Rovaniemi, Finland

The first trip we took after moving to Europe was to Finland to try to see the Northern Lights. While we didn’t get lucky in seeing the lights, we fell in love with this beautiful place!

Where we stayed

I did a lot of research for where to stay in Rovaniemi. I wanted to stay in one of those awesome Northern lights cabins you see online, but it turns out there’s actually a lot of them. After a lot of research we went with Snowman World Glass Resort. They’re a little pricey, but it was so worth it. We had our own nice cabin with a glass ceiling so we could see the stars and the lights, our own private sauna and hot tub, a kitchenette and more. We were a short walk from Santa Claus Village. The hotel itself has its own restaurant but it was closed for the season when we were there, so we got breakfast vouchers for the hotel next door which had an excellent restaurant.

Our hotel: Snowman World Glass Resort

How to get around

We paid a few euros extra for the hotel to pick us up from the airport, which I think was definitely worth it. We took a taxi into Rovaniemi on our first night for dinner but the city wasn’t particularly exciting and we didn’t end up going back. The taxi was like €25 and we took a bus back but even that was €7 each! The next night we walked across the street to a gas station and bought some beers there - I think that was a bit easier.

Things to do

Bearhill Husky

We went on a tour with Bearhill Husky who picked us up and drove us out to their land. They have lots of huskies that they run on tours. They’re also well known for treating the animals the best which was important to us. We got to drive the dog sled (they’re on wheels when there is no snow, but its still cold!!). We got an extra fun tour because we lost the rest of the group and our dogs went rogue!!! They took us by themselves back to camp and then the people working there had to take us back to the group. They also give you all the warm clothes you need for the tour and at the end you get to play with puppies!!!

Website: Bearhill Husky

Northern Lights tour with Explore Lapland

This was another tour that picked us up from our hotel. They also provided all the warm clothes for us (check my space suit!). Our tour guide Ben, who is the owner, was super kind. He’s from Scotland and was happy to give us lots of info and chat with us on the tour. We drove around to a few spots he knows but it was pretty cloudy so we ended up driving pretty far for clear skies. We didn’t get lucky with the lights but it was still a beautiful fun night and we’d definitely choose this tour again next time! It was definitely more centered around hunting for the lights no matter what but that’s what we wanted.

Website: Explore Lapland

Santa Claus Village

Our hotel was basically a part of Santa Claus village so we mostly went here because it was so close (and also had all the restaurants we could walk to). It was very cute though! Would be really fun with kids, or even as an adult. We met Santa and had our photo taken (this was not cheap haha) and then we met and hung out with some reindeer. There’s also lots of nice souvenir shops in the area and lots of restaurants, along with a line for where the Arctic circle is that you can take photos with!

Where to Drink

We chose to keep our drinking to our personal private hot tub behind our cabin, which was the right choice :) Very beautiful and relaxing!

Where to Eat

Nova Skyland Hotel Restaurant

This was the restaurant right next to our hotel - we had free breakfast buffet vouchers, which were really nice, but better was when we came back for dinner. We were tired from our day of sled dogs and we didn’t want to go far so we walked next door. We were blown away! We had basically the whole restaurant to ourselves (we were there in September which is very slow season for them), the staff was very nice, and the food was amazing. I had reindeer which was so phenomenal. Austin had a really excellent fish that he loved as well.

Cafe Santa Claus

We found this for lunch when we were starving as it was one of the few places open in Santa Claus village. They had a reindeer burger that we decided to try and were both super impressed! It had lingonberries and all kinds of interesting things on it but it really worked. I only wish I had taken a photo!