Best reindeer tour from Muonio: one pick for each reason
Illustration photo: a harnessed reindeer, not at Torassieppi.
The short answer
For the farm, its history and feeding the reindeer, book the Torassieppi visit in Muonio: it runs all year and needs no drive. For a sleigh ride as part of a longer stay, choose one of the local winter packages, which include a short one. For a proper ride bought on its own, drive to Levi and pick by the length printed in the listing, from 800 metres with a Sámi herder to three kilometres. To walk beside a reindeer, go to Ylläs.
Near Muonio, the reindeer outing you want depends on whether you want the animals, the history or the ride.
For the farm and its history
Book the Torassieppi farm visit, which is covered in full on reindeer farm in Muonio. It is in Muonio, it runs all year, and it is the only reindeer outing here that you can simply book for an afternoon.
For a sleigh ride on a longer stay
The winter packages in Muonio include a reindeer visit at the same farm that ends with a short sleigh ride under warm blankets.1 It is not sold on its own in the online shop, so it suits a family who were going to book the package anyway.
For a proper ride
Drive to Levi and choose by distance. The longest ride sold there covers three kilometres and ends with time among the young reindeer;2 the shortest, 800 metres, is led by a Sámi herder.3 The four Levi rides are compared in a table on reindeer farm in Levi.
To walk with a reindeer
Ylläs, as far from Muonio as Levi, sells a reindeer walk alongside its sleigh rides, described on reindeer safari in Ylläs.
Questions people ask
Is the Torassieppi farm visit worth it without a ride?
If you care about how reindeer herding has shaped life here, yes. The two hours are built around a farm nearly two hundred years old, its old manor house and a museum, with feeding and a go at the lasso, and end by a fire in a kota. If the ride is the whole point, it is the wrong outing, and the Levi rides are the ones to compare.
Do the Levi rides collect guests from Muonio?
Not according to their listings. The one with a Sámi herder offers pick-up and drop-off, and the others state transport from Levi or a shuttle to their park, but none of them names Muonio. Plan on driving the 46 minutes to Levi yourself, and check where each operator actually meets you before booking.
What is the reindeer walk in Ylläs?
A two-hour outing in which a small group walks through the forest leading reindeer, two guests to one animal, for about a kilometre before stopping at a glass igloo for pancakes by the fire. There is no sleigh. It suits someone who wants to be beside the animals rather than behind them, and Ylläs is the same 46 minutes from Muonio as Levi.