Rovaniemi Travel Guide: Things to Do, Where to Stay and Northern Lights Tips
Rovaniemi Travel Guide: Things to Do, Where to Stay and Lapland Tips
Rovaniemi Travel Guide: Why Go?
We’ve been travelling together for 10 years and have visited more than 60 countries. Still, one place made us more curious than any other: Rovaniemi! Even more so because we wanted to go with our one-year-old son. Now we can happily say we’re so glad we went. So, let’s start our Rovaniemi travel guide!
Rovaniemi is in Finnish Lapland, just above the Arctic Circle. It offers a unique experience all year round. The Northern Lights and winter sports are must-sees. So is Santa Claus Village, Santa’s official home. Let’s discover Rovaniemi together!
How to Get to Rovaniemi
Many travellers fly via Helsinki or Oslo, which is often the cheapest option. From Istanbul, Turkish Airlines also flies direct to Rovaniemi, if the price works for you.
- Getting to Helsinki: Helsinki has direct flights from across Europe. From Istanbul Airport and Sabiha Gökçen, you can fly with Turkish Airlines or Finnair.
- Helsinki to Rovaniemi by plane: There are several daily domestic flights on this route. You can find very affordable tickets with Finnair and Norwegian. If Helsinki is on your itinerary, check out our Helsinki Accommodation Guide before booking. We’ve listed all our budget-friendly picks there.
- By train: You can also take the train from Helsinki to Rovaniemi. Finland’s rail company VR runs an overnight sleeper train on this route. We’d definitely have tried it if we weren’t travelling with a little one! It’s especially popular in Northern Lights season. If you have the time and no small kids, give it a go 🙂 You can find the details here. Just don’t expect the Orient Express! 🙂
Car Rental in Rovaniemi
Our first Rovaniemi travel guide tip: rent a car. Once you land in Rovaniemi, we think renting a car makes everything much easier. First, it’s freezing, so you won’t want to wait around for public transport. Second, public transport probably won’t reach everywhere you want to go. Third, if you stay in an igloo outside the centre, you’ll likely need a car. We picked ours up right at the airport.
Rovaniemi Airport has desks for big rental companies like Avis, Hertz, Europcar and Sixt. We made the mistake of renting from a local company and really regretted it. We waited two whole hours for someone to show up, losing precious time. Book one of the well-known companies through Rentalcars.com instead. We don’t recommend Addcar, the company we used. We paid €200 in total for four days, and the big names cost about the same.
On this trip, we used the Airalo eSIM app for mobile data abroad. It was much cheaper than local operators’ data and call packages. You can choose a package based on the length of your trip. To check out Airalo and its prices, click here.
Where to Stay in Rovaniemi: Igloos and Hotels We Recommend
When we travel to cities, accommodation isn’t usually a big deal for us. A clean, affordable place in the centre is enough. In Rovaniemi, though, where you stay is part of the Lapland experience. So we looked at every option and stayed in three different places in four days! We’re so glad we did, because each one was amazing. If you can, stay in an igloo for at least one night. Yes, some are very pricey, but there are more affordable options too. That’s why this part of our Rovaniemi travel guide is the longest!
Here are our recommendations, in order:
1. Apukka Resort
The moment we saw the photos, we knew we wanted to stay here! It’s a fantastic igloo resort by a lake, 20 minutes from the centre of Rovaniemi. It has its own sauna, restaurants, sledding, tours and amazing igloos. We stayed for our first two nights, and it was fantastic in every way.
We booked our snowmobile tour through Apukka’s own tours, and we even saw the Northern Lights from here. If we could recommend just one place to stay, it would be this one. Here’s the link: Apukka Resort.
If it’s fully booked or you’d like an alternative, check out Glass Resort.
2. Arctic TreeHouse Hotel
We stayed here for one night, and we’re writing this happy to have ticked another item off our bucket list. Some of the most beautiful treehouses in Lapland are right here.
