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Snowmobile safari in Tornio: the bay or the border

Two snowmobile riders in helmets crossing a wide, flat expanse of snow, their long shadows stretching beside them

Illustration photo: snowmobiles in Finnish Lapland, not on the tours described here.

Lapland Handbook Staff How we research this

The short answer

Book from Tornio rather than driving to Kemi. The local company runs two two-hour safaris at 175 euros a head with two to a snowmobile: take the Bothnian Bay ride for open sea ice, or the wilderness ride for forest, winter roads and frozen rivers on both sides of the border. The overalls, boots, helmet and gloves are lent. Kemi's sunrise ride is cheaper and shorter, but it is half an hour away.

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.

Nordic Safaris: Bothnian BayNordic Safaris: WildernessSea Lapland Safaris: Sunrise
Price €175 €175 €130 – the lowest price per person
Duration 2 h 2 h 1.5 h
Ground Sea ice Forest, winter roads, frozen rivers Sea ice
Snowmobile to yourself €275 €275 Not stated
Clothing and helmet Lent Lent Lent
Starts in Tornio Tornio Kemi

Highlighted figures are the best in that row: the lowest price per person. All three price per person with two people sharing a snowmobile.

Where these figures come from
  • Nordic Safaris: Bothnian Bay: Two hours over the sea ice of the Bothnian Bay between Finland and Sweden, with a stop for a hot drink.
  • Nordic Safaris: Wilderness: Two hours on forest tracks, winter roads and frozen rivers, on both sides of the border.
  • Sea Lapland Safaris: Sunrise: An hour and a half on the frozen bay at first light, from the safari house in Kemi, 21 minutes from Tornio.

A snowmobile company works out of Tornio itself, which the booking platforms do not show: they list every ride in this corner of Lapland under Kemi.

Two rides at one price

Both of its safaris last two hours and cost 175 euros a head with two people to a machine. The difference is the ground. One heads out over the Bothnian Bay, the sea ice between Finland and Sweden. The other follows forest tracks, winter roads and frozen rivers on both sides of the border, which the twin towns’ tourist site sums up as forests, winter river routes and sea ice.1

What you need

The company lends overalls, boots, a helmet and gloves, and asks drivers to be eighteen with a valid licence.2 Underneath the overalls its advice is layers: a base, an insulating layer and a shell.

Against the ride from Kemi

Kemi’s sunrise ride is 45 euros cheaper and half an hour shorter, and the light is its reason to exist. It is also 21 minutes away by road. From a bed in Tornio the local rides save the drive and give a choice of ground that Kemi, whose rides mostly stay on the sea, does not. The Kemi rides are compared on snowmobile safari in Kemi, and the rest of Tornio on the Tornio destination page.

Tours you can book

Questions people ask

Where do the Tornio safaris start?

The company's address, as the twin towns' tourist site gives it, is Koskitie 130 in Tornio. Its safari pages do not say whether that is where you meet or whether it collects you, and they do not mention a pick-up at all, so ask when you book. The bay ride and the wilderness ride both begin from the same company, so the answer will be the same for both.

When can we go?

Both rides run from 15 December, weather permitting, to the end of March. The first weeks depend on ice: a sea-ice ride needs the Bothnian Bay to have frozen thick enough, and the company's own wording makes the December start conditional. If your trip falls before Christmas, book the wilderness ride or ask how the ice is before you pay.

Can children come along?

Yes, in a sledge towed behind a parent's snowmobile. Both Tornio rides charge 75 euros for a child aged four to fourteen, against 175 for an adult sharing a machine, so a child is well under half the adult fare. Under four is not priced on either page, and the company reserves the right to shorten a safari with children aboard when it is minus twenty or colder.

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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