Rovaniemi’s nightless nights and bustling frosts exude the exoticism of Lapland. Whatever the season, Lapland’s nature offers the tourist experiences. Rovaniemi is known above all as a winter destination, but it is also worth traveling to the capital of Lapland in summer. Enjoy the sunless night sun and the magic of the Arctic Circle and experience the enchantment of Lapland’s nature right next to the city!
Rovaniemi is an interesting city destination
Rovaniemi, located in northern Finland, is especially known for Santa Claus, but the city also offers tourists many other interesting destinations and sights. During your holiday in Rovaniemi, you can not only enjoy the nature experiences offered by the northern city, but also get to know the Lapland culture or take full advantage of the active opportunities offered by Rovaniemi.
Like other city destinations, you can also spend a successful city holiday in Rovaniemi by shopping, eating well and staying comfortably.
Rovaniemi’s most famous attractions include the Arktikum Museum, which presents Lapland culture, and the handsome Jätkänkynttilä Bridge.
Rovaniemi is a great nature destination.
All year round to Rovaniemi
Rovaniemi is a great travel destination in all seasons, but the most popular travel time is definitely winter. That’s when the city’s camouflage, thick white snow cover and bustling frosts offer visitors the exoticness of northern winter at its best. It is worth getting well equipped for a winter trip, as it is not uncommon for the thermometer to sink far to the frost side, even close to 30 degrees below zero.
The four seasons are perfectly visible in Rovaniemi, so it is worth booking the time of the visit according to the kind of experience you need from your vacation. The signs of spring are perfectly visible in a slowly warming city, while the summer specialty of Rovaniemi is the sun, which does not set at all. In the fall, the city bathes in the splendor of fall colors.
Due to its northern location, the average temperatures in Rovaniemi do not rise very often, and when the meter rises to 20 degrees, we can already talk about warm summer weather.
Active and Urban Holiday in Rovaniemi
People typically travel to Rovaniemi for a winter holiday, as the close location of Santa’s Workshop Village, the guaranteed snowy landscape in winter and the opportunity to experience the exotics of the north attract many tourists to the city.
The Ounasvaara fell and ski center, located right next to the city center, will take adrenaline-fueled tourists with them in an instant, and great hiking terrain opens up a short distance from the city.
The city is ideal for active tourism, but the traditional City Holiday is also successful in Rovaniemi.
The small town center is quite compact and all the services a traveler needs are within walking distance of each other. The most important shopping destination in the city center is Kauppakatu, along which chain stores, small boutiques and a shopping center know how to go for a travel budget. Restaurants and hotels in the area also guarantee a successful city break.
Rovaniemi is an easy travel destination
It is easy to travel to Rovaniemi, as the city is a very popular destination, especially among international tourists, which guarantees excellent tourist services for domestic tourists as well. The city is used to tourists.
FLIGHTS, ACCOMMODATION AND MOVEMENT ON ROVANIEMI
The Jätkänkynttilä bridge and the nightless night landscape perfectly reflect Rovaniemi.
A short flight to Rovaniemi
Rovaniemi has good flight connections from Helsinki, as both Finnair and Norwegian operate in between, offering numerous flights daily. The flight time on a direct flight is about an hour and 20 minutes, so you can travel to the scenery of Lapland from Helsinki very quickly.
The city can also be conveniently reached from other parts of Finland by train and bus. The train journey from Helsinki to Rovaniemi varies between ten and 13 hours, while the duration of the bus journey is about 11 hours at its fastest.
Stay comfortably
As a popular tourist city, Rovaniemi offers visitors a great accommodation setting. In the city, you can head to the pillow not only in the soft bed of the chain hotel but also in the room of the atmospheric boutique hotel.
In addition to hotels, the city also offers accommodation with locals and Lapland-style rental cottages, which are well accessible.
Getting around Rovaniemi
Rovaniemi has well-functioning local traffic, but it is not very comprehensive. The tourist will run into a deficient bus network as soon as he arrives in the city, as public transport from the airport to the city center depends on an airport taxi. The Airport Taxi connection from the airport to the center of Rovaniemi runs through a few hotels to the bus station, and costs seven euros per passenger. The airport taxi operates according to the flights arriving at the airport.
The city is small, and the most convenient way to get around the center is either on foot or by bike. Renting a bike or a car in the city is easy.
ATTRACTIONS OF ROVANIEMI
Arktikum is one of the city’s main attractions.
It happens in the Arctic Circle
Christmas is only once a year, but Santa Claus is available all year round. Santa Claus and his elves live in Santa’s Workshop Village, just north of Rovaniemi’s city center, exactly at the official Arctic Circle. In the workshop village, you can also greet the buck in the summer and make Christmas purchases in stock well in advance.
From Santa’s main post office, you can send a card with your own special stamp to the home troops. Here, Santa receives about 700,000 letters a year from around the world. The Christmas House is also located in Pajakylä, where Christmas celebrations from Finland and abroad are presented.
Learn something new in the Arctic
The Arctic Science Center and the Lapland Provincial Museum Arktikum present the nature, peoples and history of the north. Arktikum is located at Pohjoisranta 4, at the confluence of the Ounasjoki River, a short distance from Rovaniemi’s city center.
Wave handprints
Rovaniemi’s special reindeer horn station plan is the work of Alvar Aalto himself . Friends of architecture will find many interesting Aalto sites in Rovaniemi: The Rovaniemi administrative and cultural center consists of the Lappia House, the Lapland Provincial Library and the City Hall designed by Alvar Aalto.
Right in the heart of the city center, these create a timeless look for the city. The library’s Lapponica Hall hosts changing art exhibitions.
The nature of Lapland is unique
Nature is right outside the door in Rovaniemi, literally. The hiking trails start almost from the center and it is easy to go to nature, even if only for a short walk from the hotel.
From Rovaniemi, you should also pop into the Ranua Zoo for a day. Bears, reindeer, wolves and lynxes – here you will meet all the animals of the north. The only polar bears in Finland also live in Ranua. Luosto is also an interesting daytime destination from Rovaniemi: you can visit the Lampivaara amethyst mine in search of your own lucky jewel. The mine is the only gem mine open to the public in Europe.
THE BEST OF ROVANIEMI
A nightless rowing trip in front of the city is a memorable Rovaniemi experience.
The most interesting sights
- Candlestick bridge
- Arctic
- Lord’s Square
The best nature experiences
- Lapland’s nightless summer nights
- Winter camouflage
- Hiking in the mountain scenery of Rovaniemi
- Ski trip in Ounasvaara