Guide to Winter in Lapland: 10+ Day Itinerary
Visiting the Finnish Lapland is unlike anything we’ve ever experienced. Once you hop off the Santa Claus Express train into a winter wonderland, the holiday season will never feel the same.
The landscapes are covered in snowy trees, frozen buildings, and views you won’t find anywhere else. If you can brave the cold temperatures, you’re in for so many once-in-a-lifetime experiences!
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What about the northern lights?
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Where is Lapland
Lapland is in Scandinavia — including the northern parts of Sweden, Norway, Finland, and Russia. In Finland, it begins near the Arctic Circle and is known for its beautiful nature, snow, and ice.
The view flying into Helsinki
When to visit
Best for holiday activities:
December to January
With limited daylight hours, winter is a great time to seek out the northern lights and enjoy unique snowy activities. You’ll find elaborate holiday lights and markets throughout Finland around the holidays. However, this does come at a price — there is high demand, high prices, and crowds the closer you get to the holidays.
We visited in early December to have (slightly) warmer temperatures and fewer crowds in popular places, including Rovaniemi. It worked well for us but know that some icy activities (the ice hotel and Snowman World) don’t open until mid-December. If you have a winter activity that is a must-do for you, check when it operates before booking earlier than mid-December.
Best prices:
February to March
If you’re budget conscious, plan your trip to Finnish Lapland after the holidays. Snow stays around into April, so you’ll have all the same experiences without the holiday rush and price hikes.
What languages are spoken?
Most locals speak Finnish, Swedish, and English. Restaurant menus are often in Finnish and English, although sometimes you need to ask for English menus. As English speakers, we never had a problem communicating.
How long should you visit?
We’d recommend spending a minimum of ten days on this trip, with most of your time, at least eight days, in Lapland. Meghann was terrified of the cold weather, but you’ll adjust quickly, so don’t hesitate to plan more time in the Arctic. This itinerary has suggestions for a 10-to-19-day trip.
Getting to Finnish Lapland
From Helsinki, the town of Rovaniemi, and the start of Finnish Lapland, is a 10-hour drive away, or one and a half hour flight. However, we suggest riding the night train there. The train ride is 8.5 hours long, and you’ll have the option to book sleeper cabs.
We were warned that the sleeper cabs sell out quickly, so we purchased them the same week they went on sale — about four or five months in advance. Considering the train is your lodging and transportation, we thought it was surprisingly affordable.
As Americans who have never traveled by train before, we were so excited for the sleeper train!
Getting around Lapland
We opted to rent a car in Rovaniemi to have more flexibility, but both of us have experience driving in terrible snowy conditions on Washington’s mountain passes. If you’re not comfortable driving in the snow, Finland has great public transportation and the option to book transportation for every tour you could hope to experience.
Is Lapland expensive?
Yes, Lapland is expensive, but it is a world-renowned destination. It would be easy to spend extravagant amounts on lodging — and we did spend more than we usually do — but it was worth it to experience unique stays and what are likely to be once-in-a-lifetime experiences.
On average, we spent €350 on lodging per night, but we stayed in four-star hotels and resorts. All our stays included breakfast, and one was “full board”, meaning dinner was included as well (plus, every meal was incredible!). Booking early really helped keep these costs from skyrocketing.
The Snow Hotel in Kemi
Meals for the two of us ranged between €15 and €50 per person. Expect to pay more in high traffic areas, like Santa Claus Village.
Renting a car was a costly expense, but we opted to rent an SUV with insurance to ensure that we were comfortable driving in the Arctic. Being able to drive ourselves to tours and get away from the more touristy areas helped lower some expenses as well.
Tours — like the Icebreaker and dogsledding, were on the spendy side. Activities inside or near Santa Claus Village in Rovaniemi are even higher even still. Choose to travel outside of town to get better experiences for less.
Lapland is becoming more popular and featured on social media often, so we expect demand and prices to increase in the coming years.
Igloo dome seating at a restaurant in Santa Claus Village
What about seeing the northern lights?
While it’s not guaranteed that you’ll see the aurora, you’ll have great odds while visiting Lapland. They’re visible approximately 150 nights a year, giving you a 71% chance of seeing them on clear nights throughout most of Lapland.
To see them, it’s best to get out of cities with light pollution and go outdoors where you have a clear view of the sky. In Lapland, the aurora is most commonly seen between 9:00 p.m. and 11:30 p.m. This blog has aurora and weather forecast apps and information on what the aurora can look like to the naked eye.
