Best snowmobile tour in Kemijärvi: which ride for which rider
Illustration photo: a snowmobile in Canada, not on the rides named here.
The short answer
First time: the one-hour ride, the cheapest way to find out whether you like it. One ride with a view: the two hours to the top of Suomutunturi. After dark: the aurora night. A long day out: the run to the pond with Finnish food or the four hours to Vilmavaara. Staying in town without a car: ask the town resort, whose price includes the outfit.
Nearly every snowmobile ride near Kemijärvi is sold by the safari company at Suomutunturi, so the choice is between its rides rather than between companies.
If you have never driven one
Take the one-hour ride. It is the cheapest, it starts with instruction, and it tells you whether a longer ride is worth the money before you have spent it.1
If you want the view
The two hours to the top of Suomutunturi are the classic ride here, with coffee over a fire at the summit.
If you want the dark
The aurora night goes up the same fell after dark and adds sausages at a lean-to. It is half an hour longer and 15 euros dearer than the day ride to the top.
If you want the afternoon
The 24-kilometre run to a pond for Finnish traditional food, or the four hours to Vilmavaara, are the two longest rides and cost the same to share.
If you are staying in town
The resort in Kemijärvi sells a two-hour ride, and a hotel that books it says the price includes the whole outfit, down to wool socks and gloves.2 Ask for the price. For more choice of company, Pyhä is 46 minutes away. The rides are compared on snowmobile safari in Kemijärvi.
Questions people ask
Is the four-hour Vilmavaara ride too much for a beginner?
The page does not set an experience level for it, but it is the longest ride at the fell: 25 kilometres out to the top of Vilmavaara and back, with coffee in a sheltered kota at the top. A beginner who has never driven is better served by one of the shorter rides first; if the party has one confident driver, sharing a machine and swapping is how the price is built anyway.
What if only one of us wants to drive?
That is the standard arrangement: the Suomutunturi prices are for two adults sharing one snowmobile, and the page does not require both to drive. If both want the controls the whole way, each can take a machine for a supplement, which on the first ride is 30 euros a head more and on the Käsmäjoki route 30 euros more.
Can we combine a ride with something else in one day?
At Suomutunturi the safari company also sells husky rides of five and ten kilometres, so a day can hold both if the timings suit. In town, the resort that sells the snowmobile ride also runs husky and reindeer outings. Ask for both at once, since neither company publishes a combined package or a timetable showing when each ride leaves.