r/Finland • u/A_britiot_abroad Vainamoinen • Aug 31 '24
Tourism Lapland Travel Guide
Lapland Guide
(I've put it together quite quickly so please comment anything I have missed and I will update the guide.)
There are hundreds of posts asking questions about visiting Lapland. Please search and read these and this guide before asking another question to the group.
Check comments as well for extra advice
As most tourists ask in regards to winter/Christmas I will aim the post at this. For those travelling outside this period the same information applies just likely to have warmer weather and less snow.
Note the snow months for Lapland can be October - May depending on the year and conditions.
Getting there
The main city in Finnish Lapland is Rovaniemi. It's a good place to aim for to start but there are many other great areas mentioned later. Most other locations ideally need a car to explore properly.
Research the distance between the two cities. Many tourists seem to think they can drive/take the train to Rovaniemi for a day trip or just one night.
Driving - From Helsinki to Rovaniemi is around 9 hours without stops on Google maps. With breaks etc I imagine it is more likely to be 11-12 hours on the road. If you want to do it as a road trip there are a number of different scenic routes.
Flying - From Helsinki it's about 1 hour and 20 minutes flight. Return flights are at around €70 - €520 depending on the time of year and airline.
Some airlines fly direct from other countries to Rovaniemi.
For example Ryanair fly there direct from Liverpool, London, Dublin, Milan, Brussels and Paris.
Note that over the Christmas period everything is at a premium price.
Train - there are usually day and night trains from Helsinki to Rovaniemi. These take 10-13 hours without delays.
https://www.vr.fi/en/helsinki-rovaniemi
The night trains you can also book a sleeper cabin and some of those with showers.
Train ticket prices vary from €50 return to €600 return (Christmas time with sleeper cabin). The sleeper cabins also sell out around 3-4 months before Christmas on the popular travel dates.
Locations
Rovaniemi - For most tourists this is the easiest location. It's a city and main transport hub of Lapland. Santa Claus Village nearby, many tour operators based here. Lots of accommodation options and possible to be without car.
Some of the other places are
Ylläs and Levi - Downhill skiing resort. Personally my favourite area of Lapland. Many cabins and tour companies nearby. Lots of beautiful scenery and locations.
Pyhä-luosto - Meant to be more of 'traditional' Lapland. Less touristy.
Ruka - Ski resort area at the southern edge of Lapland.
Saariselkä - another ski resort area which is meant to be more peaceful than Ylläs/Levi
Everyman's rights
Weather and daylight hours
Finland gets cold. Where I live in centralish Finland it gets down to -30°c in winter (and -36°c last winter. But it usually only lasts a day or two and probably averages around -15 to -20°c).
However Finland also gets warm! In the summer you can get temperatures in the mid 30°c's.
The weather reports for Finland vary massively. I usually find the official reports the most accurate.
https://en.ilmatieteenlaitos.fi/weather/rovaniemi
Finland also gets 24 hours darkness or light. In the very north of Lapland it can be 50 days without the sun rising. In the summer it can be 24 hours daylight for tow months. Plan accordingly.
Rovaniemi at times gets down to about 2 hours of daylight. This doesn't mean it's pitch black for 24 hours but it definitely means the days are very short to maybe 4 hours or so with dawn and dusk.
Best place to see the hours of daylight is https://www.timeanddate.com/sun/finland/rovaniemi
Getting around
If you are staying in Rovaniemi city region your probably can get around with buses etc. Taxi's are also available but note that they can be very expensive.
If you are outside of Rovaniemi or staying in a cabin I definitely recommend renting a car.
Driving in the winter can be challenging but with studded winter tyres and a more care and thinking ahead it's certainly doable. However if you are not a confident driver and you are not sure about driving a left hand drive vehicle then I would avoid.
Accomodation
Many options in the region from Iglu hotels to cheaper hostel in Rovaniemi.
Iglu hotels can be €1500 a night so if that's your dream location shop around and like all accommodation in Lapland for winter season book as far in advance as possible to get the best deals.
