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Ice fishing price in Kemi: what each trip costs and covers

Aerial view of pale, broken sea ice with a dark patch of open water ringed by thin new ice

Illustration photo: sea ice from above, not at one of the trips described here.

Lapland Handbook Staff How we research this

The short answer

For the most time and the most included, the pond day covers the pickup from your hotel, a long day on the ice and a meal, at the lower price. The snowmobile trip onto the bay costs more for less time, with the machine and the outfit in the price, and driving one alone costs extra. Neither prints a child fare, so a family total needs a question to each seller first.

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.

Sea Lapland Safaris, afternoonSea Lapland Safaris, morningLapland Salmon LodgeIisland, Ii
Price €155 a person Not stated €120 a person – the lowest published price €140 a person, or from €250
Length 2 h Not stated 5 h, with transport 2 h, or 3 h
Per hour €77.50 Not stated €24 €70 at the per-person price
Two adults €310 Not stated €240 €280 at the per-person price
Included Snowmobile, outfit, hot drinks Not stated Hotel pickup, soup meal Equipment, warm tent
Extras named Solo driving, €55 Not stated None named Winter clothing rental
Free cancellation Up to 24 h before Not stated Up to 24 h before Not stated

Highlighted figures are the best in that row: the lowest published price. Prices as printed; none of the four publishes a child fare. Per-hour figures divide the price by the listed length, which for the pond includes the drive there and back.

Where these figures come from
  • Sea Lapland Safaris, afternoon: By snowmobile from the safari house in town onto the frozen Bothnian Bay, every day at one, sold on a booking platform.
  • Sea Lapland Safaris, morning: A second trip onto the bay every day at eleven, listed only on the company's own site with its details inside the booking system.
  • Lapland Salmon Lodge: A private pond in Keminmaa, with pickup from hotels in Kemi and Tornio and the catch cooked into a salmon soup in a hut.
  • Iisland, Ii: A private family trip onto the sea ice down the coast in Ii, with the equipment and a warm tent provided.

The trips around Kemi are priced per person and differ less in the money than in what the money buys.

Per hour, the pond goes furthest

Divided by the hours on each listing, the pond day costs far less per hour than either trip onto the sea ice. Its hours include the drive from your hotel and a meal, so part of what looks like fishing time is travel and lunch; even so, it is the most day for the money. The snowmobile trip is the dearest by the hour, with the machine and the outfit in its price.

What a family pays

This is where the listings run out. None of them prints a child fare, so the table stops at two adults, and a family of four cannot be priced from the pages alone. Ask each seller what a child pays before comparing totals, and on the snowmobile trip ask how small children travel, since that may change the price as well as the ride.

Tours you can book

Questions people ask

Why does the Ii trip show two prices?

Because it is listed in two places. The booking platform gives 140 euros a person for two hours as a private group, and the national tourism listing gives from 250 euros for three hours without saying whether that is per person or per group. The two may describe different lengths of the same trip, so ask the company which applies to your party.

Is it cheaper to book on the companies' own sites?

We could not tell. The safari company and the pond lodge both show their own prices only inside booking systems that did not open for us, so the figures here are the ones printed on the booking platform. Elsewhere in Lapland own-site and platform prices do differ, so it is worth opening both before paying.

Do we pay anything for the fishing itself?

Usually not. Under the national fee table, ice fishing with one rod costs nothing and needs no fisheries management fee. The exceptions are rapids and running sections of waters with migratory fish, and places that need a site-specific permit, so ask the pond lodge whether its pond is one. The trip price itself is for the guide, the transport, the gear and, at the pond, the meal.

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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