi. We’ve all seen ice bars before, but this takes the concept to another level with an entire hotel constructed entirely out of compressed snow and ice.
Every room in the hotel is uniquely constructed and decorated by a team of artists each year to carve and create a whole building that stands as a work of art.
It is possible to just visit the hotel and explore its various rooms and suites on a tour from Rovaniemi. This can also include a sauna experience or dinner in the ice restaurant. Actually staying in the hotel raises the experience to another level though. Despite the bedrooms being a chilly -5°C, extra cosy sleeping bags are provided to keep everyone warm.
For anyone wanting to escape the cold, the hotel also has heated restaurant and bar areas in buildings outside of the main hotel building. There are also heated glass igloos available for sleeping in, that offer uninterrupted views of the night sky.
We were lucky enough to experience a night actually inside the Arctic SnowHotel. We had an amazing room themed around Rock & Roll music and all slept surprisingly well, even my 3 year old!
If you’re interested in reading more about our stay, be sure to also check out our review of staying in the Arctic SnowHotel with kids.
Day #7 – Rovaniemi
After the excitement of a night in the Arctic SnowHotel, we returned to Rovaniemi while we waited for our overnight train back to Helsinki to depart that evening.
If spending another day in Rovaniemi, you may feel you wish to spend more time back in the Santa Claus Village if you don’t feel you’ve been able to do all of the activities you wanted to do there.
Alternatively, there is also the option of visiting the SnowGlow Winterpark in the centre of Rovaniemi. With snow slides and ice skating, as well as an evening light show, it provides another option for family entertainment conveniently located right in the centre of town.
We then took the overnight ‘Santa Claus Express’ train back to Helsinki.
Of course, having not been lucky enough to have seen any Northern Lights at all during our stay in Lapland, that night there was a beautiful display of the Aurora Borealis that we missed by 1 day because we were already on our train back. I guess you can’t have everything – we’ll just have to return!
In Summary
Lapland is a beautiful and largely unspoilt region of Finland. It is hard to appreciate the scale of the seemingly endless snow and pine forest wilderness without being there yourself. While the extreme cold temperatures do make it challenging to visit, especially with small children (think putting gloves back on 10 times a day!), it makes the area no less wonderful. In fact in kind of adds to the magic of the experience.
The woodland activities also help to make the area so special to visit. Zooming along through the woods on a husky dog sled will stay with us all forever.
Although some of the Santa experiences can feel a little commercialised at times, you also just cannot underestimate the sheer delight in a small child’s face when they finally get to meet the ‘real’ Santa.
As a family trip away it was different from many people’s traditional idea of a holiday in a warm and sunny location, but we all had a great time nonetheless. While Finland may also not be the cheapest country to visit, the people are very welcoming and the whole experience was definitely worth it.
In terms of making lasting memories, I don’t think there is a better trip out there than a visit to Lapland.
Staying at the arctic snow hotel sounds like an amazing experience for the kids.
Thank you so much for this guide, especially the tip about the snow hotel!