Best Things to Do in Rovaniemi

Whether you come to Rovaniemi for indigenous Sámi history and subarctic wilderness or for childhood Christmas nostalgia, the best trips balance museum hours and riverside walks in town with half-day safaris into the old-growth taiga forest. Here are the ten experiences that define a visit.

1. Walk the 172-metre glass tunnel of Arktikum Museum and Science Centre. Built into the riverbank pointing due north, Arktikum is the essential first stop for understanding Arctic nature, the Polar Night, Sámi culture and the 1944 destruction and rebuilding of Rovaniemi.
2. Step across the Arctic Circle (66°33'N) at Santa Claus Village. Free to enter 365 days a year, where you can photograph the latitude line, mail a postcard with the official Arctic Circle postmark and meet Santa in his office.
3. Drive a team of huskies through the snow on a Wilderness Husky Safari. Mush Siberian and Alaskan huskies along silent forest trails outside the city, swapping driver and passenger roles halfway.
4. Visit a traditional working Reindeer Farm. Glide quietly through snow-heavy spruce woods in a wooden sleigh pulled by a reindeer and warm up inside a kota hut with hot berry juice.
5. Chase the Northern Lights at Arktikum Shore or by lakeside campfire. Watch the green ribbons of the Aurora Borealis dance above the frozen Ounasjoki river between late August and early April.
6. Hike the snow-laden forest trail atop Ounasvaara Fell. Follow the easy 2-kilometre winter nature path through candle-spruce trees to the hilltop observation tower overlooking the river valley.
7. Explore Alvar Aalto's Administrative and Cultural Centre and Korundi. See how Finland's greatest architect designed Rovaniemi's library, theatre and city hall, paired with contemporary northern art at Korundi.
8. Experience a wood-fired lakeside sauna, ice plunge or ice floating. Steam in a traditional Finnish sauna or float weightlessly in a dry survival suit among ice floes under the stars.
9. Hike to the giant frozen waterfalls of Korouoma Canyon or visit Ranua Wildlife Park. Stand beneath 60-metre blue-and-white vertical ice cliffs in Posio or see polar bears and arctic foxes at Ranua.
10. Taste open-fire blazed salmon (loimulohi) and sautéed reindeer. Watch salmon fillets slow-roast on wooden boards beside glowing birch logs inside a wooden teepee.