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Best reindeer tour in Utsjoki: one for each kind of visitor

A team of four reindeer pulling a sleigh across a snowy clearing past small marker flags, with a snow-laden spruce forest behind

Illustration photo: a reindeer sleigh on snow, not in Utsjoki.

Lapland Handbook Staff How we research this

The short answer

For a real sleigh ride, book the herder whose day ride promises about forty minutes behind the reindeer; the holiday village's ride is shorter and runs only three days a week. For stories rather than a ride, take the holiday village's farm visit by car. In March or April, when the herd is being fed on the fells, the three hours on the highlands are the closest you can get to the work itself.

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.

Aurora Reindeer: day rideValle: sleigh rideValle: meet the reindeerTravel Utsjoki: highland day
Adult price €141 €135 €155 €230
Child Half price under 11 €68 €105 30% off under 12
Sleigh behind reindeer About 40 min Short No No
Length About 2 h 2 h 2 h 3 h
When Not stated Tue, Thu, Sun Not stated March and April
Winter clothing Included Included Not stated Included

The price row is not ranked: the two Valle programmes price per adult, while the other two companies print a price without saying what it covers. Each child figure is the company's own rule.

Where these figures come from
  • Aurora Reindeer: day ride: A herding family's own sleigh ride of about forty minutes, then the farm, feeding and a hot drink in a log cabin.
  • Valle: sleigh ride: Meeting and feeding the reindeer and a short sleigh ride in the nearby forest, with a drink in the herder's lean-to.
  • Valle: meet the reindeer: A drive to a herder's farm for his stories about the reindeer and Sámi culture, then coffee or juice by a lávvu fire.
  • Travel Utsjoki: highland day: Out by snowmobile and sled to the fells, where you can help feed the herd from the hay sleds during the late-winter feeding.

Search a booking platform for reindeer in Utsjoki and you find one hour at a home herd. The village’s own companies sell the rest, and each suits a different visitor.

If the sleigh ride is the point

Book the herding family’s day ride. It is the only one here that puts a length on the time behind the reindeer, and it is sold only in Utsjoki.1 The holiday village’s ride calls itself short and keeps to three days a week.2 It suits a party whose dates happen to fall on those days.

If you want to listen rather than ride

The holiday village’s farm visit drives you to a herder who talks about his animals and about Sámi life over a fire. Nobody sits in a sleigh, and the listing names no clothing among what it includes, so dress for standing about.

If you want to see the work

In March and April the herd is fed on the fells, and the local tour company takes a small group out by snowmobile to watch and help.3 It is the dearest outing here and the one furthest from a show. Outside those two months it does not run.

If you only want an hour

The cheapest way to meet reindeer in Utsjoki is the hour at a home herd, and reindeer farm in Utsjoki describes it in full. What each outing costs a family is set out on reindeer safari price in Utsjoki.

Tours you can book

Priced per person

Price not stated

Questions people ask

Can we see the reindeer and the northern lights on one outing?

Yes. The same herder who runs the day ride sells an evening version, a forty-minute sleigh ride in the dark forest followed by the farm and a fire in a lávvu, at 152 euros with children under eleven at half price. The page says plainly that nobody can guarantee the aurora or even a clear sky, so book it for the reindeer and treat the lights as luck.

How far ahead do we need to book?

It differs. The holiday village takes bookings for its reindeer programmes until six in the evening the day before. The local tour company confirms its bookings within a few days of the request rather than instantly, and its terms allow free cancellation only up to seven days before, so book its highland morning well ahead and only once your dates are fixed.

Is there a reindeer outing that also includes ice fishing?

The holiday village runs a three-hour trip in a sleigh behind a snowmobile to a fell lake on Thursdays, with a stop to see and feed reindeer on the way and ice fishing with a lunch by the fire at the lake. It costs 90 euros for an adult and 45 for a child, and needs at least four adults to run, so it suits a larger party best.

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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