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Family Santa visit from Sodankylä: what suits which child

A hand resting on a child's handwritten letter beginning Dear Santa, beside a drawing and another letter decorated with holly

Illustration photo: a child's letter to Santa, not written in Sodankylä.

Lapland Handbook Staff How we research this

The short answer

With children old enough to walk in snow and stay interested for a few hours, book the lavvu visit, where an elf fills the time before Santa appears and every child gets a gift. With a toddler, weigh the walk and the length first, and ask the company how far the path is. For a short meeting with a very young child, a drive to Rovaniemi or to the farm near Ivalo is the alternative.

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.

Lavvu visit, SodankyläReindeer farm, Ivalo
How long a child must last 3–4 h About 40 min
Walking A walk through the forest None; a sleigh ride
From Sodankylä In Sodankylä 110 min by car

Nothing is ranked: a long programme suits a school-age child and a short meeting suits a toddler. Neither states an age limit.

Where these figures come from
  • Lavvu visit, Sodankylä: Three to four hours with a forest walk, an elf and Santa, for your family alone, with a gift and a certificate for each child.
  • Reindeer farm, Ivalo: About forty minutes in all, a short sleigh ride each way and twenty minutes with Santa, in December and January.

For a family, the choice of Santa visit from Sodankylä is mostly about how long a child can stay interested and how far they can walk.

For children who can walk and wait

The lavvu visit begins with a guided walk through the snowy forest and then fills the time before Santa’s arrival with an elf, letters and stories, so a child is kept busy rather than kept waiting. Every child has time with Santa, a gift and a certificate.1

For the youngest

A toddler may manage forty minutes better than a morning. The reindeer farm near Ivalo keeps its private visit to about that, with a short sleigh ride each way and twenty minutes with Santa, but only in December and January and nearly two hours’ drive north.2 The free office in Rovaniemi is about an hour and a half south, as meeting Santa Claus in Rovaniemi explains.

Tours you can book

Questions people ask

Should we tell the company about the children beforehand?

Yes, even though the page does not ask for it. Each child has personal time with Santa and a gift from him, so names, ages and anything a child is hoping to talk about help Santa make the meeting personal. Mention any child who is shy of costumes, too.

Can a baby come on the lavvu visit?

The page does not exclude one. The visit starts with a guided walk through the forest, so bring a baby carrier rather than a pushchair, and a warm suit for sitting in the lavvu. Ask whether a baby counts as one of the four the price covers.

What should children wear?

Snowsuits, wool layers, winter boots, a hat and mittens: part of the visit is a walk in the forest and part is sitting in a lavvu that is heated but not a house. A spare pair of mittens in your pocket helps when small hands get wet in the snow.

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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