Are you wondering what to do during your wintertime stay in Rovaniemi? Whether you want to join a guided tour or excursion, or explore the city on your own, here are our best Rovaniemi travel tips for you! We want you to have a memorable wintertime stay in Lapland!
Rovaniemi is a mid-sized Finnish city with approximately 63 000 inhabitants. Whether you love spending time in the untouched nature or enjoy the hectic city life filled with good restaurants and cultural events, the city has something to offer to everyone!
In this article we want to share our best insider travel tips for your winter-time stay in our home town and tell you about our favorite activities in Rovaniemi, whether they’re related to cultural experiences or outdoor life.
Landmarks and sights in Rovaniemi
Getting around
The city might be quite small when it comes to the amount of inhabitants, but the land area of the city is large! You may find, that interesting things that are “located in Rovaniemi”, are actually tens of kilometers away from the city!
Our TOP 5 suggestions for landmarks and sights are things that you will be able to do in the wintertime without renting a car or a guide. Local bus no. 8 operates between the Santa Claus village and the city center.
Our Top 5 travel tips for landmarks and sights
- Santa Claus Village.
Located at the Arctic Circle, about 8 km North of the city center, Santa Claus Village is hard to describe – it has to be experienced. Here you will visit Santa Claus at his office, shop for Finnish design (check out the Iittala and Marttiini stores) and go on a husky or a reindeer ride, but also take a picture of yourself crossing the Arctic Circle. The founding building of the village, a small log cabin, was built in 1950 when Eleanor Roosevelt visited Lapland as a part of a post-WWII Unicef project. You can still find the little cabin standing in the middle of buildings that have risen around it.
- Arktikum.
Rovaniemi is not all about Santa Claus and reindeer. The most famous museum in Rovaniemi offers you information on the history of the region, Lapland and the Arctic. The museum hosts changing exhibitions as well.
- Riverside sightseeing walk.
The city center is located by the side of the Kemijoki river. Take a walk along the riverside to learn about the everyday life of the locals and to get plenty of photo opportunities. During your walk you can see:
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- the Jätkänkynttilä Bridge
- the public beach of Rovaniemi
- a public lean-to with a fireplace and
- a small island called “Kotisaari”.
- Depending on the time of the year, you might see locals in their activities, going fishing, ice fishing, skiing or snowmobiling on the river.
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Alvar Aalto architecture.
For architecture-lovers, there is a lot of Alvar Aalto heritage in town, built during the reconstruction of the city after WWII. The reindeer head-shaped city plan of the city center and the Administrative cultural center (which includes the city hall, city library, Lappia-hall and the city theater) are designed by the famous Finnish architect. Aalto designed also residential buildings on the city, e.g. the residential area of Korkalorinne.
- Culture House Korundi.
Located in one of the only still existing buildings that were not destroyed in the Lapland War, The Culture house of Korundi houses the Rovaniemi art museum, the city’s chamber orchestra, a small museum shop and a café. The The cafeteria serves grat lunch during the weekdays. Visit the museum shop for high-quality souvenirs. Address: Lapinkävijäntie 4.
Food culture
Finland and Lapland are not yet renown for their food culture, even though the region has a lot to offer when it comes to delicious dishes. The Finnish cuisine is about clear, simple flavors and fresh, local ingredients, and you can expect to find berries, mushrooms, fish, game and root vegetables on your plate here. Sauteed reindeer and blazed salmon (or trout) are some of the most well-known dishes of the region, but there is a lot more to discover beyond these two!
You can experience the local food by visiting local restaurants, joining food-related activities arranged in the city or by doing a discovery tour at the supermarket and cooking by yourself. Below are our best tips for local food in Rovaniemi:
Restaurants in Rovaniemi
During the last couple of years, several really good restaurants have opened in the city. Table reservations are recommended as the places may get crowded. Some of our favorite restaurants offering dishes with local ingredients include:
This small and cozy restaurant offers two different kinds of menus. One is a down-to-earth street food menu, but the other one is a seasonal bistro menu on which you can find local flavors. The staff is super friendly and will tell you about the dishes and help you pair a local beer with your meal if you like. Address: Ainonkatu 3.
Arctic Light Hotel’s fine-dining restaurant offers dishes with local ingredients. We especially love their carefully built menu packages. Address:
- Kahvila Konditoria Antinkaapo
If you would like to have a snack and enjoy a traditional sweet treat with your coffee, you can head here for a very Finnish experience. The bakery serves sweet buns and other traditional delicacies. Address:
- Choco Deli
A cafeteria offering locally produced delicacies (coffee, pralines and fancy cakes).
Cooking classes and local food tours
If you are interested in seeing where your food comes from and how local ingredients become dishes using traditional methods, you can consider joining a food tour or a food-related activity like a cooking class.
