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Planning a Trip to Rovaniemi
If you’re headed to Lapland, Finland for an arctic adventure, Rovaniemi will likely be one of the top places recommended in your Lapland search. It’s the most popular and accessible Lapland destination & home to the iconic Santa Claus Village. This guide is here to help you plan the ultimate trip to Rovaniemi.
Rovaniemi is an ideal Lapland spot for families wanting to visit Santa Claus village, or if you want to visit Lapland without a car. It’s airport is the biggest in Lapland and there are tons of tours operating from here that will pickup/dropoff at your hotel. That said, Rovaniemi is a bit more commercial/touristy than the rest of Lapland as a result of its accessibility and popularity! While it wasn’t my favorite overall, I do think it’s worth a stop depending on how much time you have, keep reading below!
In This Guide:
- Where to Stay in Rovaniemi
- Is Rovaniemi Worth It?
- Best Things to do in Rovaniemi
- Getting to Rovaniemi
- Getting Around Rovaniemi
- How Long to Spend in Rovaniemi
- Lapland Travel Map
Also check out myfull Lapland Winter Travel Guide covering all areas of Lapland & my recommedations, there are so many different areas of Lapland to explore! If you’re set on Rovaniemi this guide has all my recommendations on this area of Lapland! Personally, I preferrred other areas (like Levi & Ruka) of Lapland to Rovaniemi, and they’re all covered in my Lapland Winter guide!
Disclaimer: This article contains some links where I earn commission through booking. There is no extra cost to you, and I only recommend things I’ve used and love or places I’ve stayed and enjoyed!
Where to Stay in Rovaniemi
There are so many places to stay in Rovaniemi & this area has more of a variety of accommodations across different budgets you can explore here. My top recommendations are below. Every one was an incredible stay!
Arctic Treehouse Hotel
Luxury – .5 Miles from Rovaniemi
This hotel was a bucket list stay for me! A treehouse with a fully glass front was up there with a glass igloo on my must experience list. This is definitely a splurge, but I’d had Arctic Treehouse hotel saved on my Google maps forever! These treehouses were so stunning, and right near downtown Rovaniemi, but far enough away you felt like you were in a remote, arctic location. Best of both worlds!
I loved the decor and every detail was so perfect. I paid 760 euro for one night in late Feb (peak season) and while it was outside of my normal $150-$300/night hotel budget on trips, this was so worth it to me! Breafast was included. The hotel restaurant also served dinner and it was one of my favorite Lapland meals!
Arctic Fox Igloos – Ranua
Luxury – 1 hr from Rovaniemi
For the ultimate Glass Igloo experience I cannot recomend Arctic Fox Igloos enough! It’s about an hour from Rovaniemi, so it feels remote (which is exactly what I wanted from an igloo experience. This small town is right on a massive lake, leaving tons of open sky for Northern Lights viewing. I got SO SO lucky the one night I spent here the sky was on fire with Northern Lights the whole entire night.
These igloos are so stunning. They come with a private saua, a kitchenette with fridge, mini stove and microwave, so their perfect for a cozy dinner & night in to admire the sky. The beds are s comfy and the entire thing really is glass ceiling, so you can see everything! I paid 650 euro for one night in early March (right at the end of peak season) breakfast was included!
Santa Claus Holiday Village
Best for Kids
If you’re travelling with kids and Santa Claus village is the highlight of your trip, consider staying right in the village at the Santa Claus hotel. I wouldn’t recommend more than a night or two here, but it’s great for kids!
Best Things to do in Rovaniemi
Visit Santa Claus Village
Rovaniemi is most well-known for being home to Santa Claus, and a stop by Santa Claus Village is a must! It’s free to visit (you pay for specific activities once you’re inside. You can visit Santa and Mrs Claus, visit a husky farm, see reindeers and take a sleigh ride, visit the kids snowmobiling track & so much more. You could visit quickly (in a few hours) or spend a whole day here!
Experience Husky Sledding
A Lapland bucket list experience is to try husky sledding and learn about husky farms! You get to be a sled passenger and drive on most tours, it sounds scary but it was SO fun to drive. When booking a tour I’d keep an eye on how long the sledding portion is, some are longer than others. I did one in Levi and the sled part was short (10-15 minutes) half you were passenger and half driving. This was plenty long enough for me!
Rovaniemi has tons of husky sledding tour options, I did a combined husky sledding + reindeer farm tour and preferred doing them as one hald day tour. This would be my recommendation in Rovaniemi! It’s $257 per person (pretty typical price-wise for Lapland)
.For a longer Husky experience, consider this 10K husky sledding experience. This one may feel a bit more authentic than the shorter combined tours if you’re ok with the longer sled ride (probably closer to an hour) $270 per person
Visit the Arctic Snowhotel (& Ice Restaurant & Bar)
20 minutes from Rovaniemi is the infamous Arctic Snowhotel, this hotel is entirely made of snow and ice and is rebuilt every winter with a new theme. While you can opt to stay here, my recommendation would be to visit (you can do this for a small 17 euro fee) Inside you can tour the hotel and any room that’s not occupied (this was the majority of them) you can also visit the ice bar for a free drink.
