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Visiting Lapland in wintertime is like stepping into a fairytale, it’s truly the ultimate winter experience, filled with many winter sports, fluffy reindeers and the stunning aurora borealis. We had the best time of our life, speeding round the trees on snowmobiles, petting reindeers, ice skating, seeing for the first time the aurora borealis, which I must say that is an experience that gave me good chills. In other words Lapland is one of the world’s best destinations for unique winter adventures and activities.

In this blog post, I put together an itinerary for a seven day trip through Lapland. During this itinerary, I will share anything we did during our visit and anything that the magical Lapland has to offer. This will give you a good idea of what there is to see in Lapland and how to plan better your trip to this amazing part of the world.

arrival in the white paradise

We had to take 2 flights from Madrid, with a transit through Helsinki and then we arrived at Rovaniemi, where we rented a car and we moved by car in Lapland. It was snow all over, it was like a postcard, a beautiful winter dream, something you don’t see in Spain, but in Romania, where I am from, it was snowing every winter and I was missing the snow like crazy, so I immediately felt like home, I had this huge sense of familiarity.

MEETING THE REINDEERS

OMG, I dreamed with meeting the reindeers for years and it was finally happening. I have the camera and phone full of reindeer photos from when we’ve been to Finland.

There are different ways to interact with them. You can visit the reindeer farms, or you can pick a hotel that has reindeers. Many people do the reindeer sleigh ride, but I don’t do anything that will put an animal to work. I don’t find it beautiful, neither fun to watch an animal doing something they don’t want to. By visiting a reindeer farm you help not only the reindeers (they use the money to feed and take care of them), but you are also helping the locals with their business. 

Because reindeers farms are business generations in Finland. And they do such a good job taking care of reindeers, that in Finland are more reindeers than people. So we opted for a visit to this lovely farms and we picked a hotel with reindeers and it was the best decision better.

During a visit to a farm, you will pet the reindeers, feed them and learn so much about them. The reindeer breeders will tell you the history of reindeer in Lapland and you will learn more about their behaviour and their way of life.

STAY AT A LUXURIOUS GLASS CABIN

I was dreaming for a long while to stay at a glass cabin in the middle of the forest and this was the perfect location to try it and I must say that it was one of the most wonderful experience ever. The main attraction of this cabin really is the majestic glass ceiling and that is how we could see when the aurora was happening, if it wouldn’t be because of the glass ceiling, we would have left Finland without seeing it.

Unfortunately it was cloudy for all our stay, but for some reason the sky cleared up for 15 minutes, enough to see a shy aurora showing up. This was one of the most thrilling experiences of life. It was so beautiful and special, that words can not describe what I felt. You can try aurora hunting, hiring an expert in auroras, to find it and trust me they are very good at their job, but you’ll have to go into the forest in the middle of the night and it is very cold.

TRY ICE SKATING ON A FROZEN LAKE

I had the most amazing experience ice skating on a frozen lake in the middle of the nature. This place was right in front of our glass cabin, because it belongs to the hotel we stayed at. It was nice seeing the dreamy landscape and reindeers while skating, this is something we don’t do in the city and we had the lake for ourselves. Next to the lake was a bonfire where we wormed up with a cup of hot chocolate with marshmallows. It was romantic.

DRIVE A SNOWMOBILE

Snowmobiling is a must do in Lapland. We chose this instead of the reindeer ride. For a few hours, we could drive  through the beautiful wilderness of Lapland! And halfway we had a stop in a Kota, a small shelter in the heart of nature, very popular in Finland. Here you’ll have a cup of hot chocolate with delicious ginger cookies. The wood fire is also there to warm up of course, making it such a cozy and beautiful experience. I will remember this for a long.. long time.

VISIT SANTA’S WORKSHOP IN ROVANIEMI

We had to visit Santa’s village, the official hometown of Santa Claus, because let’s be serious, who’s not excited to meet Santa? No matter what age you are, you still want to say hi to him. But the village is not only about Santa, here it officially starts the Arctic Circle. And to add more magic to the place, it has reindeers too.

opening times of Santas Village

Opening hours depend on the time of year you are visiting. In peak times during December and the holiday season, it is 9 am to 7 PM. They are open seven days a week and all year round. Even on Christmas Day! Although on the 23rd of December they say goodbye to Santa Claus as he starts his present deliveries.

Crossing the Arctic Circle

The mysterious Arctic Circle brings a magical phenomena to the area all year. The circle of latitude that runs 66°33’45.9” north of the Equator, marks the southernmost latitude where the sun can continuously stay below or above the horizon for an entire day. The Midnight Sun in the summer and the Polar Night in the winter mark the moment the sun stays above or below the horizon for a whole 24 hours.

what would be Santa without the reindeers

One of the first things you´ll notice when you enter the village is the reindeers and oh my, they are so cute. There is a small area where you can pet and feed them for a fee of 5 euros and another 3 euros for food. I swear I had butterflies in my stomach when I got close to them. This was my first encounter with reindeers and it was simply magical.

THE TRIP OF A LIFETIME

So this was my itinerary and favourite things to do in Finnish Lapland. You need to put this corner of the world on your travel bucket list. It will make you to want to come back, wanting more. I’m already planning to go back. Visiting Lapland is an unforgettable, magical trip.

Leave a comment below if you enjoyed reading this blog post or if you have any questions about planning a trip to Lapland. I´ll be glad to answer all your questions.