Don’t let the name fool you: these “treehouses” have panoramic windows facing the forest. Watching the Northern Lights from here was incredible. There’s also a lovely restaurant. It’s the most expensive place on our list. But if you’re coming once and want a one-night experience, it’s really worth it. Here’s the link: Arctic TreeHouse Hotel.
3. Santa Claus Holiday Village
These cottages in Santa Claus Village are a great option, especially for families with kids. Each one has a sauna, a kitchen and a cosy living area. You’re right in the heart of the village, so all the activities are close by. When we checked, they were fully booked. Here’s the link: Santa Claus Holiday Village.
Cottages cost €150–200 a night. They’re among the most central and affordable places to stay in Rovaniemi.
4. Scandic Rovaniemi City
Now for some budget-friendly options. This hotel is in the centre of Rovaniemi, close to everything, and it’s comfortable. With spacious rooms and fair prices, it’s a smart choice for families. A night costs €140–160, which is quite affordable for Rovaniemi.
Here’s the link: Scandic Rovaniemi City
5. Arctic Light Hotel
Another budget-friendly pick is the Arctic Light Hotel, right in the city centre. It costs around €150 a night. It’s a great choice if you want to stay close to everything.
If it’s full, check out Arctic City Hotel too.
You can browse all the other hotels in the centre here: Rovaniemi hotels.
6. Lomavekarit Apartments
Want something a bit further from the centre, at a good price, where you can watch the Northern Lights from the garden? We can recommend this place. Our one night here came with an amazing view! The frozen lake and the Northern Lights were visible right from the balcony. And we paid only around €150 a night.
Here’s the link: Lomavekarit Apartments
Now, let’s talk about things to do in Rovaniemi!
Things to Do in Rovaniemi
1. Northern Lights Hunt (Aurora Borealis)
We’re guessing the main reason you’re heading to Rovaniemi is the Northern Lights. We stayed four nights and saw them on three, but let’s be clear: it’s all down to luck. You can see them between September and April. Whether they show up on a given night depends on solar activity, clear skies and, above all, luck! Any honest Rovaniemi travel guide will tell you the same. Here are a few ways to watch them:
- If you’ve rented a car, drive away from the centre. Wait deep in the forest or by a frozen lake, where there’s little light pollution. The lake right next to Apukka Resort, where we first stayed in an igloo, was perfect for this. Lake Kemi is another popular spot.
- No car? Join an evening Northern Lights tour. Some tours take you out again the next night if you don’t see the lights. The key is to find a good tour, so pick one with high ratings on sites like GetYourGuide.
- The third option is to stay in an igloo outside the centre and wait for the lights. This was our favourite, and our only option with a one-year-old 🙂 We’re so glad we did it, because it was a fantastic experience! We cover our stays in detail above.
You can also track your chances with an aurora forecast app 🙂
2. Santa Claus Village
Santa Claus Village is known as Santa’s official home. We’ll admit it: before going, we expected one of the most magical places we’d ever seen. We pictured ourselves amazed, snapping hundreds of photos, with our son meeting Santa… 🙂
In reality, we found the village quite touristy. Sadly, the reindeer used for rides weren’t in great shape either. So we spent half a day there and went back to our igloo. Our takeaway: the real magic of Lapland is its nature! The city centre and Santa Claus Village were just okay. Then again, it might feel different during the Christmas market season.
The best things we did there were sending ourselves a postcard (it arrived exactly a year later!) and posing on the Arctic Circle line 🙂
While you’re there, stop for a meal at Restaurant Kotahovi or try the salmon soup at Santa’s Salmon Place.
If your kids are 3 or older, check out Snowman World in the village or the Santa Park amusement park. We’d have added them to our list if our son were older.
3. Husky Safari or Reindeer Tour
In this Rovaniemi travel guide, we’ll be honest about one thing. We have nothing against those who do them, but we don’t recommend husky or reindeer sled tours, even in Rovaniemi :/ Yes, a husky sled through snowy forests is a true Arctic experience. But the animals on the tours we saw didn’t seem to be in good condition. It’s also become very touristy and lost some of its magic. If you still want to try it, you’ll find plenty of tours, especially around Santa Claus Village. Safaris range from short rides to trips of several hours.
