7 Day Saariselka and Rovaniemi Northern Lights Itinerary + Guide

The Aurora Borealis or “Northern Lights” is one of nature’s most spectacular way of revealing itself and if it’s on your bucket list, you’re in luck.

2025-2026 Is A Northern Lights Peak Year

2025 is the peak year in the sun’s 11-year cycle where it reaches a solar maximum. During this period, there is an increase in the frequency of solar flares (explosions on the sun) and coronal mass ejections (ejected gas bubbles) from the sun, sending billions of charged energy particles outwards.

Carried by the solar wind, many of these charged particles will past by the planet, while some will get trapped by Earth magnetic shield, pushing it towards our atmosphere where they collide with different molecules like oxygen and nitrogen and heat up.

The energy released create a glowing effect that we see as a mesmerizing dancing of lights in the night sky.

Here’s the best part for those who’ve been waiting until now to see the Northern Lights with their own eyes.

According to NASA, a rise in solar activity on the sun’s surface is producing the strongest displays of aurora borealis in the last 500 years.

The Northern Lights Are Visible 200 Nights A Year In Lapland

While you can see the Aurora Borealis in a number of countries, your best chances are heading as close to the North Pole and Arctic Circle as you can. I tried catching them in Iceland a few years ago during the winter months, but left unsatisfied. While my camera was able to capture some of the lights over a 30 second long exposure, I didn’t really see it.

That’s why this time, I decided to head to the northern part of Finland in an area called Lapland, where the lights are visible 200 nights a year.

After some extensive research, I’ve decided that spending a week in Lapland split between Saariselka and Rovaniemi is an ideal itinerary.

Major Towns In Finnish Lapland

Lapland is an area, not a city, that covers parts of Norway, Sweden, Finland, and even Russia. If you’re just beginning to plan your trip to Finnish Lapland, you’ll see names of towns like Levi, Ivalo, Inari, Saariselka, Rovaniemi, and Kemi – which can be daunting to choose from.

The most popular destination in Finnish Lapland is Rovaniemi, also known as the hometown of Santa Claus. Rovaniemi is the largest city in Finnish Lapland and is the gateway to Lapland. Many visitors will fly into Rovaniemi Airport or take the overnight Santa Claus Express train up from Helsinki.

Kemi and Tornio are port cities, southwest of Rovaniemi where the popular icebreaker cruise tours depart from. They are near the border with Sweden.

Levi and Saariselka are ski resort towns north of Rovaniemi and closer towards the Arctic Circle. You can get to Levi by flying into the Kittilä Airport.

Ivalo and Inari are small towns near Saariselka, with the Ivalo Airport serving the area.

If you’re looking for husky-driving, reindeer sledding, snowmobile adventures, you’ll be able to find them in every location.

Below was my carefully curated itinerary for my Finland trip. And it worked out perfectly.

Should You Rent A Car In Lapland?

We did not rent a car, but I recommend renting a car. If you are staying right in the center of a town, and join group tours that include pick-up, you can get away without a car like we did.

However, most of the nice arctic resorts and igloos are located away from the city and you’ll need a car if you stay there.

In Saariselka there is bus from the airport and a ski bus that travels the main route, but the schedule is infrequent. And I found car rentals at Ivalo Airport for $52/day and for $35/day for Rovaniemi.

In Rovaniemi, we relied on tour transport and the bus to get to Santa Claus Village, but similarly, it was infrequent and we had to stick to a tight schedule.

4 Days In Saariselka

I wanted to head as far north as reasonably possible, so we flew into Helsinki and connected straightaway to Ivalo Airport. It’s a small airport, so there’s a bus going to Saariselka that is timed with every arriving flight. The bus ride takes about 30 minutes and costs €14 per person.

For the first two nights, we chose this cozy apartment with a sauna. After a long day of flights and arriving to -5°C weather, it was so nice to sit in the sauna before bed.

King Crab Safari In Norway

Saariselka was a good base to do many of our winter activities as well as our launch point to head to Kirkenes in Norway the next morning to do a king crab safari.