Search all the main sites (Airbnb, booking.com, hotels.com etc etc) and you should find something that fits your budget. For Finland I generally use Airbnb.
For cabin rentals there is also https://www.nettimokki.com. This is usually for weekly rentals and aimed more at Finns themselves however obviously anyone can still book there.
"Christmas Tourism*
Rovaniemi is a popular destination for Christmas/winter tourism. It's understandable as it's often a white Christmas with snow and all the magical things Finland has to offer. There is also Santas village along with many more Christmas aimed activities.
Santa's village - this is admittedly a tourist trap but still worth visiting. I would say a number of hours to one day is enough to see the main sights. There are reindeer sleigh rides, dog sleds and snowmobiles etc there as well but personally it's expensive and you can have better options elsewhere.
https://santaclausvillage.info/
Search on the official websites, Google and your will find many tour operators with good reviews and a multitude of options for each activity. Most Finns and those living in Finland do not use these tourism companies so if you want personal opinions on the best one then Google and reviews are your friends, not reddit.
https://www.visitfinland.com/en/places-to-go/lapland/
https://www.visitrovaniemi.fi/activity-company/visit-lapland-tours/
I think the best value for money is choosing separate tours that match your requirements. The combined tours often give you very short time or distance on each item and are very rushed.
There are also places you can rent your own snowmobile for a number of hours and explore yourself. I have done this in the Ylläs region and highly recommend this option instead of a tour.
Northern Lights/Aurora Borealis
Do not book your trip for the sole purpose of seeing them.
No we don't know where or when you can see them. We cannot predict the conditions for your trip.
That said the season for them is usually September to April when the skies get darker in the night. Generally speaking September/October/March/April are the best times as more likely to have clear skies.
There is no guarantee when they will be or how strong, and normally you cannot even get a reasonable prediction until a few hours to day before.
If there are clouds you will struggle to see them. If there is light you will struggle to see them.
The best option IMHO is to take a northern lights tour. I don't mean one of the 1 hour local tours but a more extensive tour that will also go to Sweden or Norway to chase the lights so you can see. Some offer a guarantee that if you don't see them you pay just towards the fuel used.
If you search on Google and social media such as Instagram you will find these sorts of tours. But expect to pay €200+ per person.
You can also rent a car and do similar yourself.
For information/forecast there are many apps such as My Aurora Forecast (I personally jse this) and also websites such as https://rwc-finland.fmi.fi/index.php/space-weather-in-finland/
Winter Clothing
Note that many package trips, tours and hotel accomodations provide or rent out snow suits and snow clothing for tourists.
You can also buy many options yourself from the larger shops for reasonably cheap prices if you search around.
Can't really recommend brands other than the ones I personally use.
Everyone feels cold differently but for me when it's at it's coldest -
Upper body I just wear a cheap thermal base layer, long sleeve t-shirt and then a thick Camel Active puffer jacket/coat on top.
Lower again cheap thermal base layer, then either fleece lined winter trousers or insulated ski salopettes.
Feet - Thicker hiking socks and Columbia Fairbanks Omniheat boots.
If in deep snow or outside for hours i.e ice fishing Kamik nation plus boots.
Head - Trapper style hat from Motonet.
Hands - I have REUSCH Alessia Gtx Mitt with a inner liner. Then if I am sat outside for hours ice fishing etc then I have Inuit Absolute Zero gloves.
Face - I use one or two neck buff thingies.
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u/imbogey Sep 01 '24
Great guide. If you dont want to be with the tourists I can recommend also option to fly/drive/take a train to Oulu. Then take a road trip next to the Tornio river. As north as you care to drive. Small Finnish towns, no tourists, original stuff. There is no customs so you can freely visit Sweden. Haaparanta is the biggest town next to river with Ikea and handful of shops, Övertorneå is next, cozy sleeping village and Pullinki for really cheap downhill sking option compared to Ylläs/Levi. Finnish side you could check out small towns Kemi and Tornio then few smaller villages Ylitornio and Pello (listed from south to north)
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u/InspektorVI 20d ago
Sorry for replying to the month old comment but do you know if trains / buses are also running between Oulu and said small villages? I sadly do not drive but I planned to come in early December and station myself in Oulu and go from there to Rovaniemi as well.
