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Northern lights in Ranua: which evening to book

Two people beside a campfire on snow at night, green aurora arcing across the sky above dark hills and a shoreline

Illustration photo: a campfire under the aurora in Norway, not in Ranua.

Lapland Handbook Staff How we research this

The short answer

If the aurora is the point, book the six-hour hunt by car: the guide drives to wherever the sky looks best, serves a campfire meal and takes your picture with a professional camera. If you want a full evening whatever the sky does, and especially with children, book the activity park after dark, which fills three hours with sledging, skating, reindeer and a sauna by a forest lake, at a little over half the price.

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 Adventures: hunt by carLupland Adventures: park after dark
Price €269 €149 – the lowest price per person
Length 6 h 3 h
Goes looking for clear sky Yes, by car No, stays at the park
Food Campfire meal: soup, bread, sausages Campfire treats: sausage, chocolate, marshmallow
Season September to mid-April Not stated

Highlighted figures are the best in that row: the lowest price per person. Both are platform prices per person, with no child fare; the operator's own shop prices both differently and has child fares. Only price is marked.

Where these figures come from
  • Lupland Adventures: hunt by car: Six hours driving to wherever the sky looks best, with a campfire meal of soup and sausages and photographs on a professional camera. Hotel pick-up in Ranua.
  • Lupland Adventures: park after dark: Three hours at an activity park by a forest lake: skating, kicksleds, sledging, snowshoes, reindeer, e-bikes, a sauna and an ice bath, with campfire treats. Reached by a sleigh behind a snowmobile.

The two aurora evenings on the booking platforms in Ranua both come from Lupland Adventures, and they answer different wishes. One goes looking for the sky; the other gives you an evening that is worth having whether or not the sky joins in.

If the aurora is the point

The six-hour hunt by car collects you from your hotel in Ranua and drives to the spot the guide judges best for the night. It includes a campfire meal of Finnish soup, bread and grilled sausages, and photographs of you taken with a professional camera. It runs from September to mid-April.

If you want the evening either way

The park evening takes you by a sleigh towed by a snowmobile to an activity park beside a forest lake, where after sunset you can skate, ride kicksleds, sledge, walk on snowshoes, feed and lead reindeer, try e-mountain bikes and finish in a sauna with an ice bath. It costs 149 euros against 269 and needs at least two people to run.

Aurora tours with more choice of operators and ways of travelling are compared in the best northern lights tours in Rovaniemi. The same activity park by day, with the reindeer as the reason to go, is in reindeer in Ranua, and the rest of the village is on the Ranua destination page.

What the same activity park costs by day and after sunset, and what the hunt by car adds, is worked out in northern lights tour prices in Ranua.

Ranua’s other aurora evenings, sold on the operator’s own shop and at the resort reception, including a shorter night at a viewing fire and sleighs behind horses or reindeer, are compared on the best northern lights tour in Ranua.

An hour north, Posio sells no shared evening at all and one private car at 1,850 euros: northern lights in Posio works out what that means for two people.

Tours you can book

Questions people ask

Are we collected from our accommodation?

For the hunt by car, yes: the listing starts with a pick-up from your hotel in Ranua, and says a pick-up can be arranged from the Ranua Resort Arctic Igloos reception or the Safari Lodge if you tell the company in advance. For the park evening you start at the company's base at Arctic Guesthouse & Igloos and travel on to the park by a sleigh towed by a snowmobile.

What do we wear?

Both listings lend winter outerwear, and the park evening describes it as high-quality winter clothing. Bring warm layers to wear underneath all the same, since waiting for the sky is done outdoors after dark. The park evening also includes a sauna and an ice bath, so ask the company what to bring for them if you mean to take part.

What if the sky stays cloudy?

Neither listing says it cancels for cloud, and neither mentions a refund for an empty sky. That is the argument for the park evening if the forecast is poor: its three hours are full of other things to do. The hunt by car makes most sense on a night when the forecast gives the guide some clear sky to drive towards.

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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