Rovaniemi was the northern most we have ever been on our travels. Located exactly on the Artic Circle, there’s at least one day in summer where the sun never sets and one day in winter where the sun never rises in this part of the world. We could experience neither as we visited at Easter. Thankfully it had snowed recently and there was a lot of left over snow from the winter. April is usually a time of melting snow and by end of April most of the snow is usually gone.

Day 2 – Santa Claus Village

With time zone changes and after two flights we overslept and had to rush down to breakfast before it closed! Seeing all the snow and the beautiful cottages in daylight was even more exciting. We had nothing planned except for hoping to take a Husky sled ride which we weren’t sure if they were operating. April is a time when snow starts melting and the chances of a sled ride was greatly dependent on how much snow was left on the ground. With the daytime temperatures at about 6º C, I wasn’t very hopeful. The reception at Santa’s Holiday Village were very helpful in providing us with maps and guiding us around the activities available in that area. 

As we made our way to the Arctic Circle Husky Park, we walked past some reindeers pulling their sleighs at Santa’s Reindeer and the Arctic Circle snowmobile park. We weren’t curious about the names at all .. almost every attraction in the area was either named Santa or Arctic! Thankfully the dog rides were operating and we purchased our tickets for a sled ride later that afternoon. There were two kinds of rides available. One was a short 2 minute ride for €30 (€15 for under 12s) and the other was a 8-10 minute ride for €40 (€25 for under 12s). Our first instinct was to book the cheaper ride but then we realised the longer ride certainly was more value. 

With some time to kill we decided to visit the Elf’s Farm Yard. A small zoo with sheep, alpacas, llamas, bunnies, goats and of course, reindeers! It was quite peaceful here with very few tourists and we spent a considerable time petting the animals and feeding the reindeer. The entry was €15 for adults €10 for under 15s. They also sold some moss for €5 to feed the reindeer which we did. The reindeers were very gentle and while grabbing the moss from our palms. All the animals were lovely, well looked after and offered a good opportunity to see them up close. There was also a mini playground and some sleds available to slide down a small hill. Warming huts and fire pits around for the adults while the children were out enjoying the arctic atmosphere. We spent at least an hour and a half before bidding adieu to this pleasant little farm and made our way down to the husky park.

We upgraded our tickets to the 10 minute ride and made our way into the park. The entry for the park was €10 if we weren’t taking any rides that day. Gentle Batman greeted us at the entrance and allowed us to pet him for sometime. We then made our way over to the ride and were given a brief safety instruction before the ride started. 10 huskies pulled us away on one of the best rides of our lives. They were strong and pulled us through meadows and woods with stunning snow scenes. They glided back to the park after just under 10 minutes. Truly a memorable experience despite it being touristy. We walked around the park looking at the playful and napping huskies. Young and fiesty Bruno caught our attention and held it while he playfully engaged in a fight with his kennel mates. 

It was now time to see the favourite man of children around the world, Santa! Santa has his own office, post office and postal mark. Santa’s Claus’ office in the Santa Claus Village in itself is an attraction and a free one at that. The signs at the entrance to his office announced he was inside and we made our way down some interesting props before queuing up outside his office to meet him. There were framed photographs of popular personalities with Santa and we were trying to guess who they were while waiting to meet him. One of his elves then ushered us into a beautifully decorated office where Santa was waiting for us. We took some pictures while he made pleasant conversation with us. The whole experience was very surreal but exciting. We had about 5 -7 minutes with him and then made our way out to look at our souvenir pictures. We initially had no inclination to purchase them but when we looked at the picture we were tempted so we had to spend €35 to get one! The store had some interesting Christmas themed souvenirs and also a ton of postcards. We bought a whole bunch of postcards to be sent to our families and friends across the world and made our way to the post office.

The Post Office again was an attraction by itself. They had more postcards and other souvenirs for sale. We purchased our stamps and sat down to write our post cards and stamp them. There were two mail boxes – one for immediate posting and the other for posting at christmas. We dropped a few cards in now and a few in the Christmas box. 

It was well past our lunch time and we made our way down to the closest cafe. This area of the country was quite expensive and we were €50 short after lunch which consisted of some vegetable noodles and a veggie burger. There was a gas station across the busy road and we crossed to get some snacks and drink. With almost everything done and dusted we made our way back to our cottage for some rest. 

We took a walk in the area in the evening, through the woods seeing different kinds of accommodations along the way. One was called a tree house and the other an igloo. Both of these would be great for watching the northern lights in winter. Since our cottage had a kitchenette we decided to make our own dinner before turning on the sauna. All the cottages had their own private sauna and there were instructions on turning them on. We set a temperature of 90 degrees and waited for it to warm up. We then filled a tiny bucket and poured one ladle full of water into the stove. With a hiss the steam spread around the tiny little wooden sauna. Ideally after a session in the steamy sauna we have to roll in the snow before going back into the sauna again. But since it was still bright outside and the snow far away from the cottage (the roads were clear of any snow) we took a cool shower and went right back in. We repeated this for a few times before deciding to end our Finnish sauna session! A late night walk to the main attraction to see it decorated with lights ended a beautiful day at the Arctic Circle!

Day 3 – Outlet shopping and train to Helsinki

The day dawned bright and early and we made our way down to breakfast on time. With so much of shops selling souvenirs it was quite difficult to pick one. However there were two outlets stores of very Finnish brands – Marimekko and Iittala. Marimekko is a clothing brand that’s popular for its bright and bold prints. Their outlet store was my first stop in the morning after breakfast and I noticed they had some cute make up bags on sale which also fit into my budget! The next stop was the Iittala glass store. Iittala has been making glassware since the late 19th century and boasts of timeless pieces designed by Finnish designers. Their products included table ware and also decorations. Some of their collections caught my fancy even before the trip and I was hoping to find them for a bargain in the outlet. Aalto, designed after the lakes in Finland and Ultima Thule, designed after the melting snow in Lapland were my pulls. I was able to find both with some discounts and also a few other pieces made their way into my basket since they were on a good offer! With shopping done it was time to wrap up our stay and make our way over to the railway station for our train to Helsinki.

It was a gorgeous day and the despite the snow melting away the atmosphere at Santa Claus’ Village was magical. We called for a taxi and took a ride down to the station located in the centre of Rovaniemi and boarded our VR train headed for Helsinki, with a change at Oulu. VR Trains are very clean and comfortable. The overnight trains between Helsinki and Rovaniemi are called Santa Claus express and are double decker trains with sleepers. As they were quite expensive we decided to do the 9 hour route in the afternoon. The wide, expansive snow scapes, rivers and lakes along with some downloaded content kept us company in this 9 hour journey from Lapland to Helsinki. The cafeteria was well stocked and we had considerable options for a vegetarian meal. We had booked the Extra class considering the long journey and had access to free drinks. 

We reached Helsinki a little past 10 and made our way to Scandic Marski which was about 500m from the station. With a stylish room on the 8th floor, we had panoramic windows with the best view possible in Helsinki competing with our tiredness as we retired for the night.