With Frost Fell Adventures, you can learn about the art of outdoor cooking and join a tour to prepare a traditional three course meal on open fire.
Cooking Finnish food at home
Whether you want to make a culinary trip to Finland in your home kitchen or continue enjoying Finnish food after returning back home from your trip to Finland, food blogs with Finnish recipes can help you recreate your favorite dishes at home! Wind from the North is a Finnish food blog with traditional Finnish recipes as well as stories about life in the North.
If you have the chance to cook during your holiday, go shopping and buy the local produce at the supermarket! Try at least these: rieska (Lappish flatbread), leipäjuusto (Finnish squeaky cheese), salmiakki (Finnish salty liquorice). Most supermarkets also sell a selection of locals craft beers. If you whave a hard time finding what you are looking for, don’t hesitate to ask for help! Most Finns speak very good English.
Restaurant culture on a budget
The Nordic countries are rather expensive and you might notice that restaurant prices in Finland are higher than in your home country. If you want to try different dishes without blowing your budget, try eating out during lunch time! Lunch deals are a very typical Finnish thing and many restaurants offer a special lunch menu consisting of 2–5 lunch dishes from Monday to Friday. The dishes are the same size as normal main courses, but cost only around 12 euros each, often including coffee and a salad buffet.
Nature Activities
One of the best things that you can do in Rovaniemi is to enjoy the clean and beautiful nature that surrounds the city. There are also plenty of outdoor activities to choose from in the region. In this article we will cover both arranged tours and activities that you can do on your own. There are several benefits to hiring an experienced guide, but we also want to encourage people to have an adventure all on their own!
Nature activities that you can do on your own
Ounasvaara winter walking trail and view tower
Ounasvaara is a large hill within a walking distance from the city center. It is the center for sports in the city, and in addition to sports and swimming halls and other activities, there are several skiing and hiking trails in the area. In the winter time, you can head to the winter walking trails of Ounasvaara, make a fire at one of the public fireplaces and climb to a view tower to get a great view over the city.
Riverside walk
Take a walk along the riverside to learn about the everyday life in the city. If you start at the walking street, in the heart of the city and head south, you will first see the Jätkänkynttilä Bridge behind you and the public beach of Rovaniemi on the opposite shore. As you keep on walking, you will find a popular public lean-to with a fireplace and see a small island in front of it. The island is called “Kotisaari” and it’s one of the most photographed spots in Rovaniemi (mostly with a drone). In the winter time this area is also a very popular ice fishing spot. When you arrive at a T-crossing, you can take a turn right, visit the church of Rovaniemi and find yourself back in the city center.
Dressing up for winter conditions
You can focus on enjoying the outdoor life in Rovaniemi when you don’t have to worry about feeling cold. If you are not used to very cold weather, we recommend that you check out our cold weather clothing tips before you venture on to explore the great outdoors.
Guided Tours
If you are not very familiar with the northern nature and extreme weather conditions, there are several benefits to hiring a professional guide for your winter-time activities.
With an experienced guide, you don’t have to worry about safety issues, like getting lost, stuck in the snow with your car, figuring out emergency numbers or simply struggle with renting a car and feeling insecure about driving in snowy winter conditions. Hiring a local guide will also help you to reduce the amount work that you have to put into travel preparations beforehand, because a professional is planning your outdoor adventure for you. A local guide will also be a valuable source of information: you will hear a lot of stories and get insider tips of the region that you would not be able to find online!
Several companies offer guided outdoor tours in the area, and not all tours are the same. There are companies that specialize in small groups and then there are others that sell tours for masses. Group sizes can vary from two travelers to a whole big busload of tourists. Also the quality of guiding varies. Some companies use only experienced guides and others use foreign workers or volunteers with very little knowledge of the region. If you would like to join a small group tour and learn about the local nature, culture and traditions with the help of an experienced guide, you can take a look at the tours that Frost Fell Adventures arranges in Rovaniemi below:
Northern lights
Many travelers visiting Lapland in the winter time have a life-long dream to see the Northern lights. If you are one of the travelers wishing to tick the Aurora Borealis off the bucket list and want to have tangible memories of your northern light experience, we suggest that you take a look at our Northern light photography guide. We have also put together information on how to find these magical fox fires in case that you would like hunt for the lights on your own.
These Northern light travel tips don’t only apply for the Rovaniemi region, but Aurora hunting in general. Remember, that the Northern lights are only visible in the dark, and the chance of seeing them in the city center is rather low. That’s why Northern light tours are tours during which the guide drives you away from the light pollution of the city.
We hope that you find these tips helpful! If you didn’t find what you were looking for on this page, be sure to check out our FAQ section as well.