Itinerary · 5 days · 17 places
5 Days in Lapland
Five days in Finnish Lapland: three days in Rovaniemi with the Arctic Circle, a husky farm, Arktikum and Ounasvaara, then up Road 4 to Saariselkä for fells, glass igloos and a quiet Northern Lights night, with the flight home from Ivalo.
Open in the appThere you can adjust the plan to your dates, your pace and your interests.
Photo: Mark Davis · Pexels
The route on the map
The plan, day by day
Day 1Arrival at the Arctic Circle
Arrival in Rovaniemi
Hotel check-in
You stay on Koskikatu in the centre of Rovaniemi, where all the buses stop and the shops are open until 9 pm.
Lumberjack's Candle Bridge (Jätkänkynttilä)
The bridge over the Kemijoki carries a flame on its pylon that burns at night and is reflected in the river ice.
Day 2Arctic Circle, huskies and reindeer
Arctic Circle line at Santa Claus Village
The white line of the Arctic Circle is marked in the ground and lit by floodlights, and in the building next door you can get your crossing certificate.
Arctic Circle Husky Park
Around a hundred Alaskan huskies live in the kennels here; after a briefing you drive a team yourself on a loop through the pine forest.
Santa Claus Reindeer
At the reindeer farm on the edge of the village a reindeer pulls the wooden sleigh around a snowy circuit, followed by a talk on breeding and the herds' migrations.
Santa Claus Main Post Office
Letters from all over the world pile up in the post office at the Arctic Circle, and any card dropped in the red box is only delivered at Christmas.
Evening: Lordin aukio & Koskikatu
Lordi Square and Koskikatu are the only part of Rovaniemi with evening life — Kauppayhtiö, Doris and the hotel bars are just a few steps apart.
Day 3Arktikum and Ounasvaara
Rovaniemi Church
The post-war church of 1950 holds Lennart Segerstråle's huge fresco “Fountain of Life” behind the altar.
Arktikum
The glass tunnel on the riverbank presents Lapland's natural history and Sámi life, plus a hall devoted entirely to the Northern Lights.
Pilke Science Centre
The timber building next door is all about Finland's forests: you can steer harvesters in a simulator and identify tree species by smell.
Ounasvaara summit
The local hill east of the river can be reached by road and on ski trails, and in the midday twilight it opens up a wide view over the forested hilltops.
Evening: smoke sauna and sky-gazing on Ounasvaara
Up on the slope, the hot sauna is followed by a plunge into the snow, and between rounds you stand in the dark looking north.
Day 4Up to Saariselkä
Onward to Saariselkä
Hotel check-in
Kaunispää summit
From the bare fell ridge above Saariselkä you can see into Urho Kekkonen National Park on a clear day, and a heated summit café stands at the top.
Kiehinen Visitor Centre
The national park centre on the edge of the village explains maps, weather conditions and the open wilderness huts in the area, and rents out snowshoes.
Kakslauttanen glass igloo village
The heated igloos of thermal glass stand in rows in the pine forest, along with a wooden chapel and the largest smoke sauna in the area.
Evening: Northern Lights watch at Northern Lights Village
A few kilometres north of the village the glass-roofed cabins stand in open country, where no village lights interfere and a fire burns in the kota.
Day 5Kiilopää and flight home
Kiilopää fell
From the hiking centre a marked winter trail leads in just under an hour to the 546-metre summit with views over the chain of fells.
Honkapolku in Saariselkä
The village's short pedestrian street lines up outfitters, Sámi crafts and the supermarket — the place to stock up before your flight.
Departure from Ivalo
Make it your trip
Viatro AI opens this plan in the app — with map, travel times and opening hours. You change the days, pace and places yourself.