You’ll find aurora tours offered everywhere in Lapland, but we opted to stay in more remote areas, trying to view them on our own instead. We’ve got the best places to see the northern lights from glass dome hotels throughout Lapland listed here!
Small, motion activated lights lining the road to the dome cabins at the Aurora Village Ivalo helped keep the area dark for optimum aurora viewing.
10-19-day itinerary
This itinerary includes arriving and departing from Helsinki and beginning your trip to Lapland in Rovaniemi. However, Rovaniemi is just the beginning of Lapland! We highly recommend visiting at least one additional town to get a better feel of the Arctic Circle. We have lodging recommendations throughout this itinerary, but you’ll find more throughout Finnish Lapland in this blog.
Itinerary breakdown:
Day 1: Arrive in Helsinki
Day 2: Explore Helsinki and head to Rovaniemi
Day 3: Santa Claus Village in Rovaniemi
Day 4: Icebreaker tour
Day 5: Dog sledding
Day 6: Head to Ivalo
Day 7: Tours near Ivalo
Day 8: Option one — extend your trip
Day 8: Option two — return to Rovaniemi
Day 9: Arrive in Helsinki
Day 10: Helsinki
Day 1: Arrive in Helsinki
We were pleasantly surprised at (and jealous of) how easy it was to navigate Helsinki’s public transit upon arrival. In the airport, follow the signs for the train to reach the terminal for the L and P trains.
Purchase your ticket before boarding and take whichever train arrives first. They both take about 40 minutes to reach Helsinki and cost the two of us less than €9. It takes the same amount of time to drive there and would cost roughly €40 for a taxi.
Check in
We stayed in the Scandic Grand Central Hotel next to the train station. It was so convenient, beautiful, and had an amazing breakfast included with the stay. We were worried it may be loud being near the train station, but our room faced the courtyard, and we never heard any noises from the city or train. Check out all of our hotel recommendations throughout Helsinki here.
We arrived late and very jet lagged, so we didn’t have the chance to explore much our first day in Finland. If you have more time and energy, do part of day two’s walking tour. With the optional add-ons like visiting a sauna, there is plenty to see between two days.
Dinner
Regardless of your timing, you’ll need dinner! Head to Zetor. They serve traditional Finnish food, and this was one of our very favorite dining experiences of the trip. We were surprised by the interior — it felt like an old timey bar that would fit in on America’s historic Route 66, complete with tractors, rustic barn finds, and a newspaper menu. Meghann had the Chicken Orimattila Style, and the Rösti potato cake was incredible.
Day 2: Explore Helsinki and head to Rovaniemi
You’ll be checking out of the Scandic Grand Central and exploring Helsinki while you wait to board the night train to Rovaniemi. Before you leave the hotel, ask about storing your luggage for the day (it’s free).
Storing our luggage in the hotel made us realize how safe Finland is. Luggage storage was self-served in an unlocked room that didn’t even have cameras. They did have lockers that fit carry-on size items, but everyone was leaving their large luggage bags unattended. We came back an hour before our train left to grab our luggage and didn’t have any problems.
Self-guided walking tour
The Scandic Grand Central Hotel is, you guessed it, centrally located, so it’s a great location to start exploring the city from. Plus, to get back to it, all you need to do is head back to the train station so it’s impossible to get lost.
The train station
Kauppatori Market Square
First, head to the waterfront to check out Kauppatori. It’s an outdoor public market featuring vendors selling crafts, clothing, and food (with warming tents to eat in).
From here you’ll also be near the Allas Sea Pool (a sauna), the SkyWheel, and the Upenski Cathedral.
Vanha Kauppahalli
From the Kauppatori Market Square, head south to the building just around the corner to find the Vanha Kauppahalli, or Old Market Hall. It’s an indoor market, featuring traditional foods.
Our favorite vendor was the Kumpi Peruna stall, where we had the traditional holiday drink called glögi for the first time. Later in the trip, we went back to have a baked Kumpi potato with smoked salmon later on in our trip, which we highly recommend!
Stop by the pastry shop called the Kauppahallin Konditoria on the opposite end of the market as well. A French baker owns this stall, and his face lit up when we asked about his goods.
Zach had a bright green traditional Swedish cake called prinsessaleivos, and Meghann tried the classic Finnish dessert called Ellen, named after the creator who was the wife of the third President of Finland. We loved that we got to sit inside his stall in an intimate café setting while enjoying our treats.
