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Ranua Wildlife Park, from Rovaniemi

A reindeer head in close-up with fresh snow across its brow and muzzle, short antlers in velvet, a second reindeer out of focus behind it

Illustration photo: a reindeer in close-up with snow on its face.

Lapland Handbook Staff How we research this

The short answer

Price the transport, not the ticket. For a family, the cheapest way to Ranua from Rovaniemi is a shared tour sold on the booking platforms with park entry in the price, provided the listing says entry is included, because not all of them do. A private family trip costs more and adds lunch, winter clothing and a guide of your own; a taxi with tickets bought online costs in between and lets you keep your own hours. In summer, check that the tour actually runs before building a day around it.

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.

AMG Travel: shared tourArctic Safari Guides: four hoursNordic Odyssey: privateTaxi and tickets online
Two adults and two children €320 – the lowest price for a family of four €328 €500 €458
Child price Not stated Not stated In the family rate €20 ticket online, under 4 free
Park entry Included Included Included €74 family ticket online
Leaves Not stated Scandic Pohjanhovi, time not stated 09:00, with pickup When you choose
Length 5 h 4 h, about 2 in the park 5 h Your choice
Group Not stated Not stated Your party only Up to 4 a taxi
Food Not included Not included Buffet lunch Not included
Winter clothing Not stated Add-on after booking Overalls and boots Not included
Runs Not stated Not stated September to April All year

Highlighted figures are the best in that row: the lowest price for a family of four. The family row is our arithmetic at published prices. The two shared tours publish no child price, so their figures assume children pay the adult price and may be lower. The private rate covers one to four people with at least one child aged four to twelve.

Where these figures come from
  • AMG Travel: shared tour: Pickup from your hotel, a minibus and the park ticket; lunch is marked as not included.
  • Arctic Safari Guides: four hours: Transport and the ticket from a central hotel, then about two hours in the park on your own; a six-hour guided option costs more.
  • Nordic Odyssey: private: A private trip priced for the booking rather than per head, with a guide, overalls and a buffet lunch after the park.
  • Taxi and tickets online: A one-way taxi for up to four booked in each direction, with a family ticket bought online. You choose the times, and nobody guides you round the park.

Tripadvisor ratings, 18 Rovaniemi operators

Highest first
Snowtrail Safaris 5.0
Nordic Odyssey 5.0
Nordic Adventures 4.9
Arctic GM 4.9
Book Lapland 4.9
Bearhill Husky 4.9
Arctic Attitude 4.9
StayLapland 4.8
Wild About Lapland 4.7
Wild Nordic 4.7
Lapland Winter Park 4.6
Safartica 4.5
Nordic Unique Travels 4.5
Apukka Resort 4.4
Lapland Welcome 4.3
Arctic Circle Snowmobile Park 4.3
Arctic Circle Husky Park 4.2
Raitola 3.4

Ratings read from Tripadvisor. The shaded compartment left of the divider holds any score below 4.0. We record the score only; review counts and review text are not part of our comparison.

Ranua Wildlife Park is the one day out from Rovaniemi that does not depend on snow, darkness or a licence. It has Finland’s only polar bears and several dozen other northern species, and it is open every day of the year. What the listings from Rovaniemi do not make clear is where the money goes.

The ticket is the small part

Park entry for a family costs less than a single adult seat on any of the tours that take you there. The rest of what a Ranua day costs is transport: about an hour each way by road, which is either built into a tour or paid to a taxi.

The ticket is also sold on GetYourGuide, for two euros fifty more than in the park’s own web shop, with free cancellation until a day before. That is the one price difference on this page that comes from where you book rather than from what you book.

Read what the listing leaves out

The cheapest shared tours on the platforms put a family of four in the park for less than a taxi and tickets would cost, because they charge per head and include the ticket. The saving holds only if the ticket really is included. AMG Travel’s listing includes it and marks lunch as not included; Arctic Safari Guides’ four-hour option includes it and leaves you about two hours in the park on your own. BookLapland’s listing, cheaper again on the day we read it and with winter clothing lent, does not name park entry among the things included at all, so ask before counting it as the cheapest.

Neither of the two cheapest publishes a child price or a start time. A family should put its own ages into the booking calendar and compare the total, not the headline.

Private trip or taxi

A private family trip costs more than either shared tour and adds a hot lunch, winter clothing, a guide and the car to yourselves. It will not take children under four, however, so a family with a toddler is left with the shared tours or the taxi.

A taxi and online tickets let a family arrive when the park opens and leave when the children are done. Nobody explains the animals, there is no lunch, and a taxi booked one way each direction needs both legs arranged in advance.

For a guided day with lunch on a fixed timetable, Nordic Adventures leaves at nine and takes groups of up to 24; the same trip is sold on both big platforms.

In summer, check the calendar

Ranua stays open in summer, with longer hours, when most of what Rovaniemi sells is closed for the season. The private trip runs only from September to April, and the shared tours’ listings publish no season at all, so a summer visitor should find a date in the booking calendar before planning around a tour, or fall back on a taxi, a hire car or the bus. The park rents pushchairs for a euro, but only in summer; support sleds and wheelchair skis can be hired in Rovaniemi.

What else there is to do in Ranua itself is on the Ranua destination page.

Tours you can book

Questions people ask

What animals are there?

Ranua Resort says the wildlife park keeps about 150 animals of 50 northern species, and that its polar bears are the only ones in Finland. Everything else is an Arctic or northern species rather than a general zoo collection, which is the point of the place. The park's own pages do not say which animals are easiest to see in winter, so if a particular animal is the reason for the trip, ask the park before booking a winter date rather than assuming it will be out.

Can we get there by bus?

Ranua Resort's FAQ says there is bus transport through Matkahuolto, the Finnish coach network, but the pages checked for this guide do not give times or a stop at the park. Check the current timetable on Matkahuolto before relying on it, and look at the return times in particular: in winter the park closes at four, and a bus that leaves Ranua much later leaves a family waiting in the dark and cold.

What if we have to cancel?

Every shared tour on this page can be cancelled free of charge until a day before on the platform that sells it. Nordic Odyssey's private trip, booked on its own site, keeps ten per cent from booking, half within seven days and everything in the last day. Park tickets bought online and a taxi booking are separate purchases with their own terms, which is the drawback of arranging the day yourself: cancelling one does not cancel the others.

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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