Worth it if you come for the light and the land rather than for the winter programme. The sled activities stop with the snow, and the aurora is invisible while the nights stay bright, so do not plan around either. What you get instead is daylight around the clock in early summer, the freedom to walk, camp and pick berries almost anywhere, and a handful of attractions that stay open all year. Build the trip on those and add tours on top, not the other way round.
Winter Lapland is sold as a list: a sled, a snowmobile, a night out under the
aurora. In summer most of that list disappears. What replaces it is not a
different set of tours but three things you do not have to book – light, land
and water – and a short list of places that never closed.
The light is the event
Around the summer solstice the sun stays above the horizon for the whole day,
and in Rovaniemi that lasts for about a month, from early June to early July.
Either side of it there is still daylight through the night, from late May
until August.1
That changes the day more than any activity does. A walk can start at ten in
the evening; dinner can be eaten outside at midnight in what looks like late
afternoon. It also means the one thing the light takes away: the aurora needs a
dark sky, and there is none. It returns as the nights darken towards autumn,
which is where
the month-by-month aurora calendar
picks up.
Bring something to sleep in the dark with. Hotel curtains vary, and a cabin
window facing north at one in the morning is as bright as a window at noon.
The land is open to you
Finland’s everyman’s rights are the reason a summer trip needs less planning
than a winter one. Without asking anyone and without paying, you may walk and
cycle in the forest, camp for a short while where access is otherwise allowed,
swim and go boating, and pick wild berries, mushrooms and plants that are not
protected.2
The same rights come with limits, and three of them catch visitors. You may not
light a fire on somebody else’s land, you may not drive a motor vehicle off the
road, and you may not camp so close to a house that you intrude on the people
in it.2 A designated campfire site
is the answer to the first; the other two are the reason the rules work at all.
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.
The water replaces the ice
The rivers and lakes that carry ice-fishing holes and snowmobile routes in
winter become the summer’s main stage. Visit Rovaniemi’s own summer list is
mostly about them: a boat tour under the low sun, a fishing trip ending with a
barbecue, alongside a fell hike and an ATV ride on forest
tracks.1 They are third-party
products, priced and run separately, so check what each one includes before
booking.
What never closed
A few of the places people come to Rovaniemi for keep going all year. Santa
Claus Village is open every day of the year, and
its practical page has the
opening times and the bus. Ranua’s wildlife park is open year-round too, and
the Ranua guide covers how to get there
when the winter tours are not running. The ski hill at
Ounasvaara runs a summer bobsleigh track instead.
The animals stay as well, in a different form. Kennels and reindeer farms run
summer programmes – walks with the dogs, cart rides, farm visits without
sleighs – and
the winter activities calendar names
which operators run which, and from when.
What to leave off the plan
Anything that needs snow. There is no summer husky sled, no summer snowmobile
safari and no summer reindeer sleigh; a programme with the same animals is a
different product with a different price, not the winter one in green.
If the long walks are the point, the fells further north are where the summer
is best, and the
guide to hiking outside the snow season
covers the two windows, the insects and one classic trail.
Almost, but not quite. Everyman's rights let you set up camp temporarily wherever access is otherwise allowed, without asking the landowner, but not so close to a house that you intrude on the people living in it. Some smaller protected areas, such as old-growth and herb-rich forests, forbid camping altogether, and national parks have their own rules, so read the park's page before pitching a tent inside one.
Do we need a licence to fish?
Not for the simplest kind. Hook-and-line fishing is part of everyman's rights, so it is free and needs nobody's permission, in summer as on the ice in winter. Fishing in any other way needs the appropriate permits, and even hook-and-line fishing can be restricted in some waters, such as rapids and currents where migratory fish run. If you are not sure which kind a trip involves, ask the operator what is covered before you go.
Can we bring the dog?
Yes, on a lead for most of the summer. Everyman's rights require dogs to be kept leashed between 1 March and 19 August, which covers the whole midnight-sun season, and at any time of year in built-up areas, on exercise tracks and on other people's land. The rule exists for nesting birds and young animals, and wildlife in Lapland includes reindeer grazing freely along the roads and in the forest.
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.
Rovaniemi's winter tours do sell out – December and the week around New Year first, and the small-group ones before the rest. Booking here goes straight to the operator at their own published price, and the code LH10 takes 10% off it.
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