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Icebreaker cruise from Oulu: Sampo or Arktis

An icebreaker crossing a frozen bay past a tall white lighthouse under a pale sky

Illustration photo: an icebreaker in a frozen bay in Russia, not Sampo or Arktis.

Lapland Handbook Staff How we research this

The short answer

From Oulu, Sampo is the better value of the two than it is from Kemi, because every Oulu departure is the afternoon cruise with lunch on board and the exhibitions included. Book Arktis if you want the lower price and will buy lunch at the SnowCastle area. Either way the day starts late enough to sleep, and ends in the evening.

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.

SampoArktis
Price on the platform €536 €411 – the lower price per person on the booking platform
Price in the city programme €552 €431
Cruise 4 h 3 h
Lunch On board, included Extra
SnowCastle exhibitions Included Extra
Back in Oulu About 19:30–19:45 Not stated

Highlighted figures are the best in that row: the lower price per person on the booking platform. Only the platform price is marked, as arithmetic. The city programme's figures are shown because they are what a visitor reading the programme will see first.

Where these figures come from
  • Sampo: A four-hour afternoon cruise with lunch on board, a guided tour of the ship and the SnowCastle exhibitions.
  • Arktis: A three-hour afternoon cruise with the floating and a certificate; lunch and exhibitions extra.

Both icebreakers sold from Oulu sail from Kemi, and from Oulu both are afternoon cruises. The bus collects at three places in the city in the morning and reaches the SnowCastle area in Kemi at 11:30.12

What changes from Oulu

On the Kemi departures, lunch comes with Sampo only on the afternoon cruise. From Oulu there is only the afternoon cruise, so every Sampo booking includes a four-hour cruise with lunch on board, the ship tour and the exhibitions, back in Oulu at about half past seven. Arktis costs 125 euros less and leaves lunch and the exhibitions as extras.12

Two prices

The city’s weekly programme lists the same cruises with a transfer from Oulu, sold by the local agency Experience365, at 552 euros for Sampo and 431 for Arktis, 16 and 20 euros above the booking platform’s prices.3 We could not tell whether the agency’s price covers anything the platform’s does not, so ask before paying the higher figure.

The same cruises from other towns, and the Swedish ships sold from Kemi, Tornio and Rovaniemi, are compared in icebreaker cruises compared.

Tours you can book

Questions people ask

Where does the bus pick up in Oulu?

At three places, by the listings: Oulu City Hall on Kirkkokatu at 09:40, where you wait on the pedestrian street, the inner courtyard of Scandic City at 09:45, and the bus stop at the Aalto Hotel in Nallikari at 10:00. You choose one when you book, and the listings ask you to wait outside at the pickup point.

Which days does it run?

The booking listings open their dates only in the calendar. The city's weekly programme for 22 December to 31 March lists the Oulu cruises on Wednesdays and Saturdays only. Check the calendar for your week before planning the rest of it around a cruise, and keep a second possible day free in case the first one is full.

What if we have to cancel?

Both listings allow free cancellation up to 24 hours before, with a full refund. After that the price is not refunded, and the walk on the ice depends on the weather and may not be possible early in the season, so if walking on the frozen sea matters most, a date later in the winter is the safer choice than one in December.

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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