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Meeting Santa Claus in Levi: which programme to book

A small knitted Santa figure with a red hat and white beard standing in fresh snow

Illustration photo: a knitted Santa figure in the snow, not from any of the programmes compared here.

Lapland Handbook Staff How we research this

The short answer

Choose on the age of your youngest child and on whether you want the meeting to yourselves. For small children, a short private meeting or a sled ride to a cabin keeps the afternoon manageable. For a family that wants a whole afternoon of activities around Santa, the elf park is the fuller day. The snowshoe hike suits older children only. Ask how long the meeting itself lasts, because only one programme says.

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.

Arctic Shaman: private meetingPolar Lights: cabin by sledArcandia: Elf CourtAlex Tar: snowshoe hike
Price €150 €201 €174 €139 – the lowest price per person
Length 2.5 h 1 h 3 h 4 h
Time with Santa About 30 min Not stated Not stated Not stated
Private Yes Yes No No, up to 4
How you get there As arranged, with a sleigh ride on site Husky sled or snowmobile sleigh Not stated On snowshoes
Age rule on the listing Not stated All ages Some activities by height or age From 10, up to 60

Highlighted figures are the best in that row: the lowest price per person. All four listings price per person. Only price is marked; a longer programme is not a better one for a three-year-old, and privacy is a preference rather than a ranking.

Where these figures come from
  • Arctic Shaman: private meeting: The meeting is the point: your family alone with Santa in a Lappish hut, greeted by name, with reindeer feeding and a sleigh ride around a lake either side of it.
  • Polar Lights: cabin by sled: The journey is the point: a husky sled or a snowmobile sleigh through the forest to a log cabin, a private moment with Santa, and back within the hour. Short enough for the smallest children, and the dearest ticket.
  • Arcandia: Elf Court: The busiest afternoon: an elf-themed park with a guide of your own, gingerbread, crafts, sliding and games, and a meeting with Santa among it. The fullest programme for children old enough to run between activities.
  • Alex Tar: snowshoe hike: A walk first and a Santa second: a four-hour outing on snowshoes to a cabin on the fell, with a sausage barbecue, in a group of four at most. For older children and fit parents only.

Nothing in Levi works like a Santa office you walk into. Every meeting is a programme you book, with a time, a price and something built around it, and the four on sale here are built around very different afternoons. Choosing between them is mostly a question of how old your children are and how much else you want the day to hold.

For small children

Keep it short and keep it private. Polar Lights Tours takes you by husky sled or snowmobile sleigh through the forest to a log cabin, gives you a private moment with Santa and has you back within the hour, which is the right length for a toddler.

Arctic Shaman Adventures is the other private meeting, longer and gentler: a Lappish hut, a sleigh ride around a lake, reindeer to feed and biscuits to decorate around a meeting with Santa that the listing puts at about half an hour. It is the only programme of the four that tells you that figure, and that is a reason to prefer it on its own.

For a whole afternoon

Arcandia’s Elf Court is less a meeting than a small theme park: each group gets its own elf as a guide, and the afternoon runs through gingerbread, crafts, sliding and games around the meeting with Santa. It suits children who want to be busy. Some of its activities have their own height or age limits, so a younger sibling may sit a few of them out.

For older children who like a walk

Alex Tar Production’s snowshoe hike is the most demanding afternoon of the four: a long walk on snowshoes to a Santa cabin on the fell, with a sausage barbecue. Its age limits rule out anyone under ten.

Levi or Rovaniemi for Santa?

If the meeting with Santa is the reason for the trip rather than one afternoon of it, Rovaniemi has what Levi does not: a Santa you can visit without booking. Meeting Santa Claus in Rovaniemi sets out what that involves and what the paid options there add. For how Levi’s Santa compares with the ones in Saariselkä and Salla, Santa beyond Rovaniemi covers all three. The rest of the resort is on the Levi destination page.

What each Santa programme costs a family of four, per hour and per minute with Santa where the listing says, is worked out in Santa Claus visit prices in Levi.

Tours you can book

Questions people ask

Is there a programme with Mrs Claus as well?

Yes. Scandinavian Travel Group runs a two-hour programme in a hideaway cabin about fifteen minutes from Levi centre, with transport from the village, more than an hour with Santa, his elf and Mrs Claus, and a gingerbread workshop. It runs from 19 November to 6 March and is for children aged 3 to 18. Its page does not publish a price, which is why it is not in the table, and it is sold on the operator's own site rather than through the marketplaces.

What should we prepare before a private meeting?

For Arctic Shaman Adventures' private meeting, two things. Santa greets the children by their names and ages, which the operator collects when you book, so give them accurately. And the gifts Santa hands out are yours to bring, or to arrange with the operator in advance; the listing is clear they are not included. A present wrapped at home and handed over quietly on arrival is what makes the moment work, so settle it before the day rather than at the door.

What if the weather is bad on the day?

Arcandia says its programme runs whatever the weather and that each session is adjusted to the group and the conditions, so some elements may be swapped for others. The other three listings say nothing about the weather. With small children the realistic worry is cold rather than cancellation; dress them for standing still outdoors, since much of every programme here is spent outside before and after the meeting itself.

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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