Lastly, if you don’t get to try salmon soup elsewhere, try it from Soup + More at the market. It’s an incredible dish, although we had it in Rovaniemi.
Kaivopuisto
If you’re up for more walking, head south from the Vanha Kauppahalli to reach the waterfront. On your way, stop to admire Saint Henry’s Cathedral and Kaivopuisto park. We loved that Kaivopuisto had an observatory and auditory and visual art exhibit in the park. Unfortunately, we never made it back during the observatory’s open hours or when the exhibit was playing.
The observatory
Walk to an island
Across from the park is Uunisaari and Liuskasan Islands. Find the duckboard bridges to explore paths around the islands. We loved seeing the buoys frozen in place and the sound of ice crunching against the rocky shore here.
Cathedrals
Now you’ll start making your way north, back to the Scandic Grand Central. Just head to the train station and you’ll find the hotel. Along the way you’ll pass by St. Johns Church and the Helsinki Old Church.
St. Johns Church
Dinner
There are plenty of restaurants near the train station, but our favorite was the Ravintola Base Camp with Nepalese cuisine. You’ll want to get a solid meal in before leaving on the night train.
If you have extra time before your night train arrives, check out the Helsinki Central Library Oodi to the east of the train station. We loved its architecture and great views of the city. Explore the area in front of the library to find this Helsinki sign, a damaged tank from World War II and appreciate the architecture of the nearby theaters.
Helsinki Central Library Oodi
Night train
Grab your luggage from the Scandic Grand Central Hotel and head next door to the train station. The night trains arrive approximately 30 minutes before departing, and you can start boarding as soon as it arrives.
To find your train check the large reader board with information on departures in the station. There you’ll be able to find your train number, its final destination, and which lane it will arrive in.
When you’ve boarded, you can virtually scan your ticket via the VR Matkalla app (Apple/Google Play) or wait for the conductor to come to your room to scan your ticket via the app. Once you’ve done that, get settled for the night!
Day 3: Santa Claus Village in Rovaniemi
Today you’ll awake in Rovaniemi! From the train station you can pick up your rental car or arrange a shuttle with your lodging. If you’re hungry, grab a quick bite to eat at the café in the train station before leaving. It will be one of the only places open this early in the morning.
Santa Claus Village
We highly recommend exploring Santa Claus Village upon arrival, and on a weekday if you can manage. Most of the stores don’t open until 10:00 a.m., but Santa Claus’ Post Office opens at 9:00 a.m. If you write a letter to Santa or the North Pole, this is the post office it gets sent to. They’ve received and read over 20 million letters from around the world!
If you arrive before the post office opens, wander the beautiful grounds, and enjoy the views without the crowds. However, go to the post office as soon as it opens. Pick out postcards to mail yourselves to receive a postage stamp from the North Pole. By 10:00 a.m., the post office will be packed, and it will only get busier throughout the day.
If you’re inclined to visit Santa, do this next. Lines were minimal in the morning and although visits are free, you need to pay for photos.
After these activities, alternate between exploring the outdoor areas with reindeer sleigh rides, beautiful lights, and seeing the line where the Arctic Circle starts with indoor shopping.
One of the best places — the All About Salmon hut — is easy to miss. It’s a tiny, inconspicuous, building next to the Roosevelt Cottage. It’s so small it’s hard to get seating in, but between 3:00 and 4:00 p.m. their traffic slows down. Make it a priority to go here during this time and try the salmon soup. The salmon is smoked right in the hut, and the hut smells just as incredible as it tastes.
All About Salmon — “We are open when we are open”
Inside the All About Salmon hut
We easily spent all day at the village, even though we opted not to enter Snowman World, partake in snowmobile rides, or other reindeer activities.
Day 4: Icebreaker tour
Honestly, we spent the following day in Rovaniemi catching up on sleep from our extreme jetlag, doing laundry here, and taking it easy exploring town. Staying at the Scandic Rovaniemi City made it easy to find the town’s most popular areas, so we had tons of great restaurants within an easy walk.
Schedule yourselves a day of rest if you think you’ll need it, but otherwise book an icebreaker tour!
Icebreaker
This was on our must-do list. It was the most expensive activity we paid for, but it was truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience for us. If you’re visiting in mid-December or later, you’ll be able to book a tour of the Finnish Icebreaker called the Sampo. It docks in Kemi, located an hour and forty-minute drive from Rovaniemi.
