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Northern lights tour prices from Posio: what the money buys

Green and pink aurora over a still lake with a dark wooded island, the sky reflected in the water

Illustration photo: the aurora over a lake in southern Finland, not in Posio.

Lapland Handbook Staff How we research this

The short answer

Count heads before you compare. The Posio car costs the same for two people as for eight, so it only becomes good value from about six people. Below that, the per-seat evenings in Salla, Kemijärvi and Ranua cost far less in money and more in driving. Salla's sleigh ride is the cheapest and has a child fare; the long car tours include winter clothing and photographs; only the Posio car refunds if the camera sees 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.

Posio private carSalla sleigh rideKemijärvi heated sleighRanua car tour
Price €1,850 per group up to 8 €89 €115 €269
Child fare Not stated €46 (3–11) €57.50 (under 15), 3 and under free Not stated
Two adults €1,850 €178 Needs 4 adults €538
Family of four €1,850 €270 €345, if 2 more adults book Not stated

No row is ranked: one price covers a whole car and the others a seat each. A family of four here is two adults and two children of the ages each child fare covers, totalled only from the fares each operator prints.

Where these figures come from
  • Posio private car: Seven hours in a private car for the whole party, with a campfire, drinks and sausages, starting in Posio.
  • Salla sleigh ride: About two hours in a sleigh behind a snowmobile to a hut near Ruuhitunturi, an hour and a half from Posio.
  • Kemijärvi heated sleigh: Two and a half hours in a heated sleigh with thermal clothing lent, 85 minutes from Posio, run for four adults or more.
  • Ranua car tour: Six hours by car with a campfire meal, winter outerwear and photographs, 65 minutes from Posio.

An aurora evening from Posio costs either one sum for a car or a price per seat somewhere else. The two are not directly comparable, and the arithmetic below is how to make them so.

The group price

The Posio tour charges 1,850 euros for up to eight people, whether two of you go or eight.1 For a couple that is 925 euros each; for six it is about 308, and for eight about 231, which is below the six-hour car tour in Ranua.

The per-seat prices

Salla’s sleigh ride is the cheapest guided evening in reach and prints a fare for children of three to eleven.2 Kemijärvi’s heated sleigh costs a little more, lets the youngest ride free and runs only when four adults have booked.3 The long car tours from Kemijärvi, at 149 euros a head, and Ranua cost the most of the shared evenings, and are the ones that take photographs of you.

Where the break-even lies

Below about six people, the per-seat evenings cost less even with the drive. From six upwards, the Posio car costs about the same per head as the dearer shared tours, starts at your door and keeps the whole night for your party.

What the Posio tour includes is described on northern lights in Posio, and the choice by party on the best northern lights tour from Posio.

Questions people ask

Is there a difference between booking on the platform and with the operator?

For one Kemijärvi evening there is a small one. The resort's kota evening costs 115 euros a head on the booking platform, with free cancellation up to 24 hours ahead. The same resort's heated-sleigh evening, sold on its own site, is also 115 euros but shows a child fare the platform listing does not, and its page gives no cancellation terms. Check both before booking a family.

Does any of these refund a cloudy night?

Only the Posio car, and on its own terms: a full refund if no aurora is visible in the camera. The shared evenings in Kemijärvi and Salla say the aurora is not guaranteed and print no refund for cloud, so what you pay for there is the evening itself, the sleigh, the fire and the drink, whatever the sky does.

What extra costs should we expect?

For the shared evenings, the drive: Ranua is just over an hour from Posio, Kemijärvi an hour and a half and Salla about the same, each way. Clothing is included on the Kemijärvi and Ranua car tours and on the Kemijärvi sleigh evening but not listed for the Salla ride or the Posio car. The Posio car includes drinks and sausages at a campfire; the Kemijärvi evenings a hot drink and a snack.

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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