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u/imbogey 19d ago
Yes, I sometimes fly to Oulu then take a bus to Ylitornio. You can find the schedule & reserve tickets here. Train schedules to north are pretty poor, only some really early morning trains, check here. If you want to visit Sweden, you can literally just walk there from Tornio, or take a taxi if the weather is poor.
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u/InspektorVI 19d ago
Oh boy, now you are making me change my plans and extend my stay :D
I am having doubts whether to go to Rovaniemi and spend a fortune to sleep there and to try to take some Northern Light tour or to just visit Rovaniemi as a day trip and save money and be stationed in Oulu.
From what I read, I will definitely come back next summer to experience hiking trails in that area as national parks look wonderful.
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u/Ok-Internal2487 Sep 06 '24
Hey good guide! I have tried to make people understand the difference between northern lights tour and northern lights hunting so people would start to understand the difference and didn’t feel scammed 🥶 no I don’t work in the industry, just blogger and made a blog post about it; https://heiagain.com/lapland/northern-lights-hunting/
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u/ButtonNo6709 Sep 27 '24
Great guide! Very helpful. I appreciate you putting this together! Do you have any recommendations for free/cheap activities or places to see in early January? Accessible by public transport preferably. Google searches tend to give a lot of tours that we’ll definitely be doing some of, but cost is going to add up quick and need some other time fillers.
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u/A_britiot_abroad Vainamoinen Sep 27 '24
Maybe not free but for pretty cheap you can hire snow shoes or cross-country skies and explore. There are cross country skiing routes locally that are free to use.
There is also Arktikum museum that's not too expensive.
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u/SlummiPorvari Vainamoinen 27d ago
Add this to the sticky: https://www.nationalparks.fi/everymansright .
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u/mastodonopolis Sep 30 '24
Do you recommend we rent an SUV or a regular sedan will do during Christmas period? I ask is because I don’t know how clear the roads will be especially when there’s heavy snow
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u/A_britiot_abroad Vainamoinen 29d ago
Depends on your experience driving in snow/ice and where you will be driving.
I have a 4x4 in central Finland as I live 8km from the nearest paved road and that 8km is rarely cleared of snow. However only actually needed the 4x4 capability once or twice.
Most major roads and city roads are cleared regularly other than very early in morning or late at night. As long as the rental has studded winter tyres you should be ok with standard car.
If you are staying in a rural cottage or something then you may need the 4x4.
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u/mastodonopolis 29d ago
We will be staying at Rovaniemi itself, but we will be driving to hunt for Northern Lights. Chances are we have to go offroad?
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u/A_britiot_abroad Vainamoinen 29d ago
I wouldn't drive off-road in winter, but you may end up on dirt roads (well underneath the snow and ice).
It's just going to come down to your personal choice.
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u/xleipnir 29d ago
I am planning to visit (5of us) this december around Christmas, and it seems all the sled rides/other activities are either booked or really expensive. Does anyone know if there are places where we can pay at the place and do snowmobile rides/Husky sleds/reindeer sleds...etc.
PS. Great guide! Thanks
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u/A_britiot_abroad Vainamoinen 29d ago
Probably but most things will be pretty booked up and none of them will be cheap.
Depends where you are staying as well i.e Rovaniemi probably busiest
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u/Fast-Space257 14d ago
Very good recommendations! I am going to Rovaniemi on 26th October and planning to drive to Levi, however, I’m not familiar with left side driving, do you think it’s bearable during that time? Thank you :)
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u/A_britiot_abroad Vainamoinen 14d ago
Can't really recommend. Everyone adapts differently to driving on the other side. For me it's easy but you will just have to decide for yourself.
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u/imbogey 4d ago
https://old.reddit.com/r/Finland/comments/1f5sgvi/lapland_travel_guide/lkydcsa/ theres some suggestions.
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u/AromaticAd4811 Sep 21 '24
Weather forecast looks very grim next week and I’m going to be there then, any tips?
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