If you visit in early December, you’ll have to book the Swedish Icebreaker tour on the Polar Explorer. Their “early season” tours do not guarantee that there will be ice for the ship to break, or ice to walk on, but there was a normal winter amount when we toured on December 14th.
If you’re driving yourself to the Swedish icebreaker, you’ll need to tell your rental car agency that you’ll be crossing the border to Sweden and pay an extra fee. The border itself is open, so crossing back and forth is easy. From Rovaniemi, it’s a 2-hour and 15-minute drive to reach Polar Explorer’s terminal.
Both icebreaker tours offer transportation for an additional fee from Rovaniemi, as well as the chance to swim in survival suits. Meghann was mildly terrified of this experience, but we loved it! The suits allow you to float effortlessly, so you can comfortably enjoy the swim, no matter your swimming experience level.
Both ships allow you to tour the ship and offer guided and self-guided audio tours.
Meghann’s favorite (the warmest) place on the ship — the engine room
Day 5: Dog sledding
We did tons of research before choosing a dog sledding tour. We read that some tours have guides that follow you on snowmobiles, ruining the otherwise quiet experience through the Lapland forests, and most have a lot of people in each tour group — exactly what we were trying to avoid.
Korvalan Kestikievar
We chose to go on a dogsled tour with Korvalan Kestikievar, a small family-run business that has been serving highway passerby from their property since the late 1800s. They do not offer transportation to and from Rovaniemi, and it’s a 45-minute drive or local bus ride away.
They have a maximum of six participants (two to a sled), along with a guide leading on a sled. They supply winter overalls and boots for those who need them for an additional €10 and ensure that everyone gets a turn driving and riding in the sled.
After doing the 8 km run, we think booking any of their 6 to 8 km tours would be perfect for beginners. Driving was fun, but a little intimidating. It’s possible to fall off, and even crash your sled with poor driving. To make sure we didn’t crash, we had whoever was riding in the sled help the driver by leaning in the direction we wanted to go around curves. The dogs were so excited to run that slowing them down and stopping was the most difficult task!
Touring the kennels
Meeting the dogs is half the fun here! Post-ride, you’ll get to say hello to the dogs, tour their kennels, and learn all about huskies and the surrounding land. This was a big highlight of the trip. Afterward, you’ll have the opportunity to warm up inside with a fire and glögi.
Dog welfare
We of course had concerns about the huskie’s well-being prior to booking. The dogs are well loved, well taken care of, and bred for dog sledding and living outdoors. The dogs are eased into their working lives and retired when appropriate. In retirement they’re treated to watching over the other dogs, wandering the property, and sleeping indoors.
The dogs genuinely love running, and you can see that upon arriving. Once they’re attached to the sleds they’ll be barking and howling excitedly until they’re allowed to run.
Unfortunately, there are times when it’s unsafe for the dogs to sled, such as when temperatures are below -30° C, or above 0° C, increasing the dog’s risk of injury due to soft trails. In the case of these events, they’ll try to reschedule departure times when temperatures are more appropriate.
Day 6: Head to Ivalo
You’ll spend the day driving three and a half hours further into the Arctic Circle to reach the small town of Ivalo, with a stop along the way.
Amethyst Mine
On your way to Ivalo, you’ll want to stop for a tour at the Amethyst Mine in the Pyhä-Luosto National Park. You’ll need to book it in advance because you’ll be catching a snowcat to the mine. Choose the tour that begins at 2:30 p.m. if you’d like to sleep in or the 11:30 a.m. tour if you’d like to sauna upon arrival at the Aurora Village. Grab lunch at nearby Café Uksakka before touring the mine.
The snowcat will pick you up here and stop midway to the mine at a café and warming hut where you can buy hot lingonberry juice before riding another snowcat to the top of the mine. The landscape here was so beautiful that we enjoyed the snowcat ride just as much as searching for amethysts in the mine.
Once you reach the top of the hill in the snowcat, you’ll have a great view of the surrounding landscape. You’ll be ushered into a frozen-over cabin to hear about the history of the area next and shown what gems you could find in the mine.
Afterward, you get to search for amethysts in a covered portion of the mine and you’ll be allowed to keep one or two of your finds. You’ll be given a small tool to dig with and a strainer to collect your finds. Using these tools, rather than traditional mining methods like dynamite, will allow the area to be preserved and mined for 500 years, rather than five.