A proper bucket list experience where we went out to the frozen tundra to watch giant king crabs being pulled up from underwater ice traps.

These crabs are brought back and cooked immediately for the freshest crab feast I’ve ever had. An amazing start to the trip.

Read about my KING CRAB SAFARI EXPERIENCE.

I planned for 4 nights and 3 full days in Saariselka, to give ourselves multiple chances to see the Northern Lights while this far up towards the Arctic Circle.

While Saariselka has aurora activities for about 200 nights a year, your chances of seeing it depends a lot on if there are clouds in the sky.

On Day 3, we had a lovely clear morning with a guided snowshoe trek in the Urho Kekkonen National Park. Highly recommended. We spent a few hours exploring on and off the trails in the national park, stopping to drink the freshest water trapped under a layer of ice, and finishing at the Aurora Hut. It timed perfectly with checking into the highlight stay of our trip.

Sleeping In An Aurora Hotel

One of my bucket list items for Finland was to sleep in a glass roof cabin or igloo where I can have the chance to see the Northern Lights from while sitting next to a warm fireplace. We found an incredible deal for our Aurora Cabin that includes breakfast and dinner.

The other two places on our shortlist were Star Arctic or the Arctic Glass Cubes.

If you’re lucky, you can see just look up and see the Northern Lights. And we did. After going on this evening snowmobile ride into the snowy forest, we stopped in complete darkness to roast marshmallows and stare up in awe at light show unfolding across the sky.

Read about our NORTHERN LIGHTS SNOWMOBILE EXPERIENCE.

We would have been satisfied if that was it for the night, but when we got back to our room, the sky started exploding again. I set up ‘the shot’ I had dreamt of before coming – and got it.

The best parts of the dancing northern lights, we experienced without a camera, and that’s a memory that I’ll have for myself.

Learning How To Husky Sled

The next morning, we went on this particular 10km self-driving husky adventure at a husky farm. After a brief lesson on how to drive the sled, we took off with our own team of dogs behind the guide and his team.

We did our research. Most other husky activities are shorter and less adventurous, which might be better for families and children. Mind you, we were beginners too, but after a lesson, we were really able to go for it and appreciated the longer track across the beautiful terrain.

Read about our husky self-drive experience.

Note: For outdoor activities, we booked three of our adventures with Manawa and two with GetYourGuide based on the discounts we found there and a generous weather cancellation policy.

4 Days In Rovaniemi

Despite no plans for skiing, I chose the ski resort town of Saariselka because of the easy 3-hour bus connection to Rovaniemi. We booked and reserved a time on the official Matkahulto site

After a few late nights of chasing the northern lights, we finally got to sleep in and enjoyed a calm morning in the Aurora Cabin before taking the 12:40 pm bus to Rovaniemi.

I planned for 3 full days in Rovaniemi to do the requisite visit to Santa’s Village as well as to experience reindeer sledding, ice fishing, ice floating, and to do some snow shoe hiking.

The Joy Of A Private Sauna

One of the benefits of a bigger city like Rovaniemi are the wider options of accommodations. There are also arctic igloos and aurora hotels in Rovaniemi, but they are outside of the city center.

Since we already our arctic cabin experience in Saariselka, we went for a boutique room with a private sauna at the Arctic Light Hotel in the center.

One thing I noticed was that a lot of apartments and hotels had sauna. After all, it’s a very Finnish thing to sauna. Having a sauna is a must in my opinion. It’s so nice to relax in your own private sauna at the end of a long cold day of activities

But even better is to have a full Finnish experience of an outdoor sauna followed by a polar plunge into the ice water. You can even go out on a sauna boat.

Should You Stay In Rovaniemi City Center Or At Santa Claus Village?

Our rational for not renting a car was because we had a lot of our planned activities with included pick-ups, and there was a bus to Santa Claus Village from the center.

If you are renting a car, I wouldn’t bother staying in Rovaniemi. The center is quite commercial and touristy.

There are much better places to stay away from the Rovaniemi city center if you have a car.

