Best reindeer tour in Ylitornio for each kind of visitor
Illustration photo: a reindeer team at a winter race, not in Ylitornio.
The short answer
Adults who want to understand reindeer herding should book the longer Aavasaksa programme. A family who mainly wants the children in a sleigh can take the half-hour ride and spend half as much. A couple after a quiet hour with a herder should arrange the Raanujärvi farm, and a family with toddlers should let the Santa station's day ticket cover the reindeer, since the youngest go free.
Four reindeer outings are within reach of a bed in Ylitornio, and each belongs to a different visitor.
The adult who wants to understand herding
Book the longer programme in Aavasaksa. The company describes it as a sleigh ride with stories of herding told over a warm drink,1 and it adds feeding and an introduction to the year of a herder to the ride itself.
The family that mainly wants a sleigh ride
Take the half-hour ride from the same company. It is the ride without the programme around it, at roughly half the price of the longer visit, and it is sold on the same booking page as the company’s husky and snowmobile trips.2
The couple after a quiet hour
Arrange a visit at the Raanujärvi farm, which opens by appointment and builds its safari around feeding with the herder and a fire rather than around the ride.
The toddler’s Christmas
Let the Santa station carry it: feeding its reindeer is part of the day ticket, and children up to three go free. The station itself is described on Santa Station in Ylitornio, and the three farms’ fares are compared on reindeer farm in Ylitornio.
Questions people ask
Is one of the farms more authentic than the other?
Both present themselves as working herds rather than attractions. Team Rudolf speaks of preserving the traditions of the herding way of life and of responsible practice, and the Raanujärvi farm stresses that each reindeer has a name and days off. Neither claim can be checked from a web page, so choose on what the visit includes rather than on the wording.
Can we combine a reindeer ride with something else in Ylitornio?
The company that sells the Aavasaksa rides also sells husky outings and snowmobile trips on the same booking page, from a one-hour kennel visit to a half day with your own dog team. Booking two items on one page keeps the planning simple, but each is priced and booked on its own, with no combined ticket shown.
How far is Rovaniemi if we want more choice?
About an hour and a half by road, 87 minutes by this site's measurement. Rovaniemi has many farms side by side and this site compares them, but the drive takes half a day there and back, so it only makes sense if the reindeer are the main reason for your trip and none of the local visits fits.