Family Santa trip from Kemi: which ages, which hours, which way
Illustration photo: wooden Christmas ornaments, not from the places named here.
The short answer
Children up to two go free at all four visits, and three-year-olds at the Ylitornio station and on the river house's own site too. Fit the drive to the visit: the station is a day ticket, the river house a reserved slot, and the Ranua sleigh leaves in the afternoon. Without a car, the train from Kemi to Rovaniemi is the one way we found to reach Santa by public transport.
The Santa visits within reach of Kemi are in Ylitornio, Ranua and Rovaniemi, and which one suits which family is on the best Santa Claus visit from Kemi. This page is about the children.
Which ages go free
The youngest cost nothing everywhere. The Ylitornio station lets children up to three in free,1 and so does the river house on its own site,2 although its booking page stops free entry at two. Ranua charges from the third birthday,3 and the Rovaniemi office charges nobody for the meeting.
Fitting the visit to a child’s day
The station sells a ticket for the day, so you can arrive after a slow morning and leave when the children tire. The river house works by a reserved time, which fixes the drive to the minute. The Ranua sleigh rides leave every afternoon between two and six, from December to mid-March, so a morning at home before the drive works well. Rovaniemi’s office keeps long hours in the Christmas weeks, from eight in the morning to eight at night.
Without a car
Trains stop in Kemi on their way to Rovaniemi,4 which makes Rovaniemi the one Santa we found that a family can reach without driving; how the visit works there is on meeting Santa Claus in Rovaniemi. For Ylitornio and Ranua we found no public transport from Kemi, so plan on a car or a taxi.
Tours you can book
An entry ticket to the Santa Station, with Santa and reindeer
Run by Santa Station
From €47per person
Book now on GetYourGuide(opens in a new tab)A private family visit to Santa and Mrs Claus in a riverside house
Run by Santa's River House
From €97per person
Length1.5 h
See it on the operator’s site(opens in a new tab)A sleigh ride through the forest to Santa's cabin in Ranua
Run by Ranua Resort
From €125per person
Length0.8 h
See it on the operator’s site(opens in a new tab)
Questions people ask
How long do the children actually spend with Santa?
At Ranua the whole outing takes 45 minutes, of which ten to fifteen are with Santa in his cabin. The river house gives an hour and a half on its own site and two hours on its booking page, with stories, crafts and baking with Santa and Mrs Claus. The Ylitornio station is a day ticket with Santa as one part among several, and at the Rovaniemi office you walk in and meet him after the queue.
Is the sleigh ride at Ranua all right for small children?
It is sold as a children's activity. The sleigh is pulled by a snowmobile for about fifteen minutes, the resort lends warm winter clothing and a helmet, and under-threes go free. It asks for each child's details and Christmas wish in advance so that Santa knows them, which is worth doing a few days ahead rather than on the morning.
Can we bring a pushchair?
The river house's booking page says the visit is accessible with a pushchair and a wheelchair, and the Ylitornio station says it can take a wheelchair, which covers a pushchair as well. Ranua's cabin is reached on a short lantern-lit path through the forest after the sleigh ride, and the resort does not say whether a pushchair can go along, so ask.