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Snowmobile safari in Muonio: the rides you can book by themselves

Two snowmobiles crossing a wide snow-covered plateau dotted with small frosted spruces, a white fell on the horizon

Illustration photo: snowmobiles on an open fell, not on the rides described here.

Lapland Handbook Staff How we research this

The short answer

Book the two-hour ride at Nivunki Village if you want a first go: twenty kilometres to a lake and a kota, priced per person for two sharing a machine. For a longer day, the same village runs five hours to an old mill. If you are coming for a whole week with everything arranged, the big resort's packages include their own rides, but none of them can be bought on its own.

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.

Nivunki: Frosty TrailsNivunki: Old Mill ÄkäsmyllyNivunki: Särkitunturi evening
Price, sharing a machine €159 – the lowest price per person for two sharing €320 €230
Price, driving alone €238.50 €480 €345
Duration 2 h 5 h 4 h
Distance 20 km 50 km 30 km
Departs Mon, Wed, Fri, Sun 11.00 Tue, Thu, Sat 10.00 Tue, Thu, Sat 19.30

Highlighted figures are the best in that row: the lowest price per person for two sharing. All three are priced per person with two people sharing one snowmobile, and a single-driver price is printed beside each. The ride and the departure days are the village's own.

Where these figures come from
  • Nivunki: Frosty Trails: Two hours across forest and the frozen lake Nivunkijärvi to the village's own kota, pitched at beginners.
  • Nivunki: Old Mill Äkäsmylly: Five hours and fifty kilometres out to the old mill at Äkäsmylly, for a party that wants a proper day on the machine.
  • Nivunki: Särkitunturi evening: Four hours after dark, up to the fell Särkitunturi, with the northern lights as the reason for the ride.

Muonio is snowmobile country: its area organisation says it has more machines per head than anywhere else in Finland, and riding needs no trail permit here, only the marked routes.1

Why the big resort is not the answer

Harriniva, the name most visitors to Muonio know, runs its snowmobile rides inside all-inclusive holidays of three nights and more, and its online shop sells no ride on its own.2 For a guest who has booked one of those holidays the rides are already paid for. For anyone staying in a cabin in Olos or the village, they are not for sale.

The rides you can book

Nivunki Village, a small resort on the road of the same name, prints a timetable and a price for each ride.3 The two-hour loop to the lake is the natural first ride, the five-hour trip to the old mill is the one for a party that already knows it likes driving, and the evening run up Särkitunturi is a snowmobile ride with the aurora as a possibility rather than a promise.

Beyond Muonio

Levi and Ylläs are each about 46 minutes away and sell many more rides, compared on snowmobile safari in Levi and snowmobile safari in Ylläs. The rest of what Muonio sells is on the Muonio destination page.

Tours you can book

Questions people ask

Do we need a trail permit to ride around Muonio?

No. The area organisation for Muonio says that trail permits are not needed around the municipality, and that riding is allowed only on marked snowmobile routes and trails, with a voluntary donation towards their upkeep. On a guided safari the guide keeps to those routes; the rule is the one to know if you rent a machine and ride on your own.

What happens if we cancel?

Nivunki Village refunds the whole price if you cancel more than 24 hours before the departure time, and charges the full amount inside that. The resort packages work differently: their terms ask for the whole amount at booking and keep all of it as a cancellation fee once it is paid, so a package is a firm commitment from the day you book.

What should we wear under the overalls?

The village lends thermal gear, boots, gloves and hats, and asks you to bring your own thermal underwear and a fleece, adding layers when it is colder. The packages include winter clothing for the whole stay. The village's own safety note adds that snowmobile rides do not suit pregnant women or anyone with back, hip, leg or wrist problems, which is worth weighing before a five-hour day.

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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