Private reindeer tour in Utsjoki: how to get the herd to yourselves
Illustration photo: reindeer in snow, seen from above, not in Utsjoki.
The short answer
Ask rather than search. Email the herding company that sells only custom tours and describe what you want; or book one of the small outings on a date and time of your choosing and ask whether anyone else is booked. The local tour company will move its farm visit from the morning feeding to an afternoon or evening on request, which is the simplest way to be the only guests.
Search for a private reindeer tour in Utsjoki and nothing comes back. The village’s own tourist site lists eight companies for reindeer and names no private visit among them,1 and none of the programmes this site could read on the companies’ own pages is sold as private.
The company that only does custom tours
One of them, a herding company, does not publish a menu at all. Its site says it plans individual tours with each guest by email or message, with a sleigh ride and a visit to a herder among the things it offers.2 No price is printed, so the conversation starts with what you want and ends with a quote.
Making a small outing yours
The other route is timing. The hour at the home herd normally happens at the morning feeding, and the company will arrange an afternoon or evening visit instead if you ask.3 Ask at the same time whether anyone else is booked for that slot, before you confirm. The herding family’s programmes and the holiday village’s sleigh ride start from two people, so a couple fits the smallest group they run.
What to settle before paying
Whether anyone else can join your departure, the total for your party, and what happens to that total if you cancel. The shared outings and what each includes are set out on best reindeer tour in Utsjoki.
Tours you can book
Priced per person
A one-hour visit to a reindeer farm near Utsjoki
Run by Travel Utsjoki
From €50per person
Length1 h
Book now on GetYourGuide(opens in a new tab)
Price not stated
An hour and a half at a herding family's farm, clothing lent
Run by Aurora Reindeer
From €130pricing basis not stated
Length1.5 h
See it on the operator’s site(opens in a new tab)
Questions people ask
Will a private visit cost more?
Nobody publishes a figure for one, so there is nothing to compare. The only numbers in print are the per-person prices of the shared outings and their minimums: two people for the herding family's programmes and for the holiday village's sleigh ride. If you are asking a company to run a departure for your party alone, ask it to quote the total in writing before you commit.
Can the whole family ride in one sleigh?
None of the pages says how many people a reindeer sleigh takes, and that is worth asking before you book, because it decides whether a family of four rides together or in turns. The herding family's day ride and the holiday village's ride both include the sleigh; the farm visits by car and the hour at the home herd do not include one at all.
Is there a private option on the booking platforms?
Not for reindeer. The one Utsjoki reindeer product on the platforms is the hour at a home herd, sold per person with a limit of seven, and nothing in its listing makes it private. The private listing that does exist in Utsjoki is a riverboat trip on the Utsjoki river, a two-hour boat trip for up to four that has nothing to do with the herd.