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The best reindeer tour in Ylläs for time in the sleigh

A wooden eight-sided kota hut among birches in the snow, with a fell behind

Illustration photo: a kota in Swedish Lapland, not in Ylläs.

Lapland Handbook Staff How we research this

The short answer

For the longest ride, book the three kilometres into the wilderness: it costs the most but gives about half an hour in the sleigh and a fire afterwards. For the lowest price and time with the animals, the short ride at the Konijänkkä farm includes feeding them. Staying in Ylläsjärvi without winter gear, the two-kilometre ride there brings the transfer and the clothing.

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.

Konijänkkä farm rideRemote farmFarm near YlläsjärviWilderness ride
Sleigh ride 1 to 2 km, 10 to 30 min About 1.5 km, 15 to 20 min 2 km 3 km, about 30 min
Adult price €140 – lowest adult price €155 €163 €205
Whole outing About 1.5 h 1.5 h plus 1 h driving About 2 h 2 h 45 min
Feeding the reindeer Yes Lichen at the end Yes Not listed

Highlighted figures are the best in that row: lowest adult price. The Konijänkkä farm ride costs more from 13 December to 3 January and from 31 January to 28 February. A longer ride is not marked as better; it is only longer.

Where these figures come from
  • Konijänkkä farm ride: One to two kilometres in the sleigh, ten to thirty minutes, then feeding the reindeer.
  • Remote farm: About one and a half kilometres in the sleigh at a farm half an hour's drive away.
  • Farm near Ylläsjärvi: Two kilometres in the sleigh and a farm visit, with transfer and clothing included.
  • Wilderness ride: Three kilometres and about half an hour in the sleigh, then juice by a fire in a kota.

Around Ylläs the reindeer sleigh rides differ most in how long you sit behind the animals.

Short rides at Konijänkkä

Ylläs Experiences’ ride can be quick or slow depending on the reindeer’s mood, and is followed by feeding them; its second ride is at a remote farm half an hour’s drive away.1

Two kilometres near Ylläsjärvi

North Wind Lapland’s ride includes the transfer from the village and the winter clothing.2

Three kilometres in the wilderness

Snow Fun Safaris drives guests twenty kilometres to a reindeer farm for the longest ride here.3 Poro Puolitaival, a family reindeer farm twenty minutes from the villages, sells its sleigh rides through the same company.4

A reindeer walk rather than a ride is described on reindeer in Ylläs.

Tours you can book

Questions people ask

Can we drive to the reindeer farm ourselves?

Not on the wilderness ride: the Äkäslompolo company says its farms can only be visited as part of an organised group. Poro Puolitaival, a family reindeer farm in the area that books through that company, takes no walk-in guests. For the others, ask; the Ylläsjärvi company collects only from three points in its village.

Do we get to feed the reindeer?

At the Konijänkkä farm and on the Ylläsjärvi company's ride, yes: both include feeding the reindeer after the sleigh ride. At the remote farm the reindeer are given lichen at the end if they have not stopped for it on the way. The wilderness ride offers photos with the reindeer rather than feeding.

What if we have to cancel?

The Äkäslompolo company lets you cancel free until four in the afternoon the day before. The Konijänkkä operator treats animal activities as non-refundable from thirty days before, which is much stricter. The Ylläsjärvi company's page does not print a rule, so ask before you pay.

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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