Book now

Ice fishing in Saariselkä: which guided trip to book

Two anglers with head torches sitting by a yellow ice-fishing shelter on a frozen lake at dusk, with a dark tree line behind

Illustration photo: ice fishing on a frozen lake at dusk, not from one of the trips compared here.

Lapland Handbook Staff How we research this

The short answer

Decide how you want to reach the lake and the rest follows. For a first try at the lowest price, take the short drive to a nearby lake. For a half-day outdoors with lunch by a fire, choose between snowshoes and a snowmobile, which cost more and have age limits. If your group wants the lake to itself, one operator takes only your party. Check the clothing line, because one of the four expects you to bring your own.

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.

Safartica: by carArctic Tours: your group onlyLapland Welcome: on snowshoesLapponia Tours: by snowmobile
Price €109 – the lowest price per person €175 €184 €225
Length 2.5 h 4 h (5–6 h in the includes list) 4 h 4 h
To the lake Short car transfer People carrier, your group only On snowshoes By snowmobile or in a sleigh behind it
Meal Hot drinks Barbecue lunch Light lunch by the fire Picnic lunch; cook the catch if you have one
Winter clothing Included Bring your own Included Included
Ages on the listing Not stated Not stated 10 to 70 From 7

Highlighted figures are the best in that row: the lowest price per person. All four price per person and include the fishing gear and a guide. Only price is marked: a longer day is not better in hard frost, and how you reach the lake is a preference rather than a ranking.

Where these figures come from
  • Safartica: by car: The shortest and cheapest trip: a short drive to a lake near the village, the gear, warm clothes and a hot drink. Enough to find out whether you enjoy sitting over a hole in the ice.
  • Arctic Tours: your group only: A people carrier takes your party alone to the guide's own spot, with a barbecue lunch by the fire. It collects from Kakslauttanen and Kiilopää, but the listing asks you to bring your own winter clothing.
  • Lapland Welcome: on snowshoes: The walk is part of the trip: snowshoes through the forest to a remote lake, and lunch by a fire halfway. It suits active adults, and the age limits on both ends are the tightest here.
  • Lapponia Tours: by snowmobile: The dearest, and the one that doubles as a snowmobile trip: you drive to a wilderness lake, or ride in a sleigh behind the guide, and may cook your catch on the fire with the picnic lunch.

Nobody books a guided ice fishing trip for the technique, which the guide teaches on the spot and which is the same on every lake. The four trips in the table differ in how they get you to the ice, and the journey sets everything else: the price, how long you are out, whether there is lunch, and who can come.

The short version

Safartica drives you to a lake close to the village, hands out the gear and warm clothes and brings you back two and a half hours later. It is the cheapest trip here and the right one for a family that wants to try it once.

A lake for your group alone

Arctic Tours takes only your party, in a people carrier, to a spot of its choosing, and cooks a barbecue lunch while you fish. It is still priced per person, so a large group pays for every seat. Pack your own winter clothing: the listing does not lend it.

Getting there under your own power

Lapland Welcome’s trip starts with a snowshoe walk through the forest to a remote lake, with lunch by a fire. It is the one for people who would rather earn the view than be driven to it, and it takes nobody under ten or over seventy.

Getting there by snowmobile

Lapponia Tours combines the fishing with a snowmobile drive to a wilderness lake and a picnic lunch by a campfire, where a lucky angler can cook what they caught. It costs the most, takes children from seven and offers a seat in a sleigh behind the guide’s snowmobile for anyone who would rather not drive.

What an afternoon on the ice is like minute by minute, and what the gear lists mean, is covered for the whole region in ice fishing in Lapland. The rest of the resort is on the Saariselkä destination page.

Tours you can book

Questions people ask

Can someone who does not drive come on the snowmobile trip?

Yes. Lapponia Tours offers a seat in a sleigh pulled by the guide's snowmobile as an option, and a passenger on a shared snowmobile needs no licence. The driver must be at least 18 with a valid driving licence. The listing puts the driver's liability at up to 1,200 euros for an accident, reduced to 600 euros with a 50-euro waiver.

We are staying in Kakslauttanen or Kiilopää. Are we collected?

On some trips. Arctic Tours picks up within 20 kilometres of Saariselkä village and names Kakslauttanen and Kiilopää. Lapponia Tours does not include a pick-up from either and asks you to request a price for the transport. Safartica and Lapland Welcome collect from a list of set locations, so check yours is on it before you book.

The Arctic Tours trip says four hours and five to six. Which is it?

The listing gives both: four hours in the duration line and a five- to six-hour tour in its list of what is included. Plan the day around the longer figure until the operator confirms the start and finish times after booking. The trip is for your group only, but it is still priced per person.

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.

More about Lapland Handbook →