Christmas husky rides in Rovaniemi

Santa Claus Village husky ride or a safari: which is better at Christmas?

For small kids or a packed day, the short ride. For anyone who wants to drive a team, a safari. They are different products, not a cheap and an expensive version of the same thing.

The Santa Claus Village ride is 2.5 km. A musher drives, you sit, and you are on the sled for 7 to 12 minutes inside a 30-minute slot, then juice and cookies in a kota. It is right there in the village, which matters when you have a four-year-old and a Santa visit to fit in. Reviewers often say it felt short. It is short.

A safari is a different thing. On the 6 km self-drive two adults share a sled and swap halfway, one driving and one sitting. Transfers and warm clothing are included, and the whole outing takes 3.5 hours. The reindeer, huskies and Santa day looks like a safari on paper but includes a 500 m husky ride. Compare kilometres, not hours.

How much daylight is there in Rovaniemi at Christmas?

Very little sun, more light than you think. Sunrise to sunset is about 2 hours 14 minutes on 21 December, with roughly six hours of usable twilight from about 09:15 to 15:15.

Rovaniemi sits right at the Arctic Circle, which crosses Santa Claus Village a few kilometres north of the centre. Visit Rovaniemi says the sun does not rise at all on the shortest day. Sun calculators disagree slightly: sunrise-sunset.org has the sun rising at 11:08 and setting at 13:22 on 21 December 2026, but only 0.06 degrees above a flat horizon. Behind trees or a hill you will not see it. Either way, midday is a long, blue and pink twilight, bright enough to sled without a headlamp.

All times below are local (EET) for Rovaniemi. Civil twilight is when there is enough light to be outdoors without artificial light.

How busy is Rovaniemi over Christmas and New Year?

Very. The weeks before Christmas and the days up to New Year are the peak of the year, for flights, hotels and husky departures.

In winter 2024-25 Rovaniemi recorded 1.1 million overnight stays between November and March, and in the run-up to Christmas the airport handled up to 80 flights a day, according to Yle News. The last Saturday of the year was the airport's busiest day, with people queuing outside the terminal.

At the Santa Claus Village ride you take a number and wait your turn. One guest found the queue numbers confusing because they "went up to 28 then back to one". Book a time slot in advance and arrive a little early. For safaris, pickups run on a schedule and a late arrival can mean a missed trip with no refund.

When should you book a husky ride for Christmas 2026?

Now, if your flights are booked. Between about 20 December and 6 January, small groups and popular time slots go first.

Every GetYourGuide trip on this site has free cancellation up to 24 hours before, so there is no penalty for booking early. Pick the late-morning slot if you can. Around 11:00 to 13:00 you get the best of the light, and it is a few degrees less brutal than early morning.

Check the calendar for 24 and 25 December specifically. Some programmes run a reduced schedule on Christmas Eve: one large Levi safari company, for example, lists its evening aurora trips as daily "except 24th Dec". Snow is very likely by Christmas but not guaranteed, as early December 2024 showed. Our 2026-27 season post has the background.

Drive your own team for 6 km, with transfers from the centre or Santa Claus Village, winter clothing and a hot drink included.

★ 4.6 · 3.5 hours · from $245

Explore the 6 km self-drive safari in Rovaniemi → Tour details

How cold is a husky ride in Rovaniemi at Christmas?

Cold. Visit Rovaniemi gives an average of -20 to -10 C for December, and sitting still on a moving sled feels colder than that.

The Finnish Meteorological Institute says a white Christmas is almost guaranteed in Lapland, based on 1981 to 2010 statistics, and adds that a warming climate may change that. Expect snow; don't bet the trip on a particular depth.

Most rides lend you the outer layer: the short ride includes outer clothing, and the safaris include a thermal overall, boots and mittens. What they don't lend is what goes underneath. Wear wool base layers, a fleece, two pairs of socks, and bring a balaclava or neck tube. The passenger gets colder than the driver, so swap at halfway as planned, not later. Kids feel the cold faster than adults, which is one more argument for the short ride with under-sevens.

Frequently asked questions