Lapland, Finland

A few years ago, I saw a viral post on Facebook of seeing the Northern Lights from your own glass igloo in Lapland, Finland. I immediately filed myit under “bucket list places to stay”. We’ve been wanting to see the Northern Lights for years! We even took our winter honeymoon to Iceland for 8 days – where it was cloudy and snowy every night. We never saw them. When I saw Ryanair advertising a new route, London Stansted to Rovaniemi – direct – I knew I had to jump on it! I quickly purchased flights for a holiday weekend in November.

Now before I continue, let me start by saying we loved our trip to Finland. BUT, we went at the wrong time of the year. Traveling to Lapland in the middle of November means it too rainy (muddy) to do fall activities, and it’s not snowy enough for winter activities. I had hoped for a considerable amount of snow in the Arctic Circle, but that’s not what we got. If I had to do it over, I’d go in late December or January. Many of the places I saw when I was researching the trip, were not open yet for season. I got trigger happy on cheap flights and should’ve done my research first. Our sled dog ride ended up being canceled because there was no snow, and the ground was too wet and muddy. There is also an outdoor ice skating track that looks absolutely incredible – but it doesn’t open until mid December. As a former figure skater and hockey player, it’s my DREAM to go skating through the woods on a track. Also, the nearby Ice Hotel and Ice Bar would’ve been great to visit, but it wasn’t open either. That said, Lapland is beautiful, just don’t make the same mistakes we did.

Once we had flights, it was time to book a place to stay. Turns out those full igloos you see circulating on social media are super expensive. We are all for a splurge every now and then but 700 a night was out of our budget, especially since we like to travel monthly. I did find the perfect alternative, which was not only incredible, but more affordable. We stayed at Apukka Resort in one of their Aurora Cabins. These cabins were half glass, with the bed facing a glass wall/ceiling. They were also equipped with a full bathroom (with floor heating), a mini fridge, and a couch. Lo and behold, we saw the Northern Lights on our first night, from the comfort of our cabin! Our stay included a massive breakfast spread that was so delicious, and an Aurora Alerts app to use during our stay.

Our first day, we visited the Santa Claus Village Resort, something that Rovaniemi is known for. You can visit and participate in the attractions even if you aren’t staying there. The site has reindeer rides, husky rides, Santa’s Mail room (you can send a postcard or mail that is postmarked from the Arctic Circle), visit Santa, visit and feed Santa’s reindeer, shop, and much more. The resort also has several restaurants ranging from a coffee shop to fine dining. We grabbed a burger and fries for lunch on our first day and it was ok. I don’t think people come to Santa Claus Village to eat – they go because their kids want to see Santa. Speaking of Santa, you can visit him at the resort. The entrance is through one of the gift shops and has themed displays on your walk through the attraction. We ended up leaving the line because as two grown adults, we didn’t feel called to sit on Santa’s lap. It’s definitely a must do if you’re in Rovaniemi with kids though!

That evening we had booked dinner at our resort. However, before dinner we took a walk and all of a sudden we saw something green glowing in the sky! It was our first glimpse of the Northern Lights! We were so excited and giddy, we told the waitress when we went to dinner. She seemed unphased by it, but the Northern Lights are glowing all the time in this part of Finland, so she was used to it. At dinner we ordered traditional Lappish dishes. I had braised reindeer with gravy, and my husband had arctic char, a local fish. Our dinner was excellent, and we spent the rest of the evening drinking wine in cabin and viewing the Northern Lights. Our stay include access to an Aurora Tracker app that alerted us when the lights were visible. We race outside to get a better view! There is an empty field across the street from our resort that is dark with no streetlights – it was a great location to watch the aurora. Seeing the Northern Lights was a highlight of our trip!

I had hoped for more snow (well, any snow would have been great). I wanted a Winter Wonderland, but mid November was too early in the season to deliver. Luckily, a nearby recreation center called Santa Sport, had some snow made for cross country skiing. I grew up cross country skiing, and even raced a little in high school. It had been about 20 years or more since I’d been on skis, but it was just like riding a bike. We were able to rent the skiis from Santa Sport, and then drove over to the track to ski. My husband had never cross country skied, and he likely won’t ever do it again. He described it as “the worst, because it is hard AND boring”. I quite enjoyed myself! I can only imagine what it would be like to ski around the entire complex in mid winter when there is actual snow! After skiing, we headed to the highest point in the park to watch the sunset. There’s a short path up from the car park, and you are treated to an orange ski. Sunsets in the Arctic Circle are magical! It looks like the sky is on fire!

In the evening, we had booked a Northern Lights Tour with our resort. We knew all day the forecast was not right for the aurora, based on the weather. The app confirmed we would have a very low chance of seeing the aurora. We hoped the resort would cancel the tour and refund our money, but they didn’t. We went on the bus tour, which was about two hours, mostly just driving and standing outside in the cold. As suspected, we didn’t see the Northern Lights, and we felt the tour was a waste of time and money. The probably of seeing them was extremely low given the cloud cover; I wish the resort had allowed us to cancel and be refunded.

We chose to rent a car during our stay in Finland as our resort was outside of town and not in walking distance to anything else. We wanted the opportunity to explore! We rented with Green Motion and it was reasonable, and the car was equipped with everything you might need to drive safely in the winter. The roads in Finland were also well taken care of. We decided to drive about an hour and 15 minutes south of Apukka to visit Rauna Wildlife Park. The zoo is attached to Rauna Resort. It’s a small park, and doesn’t take more than 2 hours to see everything. There were plenty of animals we hadn’t seen before like the wolverine, and the dhole (cutest, most playful thing ever!). If you love owls, there is a wide variety. The drive there was easy, and it seems cheaper to rent a car than take a bus trip to the park, which looked expensive.

After our day trip, we set out to Rovaniemi city center to walk around and get dinner. There are a few cute shops, but otherwise there isn’t much to do in the city. One thing that we wish we had more of in the UK is good Mexican food, so we opted to go to Amarillo, a Tex Mex restaurant. The food was good, the margaritas were better, and it hit the spot after being outside in the cold. But… it’s just so hard to find the same kind of Tex-Mex or Mexican food that you get in the states. We headed back to our aurora cabin, hoping for another glimpse of the lights, but sadly it was cloudy. We still enjoyed a local Finnish brew in our cabin. (Another perk of getting the rental car was being able to stop at the supermarket and stock our mini-fridge with snacks and drinks). Sadly, we weren’t able to see the Northern Lights this night, though we did stay up and try.

Our last day in Lapland was a full day, as we had a late evening flight. However, the husky sled dog experience we booked through our resort, got cancelled that morning. I think it had to do with weather as it was rainy. We ended up going to the Arctic Circle Hiking Area for a walk around in the trees and dusting of snow. The area was pretty and we saw wild reindeer. We probably would’ve hiked longer but the wet ground caused my boots to leak and I can’t handle wet socks. With the weather, there wasn’t much left to do so after a change of socks and shoes, we headed back to Santa Sport to go bowling. We ended the day with some pints at a pub in downtown Rovaniemi.

I am glad we went to Lapland; the area is gorgeous, the people are friendly, and seeing the Northern Lights was a big check on my bucket list. BUT, I wish we had gone a few months later.