Best Santa Claus visit from Utsjoki: which suits your party
Illustration photo: a cabin dressed for Christmas, not a Santa programme.
The short answer
With small children, book the private visit in Inari: it is the shortest drive and the quietest outing, priced for a family. With children between four and fourteen who would enjoy a whole afternoon of elves, baking and reindeer, drive on to Saariselkä. If a sleigh ride to Santa is the wish, book the reindeer farm in Ivalo. If your journey passes through Rovaniemi anyway, the free office is the best value.
No Santa visit is in Utsjoki itself, so the best one is the drive that suits the people in your car.
Small children
The hotel in Inari, 93 minutes south, sells a private visit priced for a family: a short walk to Santa’s secret place and twenty to forty minutes with him.1 It is the shortest drive from Utsjoki and the quietest outing for a toddler. The booking by email and the season are set out on private Santa visit in Inari.
Children between four and fourteen
Take the Saariselkä afternoon, 149 minutes south. It is designed around them: an elf leads, there is baking and crafting before the meeting, and the organiser lends overalls, boots and mittens.2 A stay of a night in Saariselkä turns the long drive into a manageable one. The programme is set out in full on Santa Claus in Saariselkä.
A sleigh ride to Santa
Ivalo Reindeer Farm, 125 minutes south, takes your group alone by a sleigh drawn by a snowmobile to Santa’s secret spot.3
A family already routing through Rovaniemi
If you fly into or out of Rovaniemi, the free office is the best value and needs no booking, as meeting Santa Claus in Rovaniemi explains. The private visits there are compared on private Santa visit in Rovaniemi.
Tours you can book
Priced per person
Searching for Santa: an afternoon ending at his cabin
Run by Northern Lights Village Saariselkä
From €159per person
Length2.5–3 h
See it on the operator’s site(opens in a new tab)
Priced for the whole party
A private meeting with Santa, a short walk from the hotel in Inari
Run by Wilderness Hotel Inari
From €275per group of up to 4
Length0.3–0.7 h
See it on the operator’s site(opens in a new tab)A private sleigh ride to Santa near Ivalo, with a gift for each visitor
Run by Ivalo Reindeer Farm
From €490per group of up to 4
Length0.7 h
See it on the operator’s site(opens in a new tab)
Questions people ask
Can we do Saariselkä and back in one day with children?
It is about two and a half hours each way before a programme of two and a half to three hours, so roughly eight hours from leaving Utsjoki to getting back, before stops. That is possible but long for small children in midwinter. Staying a night in Saariselkä turns it into an easy afternoon, and the site's Saariselkä guides cover what else there is to do there.
What do we miss by going to the free office rather than a programme?
The things around the meeting: at the office you walk in and meet Santa, while the Saariselkä afternoon adds an elf guide, gingerbread baking, crafts, reindeer, two short sleigh rides and a symbolic gift. What you gain at the office is flexibility, because it needs no booking and is open every day of the year, which matters when the date depends on the weather and a long drive.
Is anything at all suitable for adults on their own?
Not the Saariselkä afternoon, which says it is not designed for adults without children. The private visits in Inari and Ivalo are priced for a family or a group and say nothing about adults alone, so ask before booking. For adults in Utsjoki in winter, the herding family's evening sleigh ride, forty minutes in the dark forest, even adds the chance of the northern lights.