They also have an ice restaurant with nightle dinner seatings, you need to reserve in advance! Website can be found here!
Reindeer Farm Visit
Learning about the importance of reindeer in Lapland and the history of the native Sami’s in Lapland is another bucket list winter activity. Make sure to visit a traditional reindeer farm run by the Sami. We learned all about the reindeer <> Sami relationship and their importance to one another.
You can try the combined husky + reindeer farm experience I recommended above
If you want to skip the more physical husky sledding (you need to drive) you can just visit the reindeer farm with a tour like the one below. $147 per person!
Explore Lapland via Snowmobile
To experience Lapland’s pristine landscape & get a bit of an adrenaline rush, consider a snowmobile tour! These 3 hour tours allow you to visit stunning areas not accessible by car and experience the epic beauty of Lapland and its remoteness.
Chase the Northern Lights
My recommendation is to stay somewhere not in downtown Lapland where you can easily see the Northern Lights! There are tons of options right on the outskirts of Rovaniemi where you can see the lights without ever leaving your hotel property. Northern Lights tours aren’t my favorite and I’d try to avoid if you can see them from your hotel or have your own car to explore, but they are an option if you need to!
Tips for Chasing the Northern Lights
To see the Northern Lights you need two things 1. active solar activity & 2. a clear sky. There are 2 apps that were super helpful for Northern Lights Chasing:
- Hello Aurora – this will give you a % chance of seeing the aurora, cloud covet details, aurora strength (you want low clouds, high strength!) plus more technical details. BUT the best part is others nearby can share photos of the aurora with their general location on a map! You may be able to drive only a few miles and see the lights!
- Aurora – this app is similar it will give you a chance of seeing the lights by time frame (I found this app easier to understand than Hello Aurora) but recommend having both for the others sharing photos in the Hello Aurora app!
Getting to Rovaniemi
Rovaniemi is the most accessibke area of Lapland, and tends to be homebase or the starting/ending point for many Lapland trips!
Rovaniemi Airport (RVN) is a 12 minute drive from downtown Rovaniemi and easily accessible to all accomodations in this area. This is the largest of the Lapland airports, and can be the easiest to get flights to. It’s also easy to rent a car from here or to get a taxi to your accommodation. Taxis are $$$ in Lapland!
It is also possible to take a train from Helsinki –> Rovaniemi. The overnight “Santa Claus Express” leaves Helsinki at 11PM and arrives in Rovaniemi at 11AM. This can be a cheaper option if flights are expensive, but I found flying to be cheap and went that route!
Getting Around Rovaniemi
My general recommendation in Lapland is a car gives you the most flexibility to explore, with that being said if winter driving isn’t for you, Rovaniemi is the most accessible without a car. All guided tours in Rovaniemi for the most part pick up at hotels in the general Rovaniemi area, so you can book tours with pickup/dropoff.
Taxis are readily available, but they are expensive, so consider this when thinking through getting to places not via tour, or if you plan to go to restaurants at night. Renting accommodations where you can cook in, or staying at a hotel with restaurant(s) helps. You could also stay in downtown Rovaniemi, but personally I think this takes away from the Lapland experience and I wouldn’t recommend!
How Long to Spend in Rovaniemi
1-2 Days
If you’re just stopping in Rovaniemi and want to explore Santa Claus Village one day is plenty. This is my personal recommendation, I highly recommend exploring one of the other main areas of Lapland (I preferred all of them to Rovaniemi) If you’re using Rovaniemi as your home base and want to book tours from here your stay could easily be extended to 4-6 days depending on which activities you plan to book!
Rovaniemi Itinerary
- Day 1:
- Morning: Visit the Arctic Snowhotel & grab a drink at the Ice bar
- Afernoon: check into the Arctic Treehouse Hotel & enjoy the grounds (sledding, ice skating, etc)
- Dinner at Arctic Treehouse Hotel
- Day 2:
- Morning: Visit Santa Claus Village
- Afternoon: Drive to Ranua & stay at the Arctic Fox Igloos
For tours like husky sledding and reindeer adventures I highly recommend doing this in Levi vs Rovaniemi, but if you plan to stay in Rovaniemi your whole time skip driving to Ranua and book your activities on days 3, 4, 5 etc.
Is Rovaniemi Worth It?
While Rovniemi wasn’t my favorite Lapland spot, I think it’s worth spending a day ot two there, with the highlights being the Arctic Snowhotel & Santa Claus Village. Also, it was worth it for spending a night at the Arctic Treehouse hotel on it’s own! Still dream about that stay. I would not spend my whole trip in Rovaniemi if it were up to me!
Lapland Finland Travel Map
Planning a Lapland Winter Adventure?
Check out all of my Lapland Finland guides anhd recommendations below
- Lapland Winter Itinerary
- Guide to Skiing in Finnish Lapland
- Ultimate Lapland Travel Guide
- Levi Travel Guide – Lapland’s cutest ski town + ultimate homebase for arctic excursions
- Ruka Travel Guide – gateway to Lapland’s dreamiest national parks + skiing
- Saariselkä Travel Guide – quiet, remote boutique stays + Northern Lights haven in Lapland’s most remote area