Here was our shortlist of places we were considering when we were still thinking about renting a car:

The famous Aito Aurora Treehouse, the Nova Galaxy Aurora Hut its own private sauna, the Nova Skyland Hotel, the LakeLodge glass chalet, and the Apukka Resort.

Since I don’t have kids, I didn’t even think about staying at Santa’s Village, but it might actual be an option for some. I didn’t know this ahead of time, but Santa’s Village is more than just an attraction and name.

Santa Claus Village, as its name suggests, is a whole self-contained village, with plenty of accommodation options and restaurants.

From simple cabins to premium glass-roof luxury lodges and even aurora igloos. There are many restaurants and even a small grocery mini-market. Many of the major tour companies have an office in the village, so you can book all your activities and depart from here as well.

We spent about 4 hours here and I took the chance to arrange for letters to be sent out right before Christmas to my niece and nephews from Santa.

While Rovaniemi is a biggest city in Lapland, I honestly don’t think you’ll miss out on much if skip the city center.

Ice Fishing and Ice Floating In Rovaniemi

To save time and money, I looked for excursions that combined multiple activities. For Rovaniemi, we went on a 7 hour ice fishing and ice floating adventure that also included a bit of snowshoe trekking through a snow-covered forest.

Ice fishing was a highlight and was a lot more effort than I thought it would be. It took us a good 20 minutes of hard work and sweat to drill a meter deep into the ice to get to the water.

We were able to get a bite on one of our lines, but it must have been a big fish, because it snapped the line and got away. Despite the cold, it was a very enjoyable experience. In between, we warmed up around a warm fire in traditional Finnish hut called a ‘kota’ to lunch on fresh grilled salmon, bread, marshmallows and hot blueberry juice.

Read about our ice fishing and floating experience.

Then it was time to zip up in an oversized dry suit and awkwardly waddle towards a pool of water to go ice floating. Worth it just to see and your friends look so silly in the red neoprene suit.

If you are keen, you can even do an ice float under the Northern Lights.

Choosing an Ice Breaker Cruise

Our big ticketed adventure in Rovaniemi is heading on an ice breaker cruise with ice floating. I looked at all three cruises: Sambo, Artkis, and Polar Explorer and ultimately opted for Polar Explorer since it was further away and looked to be a better experience.

The reviews for Artkis and Sambo said that both included a longer than necessary stop at the SnowExperience 365 museum. People complained that if you weren’t paying the admission to go in, you’d just sit around and wait for everyone else.

Unfortunately, we had to cancel this due to a scheduling conflict. But having an extra day made for a pleasant and unplanned surprise attendance to the annual PoroCup where we got to see reindeers race.

The PoroCup: Reindeer Racing

Between February and April, the best reindeers racers (they exist) in Finland gather and compete in a series of competitions culminating in the King’s Cup in Inari.

Individual racers on speed skis hang on by the reins to a single reindeer. When the gate opens, the reindeers fly out and try to be the first to finish the 1 km snow-covered track, usually in under 80 seconds.

You can watch from the indoor stadium seats or go right down alongside the start and finish line, where you can feel the reindeers rush by with their tongues sticking out.

Visiting Korouoma Canyon Frozen Waterfalls

One day trip we regret not doing was the hike to Korouoma Canyon nature reserve to see the frozen waterfalls. The other people we met throughout the week all had good things to say about it.

Santa Claus Express Train From Rovaniemi To Helsinki

A lot of people fly to Helsinki and take the overnight train up to Rovaniemi to visit Santa’s Village, but we decided to do the opposite to avoid backtracking.

The double decker train, dubbed the ‘Santa Claus Express’ has both cheap seats and very reasonably priced sleeper cabins. It was a no-brainer to get a sleeper since the journey was scheduled for 12 hours.

While the cabins were small, it was cozy and comfortable. Once we ‘unpacked’ and organized our stuff away under the beds, we were able to chill in the bottom bunk for a few hours before going to sleep.

There’s a cafe where you can buy dinner and breakfast with tables, they were packed as soon as we got on. The seats looked comfortable enough, but I was able to get a full night’s rest with the bed, so I definitely recommend going with the sleeper option.

 

Updated on June 6, 2025