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Family ice fishing in Ivalo: which trip takes the children

A person in a blue hooded jacket, seen from behind, pushing a wooden kicksled across a snow-covered frozen lake as snow falls

Illustration photo: a kicksled on a frozen lake, not on a trip described here.

Lapland Handbook Staff How we research this

The short answer

With children under ten, book the Ivalo trip with reindeer and lunch, and ask the company about ages when you book, since its pages print no limit; it lends thermal clothing in children's sizes and has a hut with a fire. The fisherman's trip is for families whose children are all ten or older. For a trip that names all ages and a child discount, go to Inari.

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.

Ivalo SafarisArctic GuidesVisit Inari
Youngest Not stated 10 All ages
Child fare Not on the platforms; ask Not stated 30% off for 4–11
Warm clothing Lent, children's sizes On request Lent
Somewhere warm A hut with a fire Drinks by a fire Soup by a fire
Starts from Your Ivalo hotel Meeting point in Ivalo Inari village

Nothing is ranked: the youngest child decides. Ages are as each seller prints them; a blank means the seller does not say.

Where these figures come from
  • Ivalo Safaris: Hotel pickup in Ivalo, thermal clothing in children's sizes, a sleigh across the lake, two reindeer and a hot lunch in a hut with a fire.
  • Arctic Guides: A local fisherman's trip with warm drinks by a fire, for children of ten and over, with winter clothing only on request.
  • Visit Inari: Four hours from Inari village, half an hour from Ivalo, listed for all ages with a discount for children and soup by the fire.

For a family, the two ice fishing trips from Ivalo are further apart than their similar length suggests.

The trip built for a family day

The trip with reindeer and lunch collects you from your hotel, dresses everyone in thermal clothing at its base, and crosses the lake by sleigh to a fishing spot and then to the owners’ island, where two reindeer can be fed and lunch is served in a hut with a fire.1 Its clothing goes down to overalls for children from 80 centimetres and boots from size 26.2 Its pages print no age limit, so ask about the youngest before booking.

If your children are younger than that

The fisherman’s trip takes nobody under ten. The trip that names all ages and takes thirty per cent off for children from four to eleven runs from Inari village, half an hour from Ivalo, with soup by the fire.3

Tours you can book

Questions people ask

Is there a child fare on the Ivalo trips?

Not on the booking platforms, which show one price per person for both. The Ivalo company's own online shop, run under a different name with the same phone number, lists a lower fare for children from seven to thirteen, but we could not confirm it is current. Ask for the child fare when you book directly; the ice fishing price page for Ivalo has the figures.

Does each child get a rod?

On the trip with reindeer, each guest receives their own rod and fishes with a worm or a maggot, so a child is not waiting for a turn. The fisherman's trip includes all the fishing equipment without saying how it is shared. Bring gloves a child can take off and put back on quickly, because baiting a hook is fiddly work in mittens.

How do children travel to the fishing spot?

In a sleigh pulled by a snowmobile on both Ivalo trips, after a minibus from your hotel or a car from the meeting point to the lake. Nobody drives a snowmobile themselves on the fishing trips, so there is no licence or height rule to worry about. On the Inari trip, children travel in the sleigh with a parent.

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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