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Northern lights in Ylitornio: the evenings you can book

A faint green aurora above a flat snowy field with ski tracks, a dark treeline and the lights of a few houses

Illustration photo: an aurora in Finland, not in Ylitornio.

Lapland Handbook Staff How we research this

The short answer

If the aurora is the point, book the car-based hunt that picks up at Ylitornio and Aavasaksa: it is the only evening here built around the forecast and it refunds you if the weather rules the night out. If you want an evening out in the dark whatever the sky does, book one of the activity centre's two outings instead, the sled with children and the snowmobile without.

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.

e-Coach aurora huntAavasaksa Adventures: Evening SledAavasaksa Adventures: Evening Snowmobiling
Price €99 Not stated Not stated
Built around The aurora The dark The dark
Duration 3–5 h 2 h 2 h
Minimum age Not stated 4 12
Pick-up in Ylitornio Yes – collects you from your accommodation Not stated Not stated
Bad-weather refund Yes – money back if the weather stops the tour Not stated Not stated

Highlighted figures are the best in that row: collects you from your accommodation and money back if the weather stops the tour. The aurora hunt prices per person. The activity centre shows its prices only in a dated booking calendar, so its cells say so rather than guess.

Where these figures come from
  • e-Coach aurora hunt: Three to five hours by car to one or more viewing spots, with advice on aurora apps and money back if bad weather stops it.
  • Aavasaksa Adventures: Evening Sled: Two hours on a sled in the Arctic darkness, sold by the Aavasaksa Adventures activity centre, for children from four.
  • Aavasaksa Adventures: Evening Snowmobiling: Two hours by snowmobile in the dark with a stop by a fire, from twelve years old.

Ylitornio sells no tour with a price that calls itself an aurora hunt. What it has are evenings out in the dark, and one hunt from elsewhere that comes to collect you.

The evenings in Ylitornio

The activity centre on Kopanmäentie in Ylitornio runs two evening outings: a sled ride and a snowmobile trip with a fire, each two hours. Both are sold for the darkness itself.1 Neither is sold as an aurora tour. The kennel at Meltosjärvi says it runs northern lights husky rides too, without publishing anything more about them.2

The hunt that comes to you

The one evening sold for the aurora is a car-based hunt from Kemi. It drives to one or more viewing spots, its pick-up area names Ylitornio and Aavasaksa, and it is the only evening here with a published price.

Which to choose

Book the hunt if seeing the lights matters more than the outing, and the local evenings if the outing matters more than the lights. The Tornio evenings, 49 minutes away, are compared on northern lights in Tornio.

Tours you can book

Priced per person

Price not stated

Questions people ask

What about the husky kennel's northern lights rides?

The Meltosjärvi kennel, Matara Creek, says on the regional operators' site that it offers northern lights husky rides, but neither that site nor its own publishes a price, a length or an age limit for them. Its daytime rides are on sale through a booking platform. For an evening ride, write to the kennel and ask what it involves before you plan around it.

Where do the local evenings start?

The activity centre gives its address as Kopanmäentie 583 in Ylitornio, and its kennel visit asks guests to meet in the car park there; the evening pages name no other meeting point and mention no pick-up. The Kemi hunt, by contrast, lists pick-up and drop-off from your accommodation, with Ylitornio and Aavasaksa among the places it covers.

Could we drive to Tornio for more choice?

Tornio is 49 minutes down the valley and sells more aurora evenings than Ylitornio does, including a late watch by a fire and a snowshoe walk to an island on the Swedish side. They are set out on this site's Tornio aurora pages. Remember the drive home after midnight when you weigh a later departure against an evening that starts on your doorstep.

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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