Snowmobile and ice fishing from Rovaniemi
The short answer
Decide whether anyone wants to drive. If so, book a tour where you drive the snowmobile yourself, check that the driver is eighteen with a licence, and read the damage excess. If the snowmobile is only the way to reach a quiet lake, book a tour with a towed sleigh, which needs no licence and suits small children. Then compare the fishing time, since the published figures range from an unstated amount to around two hours, and the food, which runs from hot drinks to a campfire meal.
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.
| Snowtrail: sleigh to the lake | StayLapland: self-drive | Lapland Royal: self-drive | |
|---|---|---|---|
| From | €159 | €149 — the lowest starting price | €149 — the lowest starting price |
| Getting to the lake | Towed sleigh, nobody drives | You drive, two to a machine | You drive, two to a machine |
| Driving time | None | About 1 h | About 1 h |
| Fishing time | Not stated | 1.5–2 h | Not stated |
| Length | 4 h | 5 h | 4 h |
| Damage excess | No driving | €900, less with a €25 waiver | Not stated |
| Food | Grilled sausage by a campfire | Food by a campfire | Hot drinks |
-
Snowtrail: sleigh to the lake
- From
- €159
- Getting to the lake
- Towed sleigh, nobody drives
- Driving time
- None
- Fishing time
- Not stated
- Length
- 4 h
- Damage excess
- No driving
- Food
- Grilled sausage by a campfire
Our own supplier. Where the sleigh suits a group and where it falls short is set out in its own section below.
-
StayLapland: self-drive
- From
- €149 — the lowest starting price
- Getting to the lake
- You drive, two to a machine
- Driving time
- About 1 h
- Fishing time
- 1.5–2 h
- Length
- 5 h
- Damage excess
- €900, less with a €25 waiver
- Food
- Food by a campfire
A five-hour day that starts at eleven every day, with a meal by a campfire in a teepee and winter clothing in children's sizes.
-
Lapland Royal: self-drive
- From
- €149 — the lowest starting price
- Getting to the lake
- You drive, two to a machine
- Driving time
- About 1 h
- Fishing time
- Not stated
- Length
- 4 h
- Damage excess
- Not stated
- Food
- Hot drinks
The shortest programme of the two self-drive tours, with rods, bait and tools included and hot drinks rather than a meal. Its starting price is on the operator's list of tours rather than the tour page.
Highlighted figures are the best in that row: the lowest starting price. Only the price carries a mark. Driving or riding is a choice rather than a ranking, and the damage excess cannot be compared when one tour has no driving and another publishes no figure.
Where these figures come from
- Snowtrail: sleigh to the lake snowtrailsafaris.com read 10 Sept 2026
- StayLapland: self-drive staylapland.com read 17 Sept 2026
- Lapland Royal: self-drive laplandroyaladventures.fi read 17 Sept 2026
- Snowtrail: sleigh to the lake: Our own supplier. Where the sleigh suits a group and where it falls short is set out in its own section below.
- StayLapland: self-drive: A five-hour day that starts at eleven every day, with a meal by a campfire in a teepee and winter clothing in children's sizes.
- Lapland Royal: self-drive: The shortest programme of the two self-drive tours, with rods, bait and tools included and hot drinks rather than a meal. Its starting price is on the operator's list of tours rather than the tour page.
Two kinds of tour are sold as snowmobile and ice fishing in Rovaniemi. On one, you drive a snowmobile out to a frozen lake, fish, and drive back. On the other, the guide tows your group in a sleigh and you never touch the controls. Both end at the same kind of hole in the ice, and they suit different groups.
What ice fishing itself is like, and why the stillness is the point, is in the ice fishing guide. Who may drive a snowmobile, and why two share one, is in the snowmobile safari guide.
Drive to the lake, or be driven
If someone in the group wants to drive, the self-drive tours give about an hour at the controls, shared with a second rider, spread over the ride out and back. That is a real taste of a snowmobile and not a safari, and it comes with the usual conditions: a driver of eighteen with a licence, and a damage excess on the machine.
If the snowmobile is only the way to reach a quiet lake, the sleigh is the better purchase. Nobody needs a licence, nobody carries a damage liability, and a small child sits with the family instead of in a separate sled behind the guide. What you give up is the driving, which for some groups is the reason they wanted a snowmobile at all.
How much of the day is fishing
Only StayLapland publishes it, and on its tour the fishing takes longer than the driving. Snowtrail describes its fishing as at your own pace and Lapland Royal Adventures does not give a time, so on both it is worth asking how long you will be on the ice.
That matters in both directions. A group that loves it will want the longer stay; a group that finds the cold and the stillness hard will be glad of a shorter one. The ice fishing guide is the honest test of which you are.
Where Snowtrail wins and where it loses
Snowtrail supplies this site. Its tour is the one for a family with young children or a group without a licensed driver: the sleigh takes everyone, the food is cooked over a campfire, and there is no liability for a machine. It is also described as private, which matters on a frozen lake where the quiet is the appeal.
It loses on the driving, which it does not offer, and on what it leaves unpublished: how long you fish, and whether its price is for each person or for the private group. It is the dearest of the three by a small margin if the price is per person, and could be much the cheapest for a family if it is per group. Ask before comparing.
All three assume the fishing is worth the trip. If that is the part you are least sure about, what ice fishing in Lapland is actually like covers what happens on the ice, what you catch and where you can fish for nothing — worth reading before paying for the ride out to it.
Questions people ask
Can children come, and where do they sit?
On all three, with different rules. Snowtrail's sleigh tour takes children from three, and nobody drives, so a child simply rides with the family. StayLapland does not recommend its tour for children under three and puts a child shorter than 140 cm in a sled pulled by the snowmobile. Lapland Royal Adventures says its tour is suitable for children over two, who ride in a sled or, from 140 cm, behind an adult. StayLapland charges a child tall enough for the snowmobile seat the adult price; Lapland Royal Adventures' page does not say what a child pays.
What do we actually catch?
Probably small fish, possibly none. Lapland Royal Adventures names perch and roach as the usual catch, and none of the three operators promises anything. None of their pages says whether the catch is cooked on the day or can be taken away, so if cooking your own fish is part of the plan, ask. Snowtrail's campfire snack is grilled sausage and StayLapland serves its own food by a campfire, so lunch does not depend on the ice.
What if we have to cancel?
StayLapland refunds in full until 24 hours before the tour and keeps the whole price after that, and Lapland Royal Adventures' terms also charge the full amount within 24 hours. Snowtrail's tour page promises free cancellation up to 24 hours before departure, but its general terms charge half from seven days out and the whole price in the final day, so ask which applies before booking a date that might move.
