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Best reindeer tour from Kemi, by how much sleigh you want

A white reindeer with wide antlers standing in a snowfield, with a herd of brown and white reindeer grazing behind it among bare birches

Illustration photo: reindeer on a snowfield, not at the farm near Kemi.

Lapland Handbook Staff How we research this

The short answer

For an afternoon without a car, book the Kemi farm visit: you are driven to the farm, feed the herd, learn to throw a lasso and ride a sleigh for a kilometre and a half. Book it through the travel agency if you want to be collected from your hotel or have children to price. If the sleigh is the point and you have a car, drive to Ranua for half an hour through the forest, or to Ylitornio for a ride on its own at about half the price.

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.

Kemi farm visitTeam Rudolf: full experienceTeam Rudolf: sleigh rideVaara: forest safari
Drive from Kemi Driven from the safari house 68 min 68 min 82 min
In the sleigh 1.5 km Not stated 30 min programme 30–35 min
Time with the herd Feeding and lasso Feeding and herding talk The ride Campfire at the farm
Price per adult €125 €135.82 €68.44 – the lowest price per adult €75
Best for No car Herding stories A cheap ride The longest ride

Highlighted figures are the best in that row: the lowest price per adult. The Kemi price is the booking platform's; the travel agency's is higher with hotel pick-up. Only price is marked, and a longer drive is part of every price but the first.

Where these figures come from
  • Kemi farm visit: Feeding, a lasso lesson and a 1.5 km sleigh ride at a farm a short drive from the safari house, then a warm drink in a Lappish hut.
  • Team Rudolf: full experience: A reindeer business's programme in Ylitornio: greeting and feeding the reindeer, an introduction to herding and a sleigh ride, two adults to a sleigh.
  • Team Rudolf: sleigh ride: The same Ylitornio herd for a sleigh ride on its own, half an hour and about half the price of the full programme.
  • Vaara: forest safari: Thirty to thirty-five minutes in a reindeer sleigh through the forest from a working family farm in Ranua, then juice by the campfire.

Kemi sits on the coast, and the reindeer are inland. One farm visit starts in town; everything else means driving an hour or more.

Without a car, or with an afternoon

The safari company’s visit is the one to book if you are staying in Kemi without a car. You change into lent winter clothes, are driven to the farm, feed the herd, learn to throw a reindeer lasso and ride a sleigh for a kilometre and a half before a warm drink in a Lappish hut.1 The same visit is also sold by a Kemi travel agency, at a higher price that includes collection from your hotel and a lower fare for children aged three to eleven.2

If the sleigh is the point

A kilometre and a half is a short ride. For the longest time in the sleigh, the farm in Ranua, 82 minutes inland, takes you through the forest for half an hour. The reindeer business in Ylitornio, 68 minutes up the river, sells a sleigh ride on its own, half an hour in all, for about half the Kemi price, or a programme of feeding, an introduction to herding and a ride, two adults to a sleigh.3 Neither prints the length of its trail.

Putting it together

No car: the Kemi visit. A family to price or a hotel to be collected from: the same visit through the travel agency. A car and a wish to ride: Ylitornio or Ranua. What the Kemi visit includes minute by minute is on reindeer farm from Kemi.

Tours you can book

Questions people ask

Can we visit the reindeer in summer?

Yes. The safari company lists a summer and autumn version of its farm visit, on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at three in the afternoon, so the reindeer can be met without snow. The timetable does not say what the summer visit includes, and the winter page's sleigh ride depends on snow, so ask whether there is any ride at all before booking it for a child who has set their heart on one.

What happens on a very cold day?

The travel agency's terms say its excursions are subject to change in bad weather and that it may change the route, the price and the length of a trip without notice. The Ranua farm sets a frost limit of minus 25 degrees for its forest safari. Neither says what you are offered instead, so on a deep-frost week ask what the day will look like before you set off.

Which days does the Kemi visit run?

The two sellers disagree. The safari company's own timetable lists the winter farm visit from Wednesday to Sunday at three in the afternoon, while the travel agency advertises it every day from two to four. The booking platform shows the dates it can sell. If you are counting on a Monday or Tuesday, ask before you pay rather than after.

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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