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Ice fishing in Inari: which trip to book

Two small fishing tents, one orange and one green, far out on a wide snowy frozen lake with a line of forest behind

Illustration photo: fishing tents on a frozen lake, not Lake Inari.

Lapland Handbook Staff How we research this

The short answer

Book Galddoaivi Safaris if the fishing is the point: a full-time guide, sonar and his own lures, a tent when it is cold, and pickup from your hotel in the village when you book on his site. Book Wilderness Hotel Inari's trip if you are staying there or want the lowest price. Book Muotkan Ruoktu if you have a car and want the slower, traditional version, with reindeer skins, a wooden sleigh and the option to cook what you catch.

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.

Galddoaivi Safaris: Lake InariWilderness Hotel InariMuotkan Ruoktu: by wooden sleigh
Price €125 €122 €100 – the lowest price per adult
Out to the ice Snowmobile sledge, up to 4 km Snowmobile sleigh Traditional wooden sleigh
Gear Sonar; tent on cold days Gear and instructions Rods, ice screw, reindeer skins
Your catch Not stated Not stated Can be cooked in a kota
Getting there Hotel pickup in the village on its own site From the hotel in the village; start point not stated Drive to Route 92

Highlighted figures are the best in that row: the lowest price per adult. Prices per adult as each seller prints them: the fishing guide and the hotel on their own sites, the lodge on the booking platform. Only the price is marked.

Where these figures come from
  • Galddoaivi Safaris: Lake Inari: A full-time fishing guide with sonar, a tent on cold days and his own lures and flies, out to the lake ice by snowmobile sledge.
  • Wilderness Hotel Inari: A short snowmobile sleigh ride to the fishing spot, a lesson in drilling a hole and using the gear, and warm drinks while you wait for a bite.
  • Muotkan Ruoktu: by wooden sleigh: A traditional wooden sleigh through the Muotkatunturi wilderness, reindeer skins, coffee and biscuits, and the option to cook your catch in a kota.

Three companies sell a two-hour ice fishing trip in Inari. The difference lies in who takes you out and how you get there.

With a fishing guide

Galddoaivi Safaris is a full-time fishing guide who takes you up to four kilometres out onto Lake Inari in a sledge behind a snowmobile, with a sonar to find the fish, lures and flies he makes himself, and a tent on cold days. Booked on his own site, the price includes pickup from your hotel in the village and clothing if you need it.1

From the hotel

Wilderness Hotel Inari, in the village, takes its guests out by snowmobile sleigh, teaches them to drill a hole and work the gear, and serves warm drinks on the ice, for the lowest price of the three.2

At a fell lodge

Muotkan Ruoktu is a lodge on Route 92, the road towards Nordkapp, and you drive there yourself. Its trip goes by traditional wooden sleigh through the Muotkatunturi wilderness, with reindeer skins to sit on, coffee and biscuits, and talk about Sámi traditions. If you catch something, you can cook it in a kota.3

A single rod through the ice needs no paid permit in Finland, except in running water and rapids with migratory fish and in areas closed or needing their own permit;4 what a guide adds is the drill, the gear and the knowledge of where the ice holds. Longer days on the ice, from four hours with lunch to a full day with the fishing guide, are compared on the best ice fishing in Inari. How an afternoon on the ice goes is in ice fishing in Lapland, and the rest of the village is on the Inari destination page.

Tours you can book

Questions people ask

Where do we meet the fishing guide if we book on the platform?

At a turning off the road marked by a red sign reading Lake Inari Mobile Cabins, as the platform listing puts it, with a map pin. The same company's reindeer listing warns that map apps can lead you to the neighbour, so follow the sign in the last stretch. Booked on the guide's own site instead, the trip collects you from your hotel in Inari village.

Can children come?

The lodge on Route 92 says its trip is open to everyone, families with children included. Wilderness Hotel Inari takes children from four on its activities, three-year-olds only on shorter ones and nobody younger, and gives children up to fourteen thirty per cent off. The fishing guide prints no age limit, so give ages when you book. Which trips suit which ages is on the family ice fishing page.

What should we wear?

The fishing guide lends clothing if needed on bookings made on his site, and the hotel's winter prices include overalls, boots and gloves. The lodge recommends Arctic layers, a hat and warm socks. Whichever you book, wear wool or synthetic layers underneath: you sit still on the ice for most of the two hours, so dress warmer than for a walk.

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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