We found small pieces of smoked amethyst and snow quartz. It takes a million years to grow one centimeter, so even small gems are significant.
Check in to the Aurora Village Ivalo
This was by far our favorite place to stay. It’s a glass igloo resort outside of the famous area of Saariselkä, where the first glass igloo resort was built in Finland.
The resort was incredible, including full board (breakfast and dinner) with four-star dinners and service. The dome cabins were beautiful, complete with window warmers to melt snow, beautiful views of the forest and skies with complete privacy.
We checked in to the Aurora Village and were seated for dinner right away because we’d reserved their private riverside sauna at 9:00 p.m. for the evening. We toured the amethyst mine at 2:30 p.m., so our schedule was tight. After eating, we dropped our bags off and headed to the sauna. This is a traditional Finnish experience that should be prioritized in your stay — it was the highlight of the trip for us!
Private riverside sauna
If you don’t want to crowd your schedule, opt to book the Aurora Village’s sauna another night. However, even with the tight timeline, it worked out perfectly for us. We weren’t sure what to expect from the sauna, so we opted not to bring our phones with us. Of course, on our walk to the sauna is when we saw the northern lights!
We booked the barrel sauna that fits four and sits on the river so you can do a traditional ice-cold plunge, but they also have a larger panorama sauna and jacuzzi that fits eight.
When we reached the barrel sauna, we were floored. It was adorned with beautiful lights, with a ladder leading into the frozen river. We alternated between steaming in the sauna with cold plunges (Zach went into the river up to his neck!) and opted to walk back and photograph the area afterward.
Day 7: Tours near Ivalo
We had a limited amount of time in Ivalo — only two nights — but if we were to visit again, we’d spend as much time here as we could. Four or five nights would be ideal, allowing for a couple of days of excursions, such as visiting the traditional Sámi village of Inari, going on ice fishing, fatbiking or riding electric snow scooters, to fishing for king crabs, with one day to explore the snowshoe trails at the resort (snowshoes and other winter toys are provided free of charge).
If your goal is to see the northern lights, you have great odds here. They’re visible five out of seven nights in Ivalo. If you have clear skies, you’ll likely see the aurora!
A snow scooter from the Aurora Village
Saariselkä Ski and Sport Resort
Of all the activities, we chose to check out Finland’s longest toboggan run at the Saariselkä Ski Resort. We purchased the aurora tobogganing ticket that included a two-hour lift pass, toboggan, and helmet. We brought our own ski goggles which were very helpful too.
Our first run was done in the last of the daylight, which was great because the course gets steep and curvy! Our second and third runs were entirely lit by the aurora-colored lights lining the trail. The ride down was very intense, and we were both constantly braking to keep from going too fast and flying off the hill. We were thankful it was later in the day because navigating the route with more people on it would be difficult.
The view of the town below the toboggan run was Meghann’s favorite sight of the trip — it looked like something out of a snow globe.
The two-hour lift ticket was enough time to use the chairlift four times, but we’d had enough after three runs. Sledding anywhere else is going to feel very tame now!
Day 8: Option one — extend your trip
If you have more time, consider driving three hours south to Levi for your stop next and staying between two and four days. It’s another area with a ski resort famous for its ice castle hotel. Initially, Zach was hoping to stay at the ice castle, but we visited Lapland too early in the winter season.
Once we’d spent time in Lapland, we were very thankful we didn’t have a reservation here booked. It was always a relief knowing that, after our cold ventures in the outdoors, we always had a warm room to go back to — this wouldn’t have been the case at the ice castle! Instead, we recommend making dinner reservations there so you get to experience it but still have a warm place to retreat to. We’d recommend staying at the Northern Lights Ranch instead.
Samiland
Check out Samiland during the day. It’s an indoor/outdoor museum all about the Sámi people of Lapland. Exhibits include information on Sámi mythology, traditional buildings, and reindeer herding, among other traditions unique to the area.
Traditional Sámi hut
Oy Levi Ski Resort
Ski or take a scenic lift and snowshoe to visit Santa’s Cabin — famous because it was built for the Finnish Christmas movie Joulutarina. The ski resort is one of Finland’s best, with 44 trails to choose from.
Elves Village
If you didn’t get enough holiday spirit in Rovaniemi’s Santa Claus Village, head to Elves Village. You’ll find more adorable buildings covered in lights where you can attend elf school, bake gingerbread houses, and solve elf puzzles. Reservations are recommended.
