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Reindeer safari in Salla: which outing to book

A pair of reindeer pulling a low wooden sled across snow, with the driver holding a long pole behind them

Illustration photo: a reindeer sled on snow, not in Salla.

Lapland Handbook Staff How we research this

The short answer

Book the day safari at Salla Wilderness Park if you want to handle a reindeer yourself: a lesson, then your own reindeer and sleigh behind the guide, with a picnic in a hut. Book the evening ride if you would rather sit back and watch the sky from a fire by an open swamp. Choose the snowmobile trip to a reindeer farm only if you also want a long day of riding.

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.

Salla Wilderness Park: drive a reindeerSalla Wilderness Park: after darkSallatunturin Tuvat: farm by snowmobile
Price €116 – the lowest price shown €116 – the lowest price shown €167
With the reindeer You drive your own Tied in a line; you ride Feed them at the farm
When Day After dark Day
Duration 3 h 3 h 5–6 h
Food Sausage, hot drink, bun Hot berry juice or chocolate Soup lunch, coffee
Season Dec–Apr Dec–Mar Not stated

Highlighted figures are the best in that row: the lowest price shown. All three prices are per adult; the Sallatunturin Tuvat price is for two to a snowmobile. Only the price is marked.

Where these figures come from
  • Salla Wilderness Park: drive a reindeer: Three hours with your own reindeer and sleigh behind the guide after a lesson, a feeding stop and a picnic in a hut. The one where you hold the reins.
  • Salla Wilderness Park: after dark: Through forest and open swamp with the reindeer tied in a line, a fire by the swamp and hot berry juice or chocolate.
  • Sallatunturin Tuvat: farm by snowmobile: About 70 km by snowmobile to a reindeer farm in the wilderness, soup lunch and coffee in a Lapp hut, and reindeer to feed.

Reindeer outings in Salla come from two companies, and Salla Wilderness Park, with its own reindeer park, sells two quite different ways to spend time with them.

Driving your own reindeer

On Salla Wilderness Park’s day safari a guide shows you how to handle a reindeer, then you drive your own reindeer and sleigh through the winter forest behind the guide. You stop to feed the females and calves, for photographs and for a picnic of sausage, hot drinks and a bun in a Lappish hut, and leave with a reindeer driving licence.

Riding after dark

The park’s evening ride sets off from the reindeer park after nightfall with the reindeer tied one to another, so there is nothing to steer. The route crosses forest and open swamp, stops to feed the reindeer, and pauses at a fire by a swamp that opens to the north, away from any lights.

A farm by snowmobile

Sallatunturin Tuvat’s day trip is mostly a snowmobile safari: about 70 km to a reindeer farm in the wilderness, with a soup lunch in a Lapp hut and reindeer to feed. It suits riders who want the farm as the goal of a long day out.

What a reindeer farm visit usually includes elsewhere is in the Rovaniemi reindeer farm guide. The rest of Salla is on the Salla destination page.

Which outings publish a child’s fare, and what two adults and two children pay on each, is set out in family snowmobile safari in Salla.

Tours you can book

Priced per person

Price not stated

Questions people ask

Is driving a reindeer difficult?

The park calls it quite simple and a relaxing way to move through the winter forest, and a guide gives a lesson on handling the reindeer before you set off, then leads the way. At the end you get a reindeer driving licence as a souvenir. On the evening ride you do not drive; the reindeer are tied to each other.

What can we do with reindeer in summer?

Salla Wilderness Park runs a two-hour Kössi reindeer programme in the snow-free season for 37 euros: a talk on the reindeer year, a nature display, then a drive in your own car to a feeding place about 1.5 km away, and coffee with a bun in a hut. The park's trails can also be walked on a week ticket.

Do children pay the same?

No. The wilderness park charges children from three to twelve half price on both of its outings here, seats a child in a parent's sleigh rather than on one of their own, and lends everyone overalls, safari boots and mittens. The snowmobile trip to the farm prints no child fare, since it is priced per rider.

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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