4. Snowmobile Tours
Now for what we’d recommend a thousand times over a husky safari! If you want a bit more adrenaline, like us, snowmobile tours are perfect. At tour time, you get special gear and a quick lesson on driving the snowmobile. Then you follow the guide into Rovaniemi’s snowy forests. These tours go deep into the forest or across frozen lakes. Think of a snowmobile as a motorbike for snow. We loved it! We were a bit nervous at first, but once we got the hang of it, we had so much fun!
You can book snowmobile tours on a reliable site like GetYourGuide. If you’re staying in an igloo resort, you can also book through the resort.
5. Arktikum Museum
Arktikum is a wonderful museum about Lapland’s nature, history and culture. Add it to your list if you’d like to learn about Arctic life and local traditions. Its long glass-roofed hall is also a special spot for watching the Northern Lights.
6. Ice Hotel
This was one of our favourite places in Rovaniemi! It’s a hotel built entirely of ice and snow. It’s only open in winter and is rebuilt every year, then melts away around April. Each snow room has a different theme, and you can visit even if you’re not staying.
Here’s the hotel’s website. If you just want to visit, like we did, entry is around €30 per person. There’s a bar and restaurant inside, and you can tour the rooms. To stay overnight, choose between the hotel’s igloos and ice rooms. Brrr! As you can guess, we skipped that with our one-year-old 🙂 Even just visiting was great fun, and we definitely recommend it. No car? They also offer tours with transfers.
7. Icebreaker Cruise
This tour is the one thing we sadly had to skip because we were travelling with a baby! It’s a Lapland classic. You spend a full day on an icebreaker on the frozen sea. Then you float in the icy water in special survival suits. It sounds like an amazing experience. If you go, let us know how it was! 🙂
8. Finnish Sauna
Finns love jumping from a hot sauna into ice-cold water! 🙂 That’s why almost every place to stay has a sauna. You can book a sauna at your resort or hotel, or even rent a lakeside sauna and jump into the freezing water. Did we do it? Of course! Apukka, our first igloo, had a fantastic sauna for this.
That’s how we spent most of our four days in Rovaniemi. All our igloo resorts also had sleds, and our son loved them! It’s a really fun trip for kids, too. If you take one thing from this Rovaniemi travel guide, let it be this: plan your days around nature.
For tours and activities in Rovaniemi, here’s our GetYourGuide link. Whenever we plan activities in a new city, we use GetYourGuide. Seeing the ratings and reviews helps a lot, and we’ve always been happy with what we chose. Prices are good value, too.
Where to Eat in Rovaniemi and Traditional Dishes
1. Restaurant Nili
No Rovaniemi travel guide is complete without the food! Restaurant Nili is one of the best places to try traditional Lapland food. The menu features local specialities like reindeer, salmon and berries. Prices are a bit high, but it’s the right place if you want to try them.
2. Roka Kitchen & Wine Bar
Here, traditional dishes get a modern twist. You’ll find creative plates inspired by Sámi cuisine. The salmon and reindeer dishes are especially good.
We’ve already mentioned our two favourites in Santa Claus Village, Restaurant Kotahovi and Santa’s Salmon Place.
Traditional Lapland Dishes to Try
- Poronkäristys: A Lapland classic of thinly sliced sautéed reindeer, served with mashed potatoes and lingonberry sauce.
- Lohikeitto: A creamy salmon soup loved by locals and visitors alike.
- Karjalanpiirakka: Karelian pies, with a thin rye crust filled with rice porridge. A Finnish favourite!
Rovaniemi was a wonderful experience for us, and we hope this Rovaniemi travel guide helps you plan yours. So wonderful, in fact, that we went to Tromsø the next year! Here’s our Tromsø travel guide 🙂
Want to complete the trilogy? Read our Kiruna travel guide here! 🙂
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