Northern lights in Kilpisjärvi: what the evening holds
Illustration photo: the aurora above a bare fell, not from the evening described here.
The short answer
Book it for the ride as much as for the sky. For 190 euros a guide takes you by snowmobile to a tundra lake away from light pollution, serves a hot drink and a pastry by a campfire, and photographs you under whatever the sky does. You choose between driving alone, sharing a machine or sitting in a sleigh, and the rules follow the choice: eighteen to drive, 140 centimetres to ride pillion, eight years for the sleigh.
Kilpisjärvi sits between three countries at the top of Finland’s arm, and its aurora evening starts with an engine rather than a minibus.
The ride and the lake
For 190 euros a guide leads a short snowmobile ride out to a tundra lake away from the village lights, lights a campfire there, and serves a hot drink and a pastry while you wait on the sky. The guide takes photographs, which is the part most visitors cannot manage themselves on a phone in the cold. Three hours covers all of it, and the riding is deliberately brief.
How you travel, and the rules that follow
The listing offers three ways to make the trip and attaches a rule to each. Driving a machine alone requires you to be eighteen. Sharing one puts a passenger behind the driver and sets a minimum height of 140 centimetres. A towed sleigh takes children from eight. The group minimums differ as well: two people for the snowmobile options, four for the sleigh, so a couple can ride but cannot fill a sleigh on their own.
Money and weather
Pickup is not included: the meeting place is the operator’s office, with collection from accommodation within five kilometres available for five euros a person. Anyone driving accepts a self-liability of 1,000 euros per accident, which is the highest figure we have recorded in Lapland. Cancellation is free up to 24 hours ahead, and a tour cancelled by the operator for weather is refunded in full.
The snowmobile day tours from the same company are compared on snowmobile safari in Kilpisjärvi, and the Sámi reindeer afternoon on reindeer in Kilpisjärvi.
Tours you can book
An evening snowmobile ride to a tundra lake for the aurora, with photos
Run by Kilpissafarit
From €190per person
Length3 h
Book now on GetYourGuide(opens in a new tab)
Questions people ask
How do we get to the lake?
By snowmobile, and you choose how. Driving alone is open to guests of eighteen or over with the licence the operator asks for; sharing a machine puts two of you on it with a minimum height of 140 centimetres for the passenger; and a towed sleigh takes guests from eight years old. The ride itself is short, because the point is the dark lake at the end of it rather than the distance.
What happens if the sky is empty?
The evening still happens: the ride, the campfire with a hot drink and a pastry, and the photographs the guide takes. Only the aurora is uncertain, and the listing says so. It does offer a full refund if the tour is cancelled because of the weather, which is a different thing from a cloudy sky and worth understanding before you book.
Is there a pickup?
Not in the price. The meeting place is the Kilpissafarit office, and a pickup from accommodation within five kilometres can be added for five euros a person. In a village strung along one road that is usually a short distance, but it is worth adding at booking rather than arranging a walk in the dark at minus twenty.