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Best northern lights tour in Ruka: choosing how to spend the evening

A faint green arc of aurora low over the dark silhouette of a forest

Illustration photo: an aurora over a forest, not photographed at Ruka.

Lapland Handbook Staff How we research this

The short answer

If seeing the lights matters most, book the minivan hunt, which moves to wherever the sky is clearest. For a warm evening with photos taken for you, the heated aurora wagon. If you want the drive as much as the sky, the evening snowmobile safari from the hotels. If you would rather learn the night sky on foot, the snowshoe walk with the constellations explained.

How the operators compare

Prices are the operators' own published starting prices as of the date this guide was updated, and they change through the season.

Ruka Safaris: minivanNorthern Lights Expedition: wagonRuka Adventures: snowmobileMyTrail: snowshoe walk
Length 2.5 h 2 h 2–2.5 h 2 h
The evening Driving to clear sky Sitting in a heated wagon Driving a snowmobile Walking on snowshoes
Adult €79 €90 €120, two sharing €90
Youngest 3 All ages 4, in a sled 6
Pick-up Not stated Not stated Ruka hotels Ruka and Kuusamo centre

Nothing is ranked: the four spend the evening in different ways, and none can promise the lights. The prices are compared on the price page.

Where these figures come from
  • Ruka Safaris: minivan: Two and a half hours driving to wherever the sky is clearest, with a fire, hot drinks and pastries.
  • Northern Lights Expedition: wagon: Two hours in a heated sleigh pulled by a snowmobile, with photos taken and sent to you.
  • Ruka Adventures: snowmobile: An evening snowmobile safari from the Ruka hotels, two to a machine, with a hot drink.
  • MyTrail: snowshoe walk: Two kilometres on snowshoes with the constellations and their stories explained, and wildberry juice.

Every aurora outing around Ruka can end under cloud, so the choice is really about how you want to spend the evening either way.

Going where the sky is clear

Ruka Safaris’ minivan hunt is the one that moves: it drives to whichever place has the clearest sky that night, lights a fire and serves hot drinks and pastries while you wait.1 Northern Lights Expedition sells a two-hour minibus hunt as well.2

Staying warm

Northern Lights Expedition’s aurora wagon is a heated sleigh pulled by a snowmobile. The guide takes photos and sends them to you, and the listing says it suits all ages and takes wheelchairs.2

At the handlebars

Ruka Adventures’ starlight safari collects you from the Ruka hotels for an evening at the handlebars, two to a machine, with a hot drink on the way.3 Ruka Safaris’ evening snowmobiling covers about 30 km and recommends some driving experience first.2

Learning the sky

MyTrail’s night sky walk covers two kilometres on snowshoes while the guide explains the constellations and the stories told about them, with hot wildberry juice under the sky.4

The outings are compared by price on northern lights tour prices in Ruka, for children on northern lights with children in Ruka, and the evening snowmobile safaris in more detail on snowmobile and northern lights in Ruka.

Tours you can book

Questions people ask

Which nights do the outings run?

Ruka Adventures prints fixed evenings: its snowmobile safari leaves at half past seven on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, and its sledge ride at eight on Thursday. Ruka Safaris' outings are open departures that run once four people book, and MyTrail's walk needs four by six the evening before. If your stay is short, book the first evening and keep a later one free.

What should we wear?

It depends on the outing. Ruka Adventures lends clothing for its evening safari, and Ruka Safaris includes gear and a winter outfit on its sledge ride. The aurora wagon's listing excludes normal winter clothing, and MyTrail asks for your own outdoor clothes on its walk, so on those two you need warm boots, layers, a hat and mittens of your own.

What if the evening is cloudy?

The shared outings here print no refund for a cloudy sky; Ruka Safaris says plainly that sightings cannot be guaranteed. The only sky rule we found belongs to MyTrail's private night in Riisitunturi, which moves the date or refunds the price if the forecast is cloudy, and it is covered on the private tour page.

Written by

Lapland Handbook Staff

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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