Book now

Private northern lights tours in Levi, priced per group

Silhouette of a person standing beside a camera on a tripod under a faint green aurora in a dark sky

Illustration photo: a photographer under the aurora, not on one of the tours compared here.

Lapland Handbook Staff How we research this

The short answer

A private tour pays off when your group is close to the size it is priced for, because a couple pays the same as a full van. For four to six people it can cost about the same per head as a shared tour, and the evening is yours. For two, it is a luxury rather than a saving. Choose on how long you want to be out and on what each operator does if the sky stays dark, since only one gives money back for a night without the aurora.

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.

Lazy Santa SafarisKotona LaplandArctic GM ExperiencesWandering Owl
Price for the group €684 – the lowest group price €750 €1,700 €2,240
Group of up to 6 4 8 8
Per head with a full group €114 – the lowest cost per person when the group is full €187.50 €212.50 €280
Length 5 h 2 h 8 h (usually 6–10) 6 h
If no aurora 50% back Not stated Refund only if the tour does not start Not stated
Photos By an amateur photographer Professional shoot, edited DSLR photos Professional photos
Food Not stated Hot drinks and snacks Not stated Hot dinner
Winter clothing Included Not stated Not stated Thermal suits and boots

Highlighted figures are the best in that row: the lowest group price and the lowest cost per person when the group is full. The per-head row is our arithmetic, the group price divided by the most people it covers; a smaller group pays the same total and more per head.

Where these figures come from
  • Lazy Santa Safaris: The one to book for four to six people: five hours in a 4x4 with no distance limit, winter clothing included, and the stops chosen for your group alone.
  • Kotona Lapland: A photo shoot rather than a hunt: two hours with a professional photographer, the pictures edited and delivered afterwards. Short, and priced for four, so it is the one private option that suits a couple reasonably.
  • Arctic GM Experiences: The all-night private chase: a van for up to eight that keeps going until the sky clears, typically six to ten hours.
  • Wandering Owl: The dearest, and the one that makes an occasion of it: a campfire in the wilderness, a hot dinner and thermal suits and boots for everyone. Priced for eight, so it makes most sense for a larger family or group of friends.

Private aurora tours in Levi are sold per group, and the four in the table cover groups of different sizes: up to four, up to six, and up to eight. That makes the headline prices hard to compare, so the table adds one line of arithmetic: what each costs per head when the group is full. On that measure the order stays the same but the gaps narrow, and the cheapest private tour comes close to the price of a shared evening.

When private is worth it

For four to six people, Lazy Santa Safaris is the clear choice on price. Divided across a full group it costs about what a shared aurora evening in Levi costs per head, and the evening, the vehicle and the stops are yours.

For a group of eight, the choice is between two very different nights. Arctic GM keeps driving for as long as it takes to find a clear sky, which is the better bet in a cloudy week. Wandering Owl costs more and spends the evening at a fire in the wilderness with a hot meal, which is the better night out if the aurora is the hope rather than the whole point.

When it is not

For a couple, a private tour priced for six or eight is a luxury. Kotona Lapland’s photo tour is the exception worth considering: it is priced for four, it lasts two hours rather than a whole night, and what it sells is a set of professional photographs of you under the sky, which a shared tour will not give you.

What “guarantee” means on these listings

Two of the four use the word. Lazy Santa Safaris’ guarantee is half the price back if you see nothing, which is a real promise about the aurora. Arctic GM’s is a full refund if the weather stops the tour starting at all; once the tour has set off, the listing offers nothing for an empty sky. Neither is wrong, but they are not the same promise, and the difference is worth knowing before you choose on the word.

The shared aurora tours, from a campfire to an all-night chase, are compared in the Levi northern lights guide. The Levi destination page has everything else in the resort.

If you would rather have one tour named for your situation, cloudy forecast, tight budget, children or camera, see the best northern lights tour in Levi.

What each tour costs per hour, and the party size at which a private tour costs less than shared seats, is worked out in northern lights tour prices in Levi.

Tours you can book

Questions people ask

Does a couple pay less than a full group?

No. All four listings price per group up to a maximum, so two people pay the same as four, six or eight. That is the whole arithmetic of a private tour: the per-head figures in the table only hold when the group is full, and for a couple the Lazy Santa tour at €684 works out at €342 each, more than any of the shared evenings compared in the Levi northern lights guide. If there are only two of you, a shared tour with a small group limit is the closer substitute.

Can we bring young children?

Two listings set a lower limit. Wandering Owl does not take children under four on its wilderness evening, and Kotona Lapland's photo tour is not suitable for babies under one. Lazy Santa Safaris and Arctic GM do not say. With only your own group on board, it is worth asking whether the evening can end early if a child has had enough; the listings do not say, and a long drive at night is still a long drive.

Will they pick us up from a cabin outside the village?

All four listings include collection from your accommodation. Kotona Lapland and Lazy Santa Safaris each define the area they cover on a map at booking, and Lazy Santa says its tour starts from your accommodation at Levi. If you are staying in a cabin some distance from the village, check that your address falls inside the area before you pay, and ask what happens if it does not.

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.

More about Lapland Handbook →