Best Santa Claus visit from Posio: which one for which family
Illustration photo: the Santa Claus Village in Rovaniemi at dusk.
The short answer
With small children who like making things, drive to Salla for the Arctic Circle programme: gingerbread with Mrs Santa, a snowy path to the post office and a family photo with Santa, in December or January. If you want the meeting and nothing else, drive to Rovaniemi, where the office is free. Choose the guided day from Kemijärvi only if you want lunch, clothing and a guide arranged for you.
Posio has no Santa of its own, so the choice is between three drives, and the right one depends on what the children want from the day.
For children who want to make things
The Arctic Circle programme in Salla is an afternoon built for small hands: gingerbread to decorate with Mrs Santa, a snowy path to Santa’s post office and cabin, and at the end the meeting itself and a family photo.1 It runs in December and January only.
For a day someone else organises
The guided day sets off from Kemijärvi and includes lunch, winter clothing and a guide for five hours around the Santa Claus Village in Rovaniemi.2 It suits a family that would rather not plan, and it is the dearest of the three by far.
For the meeting and nothing else
Rovaniemi’s Santa office costs nothing to enter, and how the free meeting fits into a day from Posio is set out on Santa Claus from Posio. What each option costs a family is on Santa Claus price from Posio.
Questions people ask
Which is the shortest day in the car?
Kemijärvi, where the guided day starts, is about an hour and twenty-five minutes from Posio, Salla about an hour and a half, and Rovaniemi about an hour and forty minutes. The guided day then adds its own drive from Kemijärvi to Rovaniemi and back inside its five hours, so for total time on the road the Salla programme is the shortest of the three.
Does the guided day include the photo with Santa?
The meeting with Santa is included in the guided day, but its listing says photographs with him cost extra. The Salla programme names a family photo with Santa as part of the visit. In Rovaniemi the meeting is free and the photographs are sold separately, so on two of the three a picture is an extra you should budget for.
What if we want Santa to ourselves?
None of these three is private. Private Santa visits are sold in Rovaniemi, where this site compares them on its own page, and the cheapest starts at 249 euros with the price basis left unclear. They add the same drive of an hour and forty minutes from Posio, and most need booking well ahead of the date.