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Ice fishing price in Ranua: what you pay for

A hand lifting one of a row of freshly caught striped perch from a metal smoking tray

Illustration photo: perch ready for the grill, not from a Ranua trip.

Lapland Handbook Staff How we research this

The short answer

The guided morning is the cheapest way onto the ice in Ranua. Of the two snowmobile trips, the Wildlife Park resort's is cheaper, especially for a family, because its child fare is less than half the adult one; the activity company's longer day adds a campfire dinner. Book only once your dates are firm: inside two weeks, one company keeps half the price or more and the other refunds nothing.

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.

Lupland: guided morningLupland: snowmobile and dinnerRanua Resort: snowmobile safariJauri Resort, Kemijärvi
Adult €99 €198 €169 €83 – the lowest adult price
Child €89, age 0–14 €179, age 0–14 €80, age 3–14 €35, age 4–11; under 3 free
Two adults, two children €376 €754 €498 €236 – the lowest family total, for children the fare covers
Food Hot drink, grilled catch Campfire dinner Not stated Warm drink
Named extras None listed Damage waiver, €50 a driver Riding alone, €49 None listed
Winter clothing Included Included Resort guests only Included
Cancellation 20 % fee from 14 days, more after 20 % fee from 14 days, more after Free until 14 days, no refund after Not stated

Highlighted figures are the best in that row: the lowest adult price and the lowest family total, for children the fare covers. All prices per person as printed; the family totals are our arithmetic, for children inside each child band. The activity company's day package, at 379 euros an adult and 349 a child, is left out to keep the table to four columns.

Where these figures come from
  • Lupland: guided morning: Two and a half hours on a lake with transport, lent clothing and gear, a hot drink and the catch grilled if anything bites.
  • Lupland: snowmobile and dinner: Five hours: about two on a snowmobile you drive, two fishing, and a campfire dinner of soup, bread and dessert at the lake.
  • Ranua Resort: snowmobile safari: Three hours by snowmobile from the Wildlife Park to a small wilderness lake, two guests to a machine, with a damage waiver in the adult price.
  • Jauri Resort, Kemijärvi: Two hours on the lake beside the resort, with clothing, equipment, fishing licences and a warm drink, about 1 h 40 min from Ranua.

Ranua’s ice fishing is sold by two local companies directly, not on the booking platforms, so each company’s own prices and terms are the only ones there are.

What moves the price

The fishing is much the same on every trip; what you pay for is everything wrapped around it. The activity company’s morning trip covers transport to the lake, lent gear and clothing, a guide and a hot drink. Its snowmobile day doubles the price by adding the ride and a campfire dinner at the lake, and its day package adds an evening at the activity park on top, with children up to fourteen paying a little less on each. The Wildlife Park resort’s snowmobile ride sits between the two on the adult price and charges children from three less than half of it, which is what makes it the cheaper snowmobile trip for a family.

The snowmobile excess

On the activity company’s snowmobile day each driver carries up to 980 euros of liability for damage per incident, cut to 150 euros by a 50-euro waiver bought before you set off.1 For a family with two drivers that is 100 euros more on top of the table. The resort puts a waiver into its adult price instead, which caps the driver’s liability at 500 euros, and charges 49 euros more to anyone who wants a machine to themselves.2

Cancelling

This is where buying from the operators costs you. The activity company charges a fifth of the booking even when you cancel fourteen days or more ahead, half between seven and thirteen days, and the whole price inside a week or if you do not turn up.3 A family of four that cancels the morning trip three weeks ahead still pays 75.20 euros. The resort refunds in full up to fourteen days before and nothing at all after that.4 The activity company’s snowmobile safaris on a booking platform can be cancelled free up to a day before, but cost more there, and neither company’s ice fishing is on the platforms at all.

The trips themselves are compared on ice fishing in Ranua.

Tours you can book

Questions people ask

Is it cheaper to book the morning trip and a separate snowmobile safari?

No. On the activity company's own site its one-hour snowmobile safari is 99 euros, the same as the fishing morning, so the two together cost an adult 198 euros, exactly the price of the combined day. The combined day gives about two hours on the snowmobile rather than one and adds the campfire dinner, so for anyone who wants both, it is the better buy.

Does the pickup from Ranua Resort cost extra?

The pages do not say. The activity company offers to collect guests from Ranua Resort's Arctic Igloos reception or its Safari House, asks to be told well in advance, and prints no price for it, while the morning trip lists transportation among the things included. Ask whether the pickup falls under that when you book, so it does not turn up as a surprise on the bill.

Do we have to buy a fishing licence on top?

Not for ice fishing with one rod. The national fee table puts it in the no-charge row for every age, and the fee most visitors read about, 6 euros a day or 16 a week, is for adults of 18 to 69 who fish with lures or traps. None of the Ranua trips mentions licences, and on these trips you fish with the rod you are lent.

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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