A good choice for families and couples who can get themselves out of Ruka village. The kennel sells two rides, a short one and one twice as long, with real child prices and no charge for the under-fours, and two people share each sled, one driving and one riding. It lends winter clothing. What it does not do is collect you, so without a car the trip starts with a taxi or the ski bus, and that cost belongs in the comparison.
Most people heading for a husky ride at Ruka start with the resort’s own list
of husky companies, and Erä-Susi Huskies is not on it. The name turns up instead
on booking sites, in reviews and on the kennel’s own pages, which say a good deal
about what it sells and one important thing about what it does not.
Two rides, priced plainly
The kennel publishes two priced safaris for the coming winter: an hour and a
half covering five kilometres, at €125 for an adult and €85 for a child, and two
to two and a half hours covering ten kilometres, at €185 and
€115.1 Children up to three ride
free, and the child price runs from four to
thirteen.1
Two things in that are worth noticing. The prices are given per kilometre of
trail as much as per hour, which is the number that matters, as
what a husky safari price includes
explains. And the five-kilometre ride sits close to the resort’s typical short
ride, which
the Ruka husky overview describes, so the
choice between them is not about price.
Two to a sled
Each sled carries two people: one drives and the other sits in the passenger
seat.2 Children ride in the seat under a
blanket, and the kennel lends warm overalls, gloves and shoes to anyone who
needs them.2
For a family with a child under four, the free place is the detail that changes
the sum: two adults and a toddler pay for two.
Tripadvisor ratings, 18 Rovaniemi operators
Highest first
Snowtrail Safaris 5.0
Nordic Odyssey 5.0
Nordic Adventures 4.9
Arctic GM 4.9
Book Lapland 4.9
Bearhill Husky 4.9
Arctic Attitude 4.9
StayLapland 4.8
Wild About Lapland 4.7
Wild Nordic 4.7
Lapland Winter Park 4.6
Safartica 4.5
Nordic Unique Travels 4.5
Apukka Resort 4.4
Lapland Welcome 4.3
Arctic Circle Snowmobile Park 4.3
Arctic Circle Husky Park 4.2
Raitola 3.4
<44.04.55.0
Ratings read from Tripadvisor. The shaded compartment left of the divider holds any score below 4.0. We record the score only; review counts and review text are not part of our comparison.
No pickup
This is the line that decides most bookings. Erä-Susi does not offer transport,
and its own advice is to come by taxi or by the ski bus from Ruka
village.2 The kennel is on
Rukajärventie, outside the village.
With a car, that costs nothing. Without one, add a taxi in both directions to
the price before comparing it with a company that collects you, and check the
bus timetable for the return as well as the outward trip.
Who it suits
Families with young children, because of the child prices and the free places.
Couples who want to share a sled. Anyone with a car or happy to plan around the
bus. It suits less well a visitor without transport who wants a single price
that covers the whole morning, and anyone looking for a long wilderness trip,
which the kennel does not publish.
The kennel's pages do not publish cancellation terms, so ask before you pay, and get the answer in writing. What the site does say is that it may change programmes because of the weather, so a booked ride is not guaranteed to run exactly as described on a day the conditions are poor. If you book through a platform rather than directly, the platform's own terms apply instead, and they are often easier to find.
Is there a third safari?
The kennel's safari page says there are three options, but only two of them carry a published price: the five- and ten-kilometre rides. If the two published rides do not fit your day, contact the kennel directly rather than assuming the third one is what you need, and ask for its length in kilometres as well as hours.
How do we get there from Ruka village?
By car, taxi or the ski bus. The kennel says plainly that it does not offer transport and recommends a taxi or the ski bus from Ruka village. Check the bus timetable against your safari time before relying on it, especially for the return, and if you are a family of four, price the taxi both ways: on the shorter ride it can add a noticeable share to the total.
Lapland Handbook is written by its editorial staff in Rovaniemi. Every price, age limit and group size in a comparison is read from the operator's own page and marked "Not stated" when the operator does not publish it. Each guide names who should not book, and names the operator that suits each kind of group, whichever it is.
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