Ice-Karting
Ice-karting is like go-karting, but with studded tires for driving on ice! They also have snow tubing, which would be a much more family-friendly way to sled than Ivalo’s toboggan run.
Day 8: Option two — return to Rovaniemi
You won’t need to reserve lodging in Rovaniemi upon your return. Instead, you’ll be taking the night train back to Helsinki. You’ll still have most of the day to explore though.
Lookout tower
We’d recommend going for a walk to the Ounsavaara Observation Tower in town. Park here, and walk on the path to the west, following signs to the lookout tower. It’s a quick 2.2 km walk, but there are many looping trails throughout the park if you’d like to make it longer. This will be your last walk amongst snowy trees, so soak it in!
Science Museum
If you have time, check out the Arktkum Science Museum to learn more about the Arctic, Lapland, and the Sámi people. There are free audio tours and English captions.
Dinner
Before leaving on the night train, you’ll want another hearty dinner. We loved eating at Thaibaan Ravintola or Friends & Brgrs for a quick meal. Check out Café & Bar 21 if you need a snack or warm drink earlier in the day.
Day 9: Arrive in Helsinki
When you arrive in Helsinki, head to the Hotel Marski by Scandic for early check-in. It’s the perfect place to stay upon your return — only a ten-minute walk from the train station and in a lively neighborhood. Don’t forget to ask about what they have going on throughout your stay. Their offerings rotate daily, varying from live music to the free museum tickets we scored.
Museum
Helsinki has more than 80 museums! With free tickets from the Hotel Marski, we enjoyed a visit to Amos Rex, but would have also loved to see the Ateneum art museum, Design Museum, Architecture Museum, or The National Museum of Finland as well.
The Design Museum
Dinner
Go to Iguana for dinner. The Finnish love Tex-Mex, and this was the best that we found! Ask to be seated downstairs for the coziest atmosphere.
A night out
The Hotel Marski is in the perfect location to wander in the evening in search of nightlife. There are plenty of bars, Helsinki’s best club, and live music nearby. We opted to buy ice cream from the nearby K-Market and take a walk soaking everything in.
If that’s not the type of nightlife you’re after head to Kaivopuisto park for the observatory and auditory and visual art exhibit in the park.
Day 10: Helsinki
This will be your last full day in Helsinki but it’s going to be eventful!
Fortress of Suomenlinna
Start your day by heading to the ferry terminal near the Kauppatori market here. You’ll purchase ferry tickets before boarding, just like you did to catch the train from the airport to Helsinki. You can find the ferry schedule here, but it comes approximately every 40 minutes.
Suomenlinna is a Sea Fortress, dating back to the mid-18th century. Now, it’s a world heritage site. It’s about a fifteen-minute ferry ride to the islands, and once you arrive you can use this map to follow the suggested route outlined in blue. Along the way you’ll find historic markers providing details on the History of the Finnish Civil War to information about the islands church, boat storage, cannons, and more.
Wear warm clothes because it will likely be colder on the islands than in Helsinki. On our walk back to the ferry terminal, we stopped at Alderfelt for a warm meal. There are cafes closer to the ferry dock as well, but the restaurants passed the Alderfelt were all closed for the winter season.
Speakeasy
Upon returning to the mainland head to Trillby and Chadwick for drinks. This was by far the best speakeasy we’ve been to. Briefly look at where it is located on Google Maps, then try to find it without using directions from the ferry dock. It’s about a five-minute walk away and you’ll know you’re on the right street when you see it’s lined with lights.
The speakeasy is unmarked and easy to pass by — we circled the building before finding it. After you enter, you’ll find yourself in a foyer with a rotary phone. Pick up the phone and dial to be let into the speakeasy. Once you’re inside, they do not allow photographs and have other strict rules (such as leaving from a separate door in the back!).
Take your time reading through the entertaining menu full of Trillby and Chadwick’s feats. We enjoyed a smokey mocktail, infused sorbet, and bourbon cocktail.
Christmas Market
If you’re visiting between December 1 and 22nd, walk to the Senate Square in front of the Helsinki Cathedral next. The square is taken over by 100 artisans and over 20 food vendors for a holiday market. Buy traditional snacks, glögi, and gifts.
What to pack
Packing the right layers is essential to enjoying winter in Lapland. Read this blog to see what worked well for us.
Search the blog for more adventures! Try searching for topics such as “camping”, “waterfalls”, or “national parks”.
