Short reindeer ride or real safari?

Why the listings rarely say how far you ride

Tour titles use words like “sleigh ride”, “short sleigh ride”, “long ride” or “safari”. None of them is a measure of distance: the word safari is used for a 1.5 km ride and for a 3 km ride alike. Some operators put the distance in the title, some mention it further down in the description, and a few do not give it at all.

That is why the table leads with the distance and adds the time on the sled wherever the listing states it. Both numbers matter, because the same distance does not necessarily mean the same time on the sled: the 2–3 km safari in Santa Claus Village lists about 30 minutes, the 2–2.5 km forest ride about 40.

When the short ride is enough

A 400–500 m ride is a farm visit with a taste of the sled. Reviewers describe about five minutes of riding, and the complaint that comes up most often about these tours is that the ride was over sooner than expected. Go in knowing that, and the short ride has its place.

With small children, a few minutes on a sled in the cold is usually plenty. The short-ride tours take about two and a half hours in total, which leaves room in the day for everything else.

If you are visiting Santa Claus Village anyway, you do not need a tour for a short ride. The reindeer farm inside the village runs walk-in rides of 400 and 800 metres, and at busy times reviewers report queues of up to about an hour. The same farm’s 2–3 km safari is in the table above, with a fixed start time and no transfer.

If you mainly want to meet the reindeer, the short ride gives you the farm, the animals and a first ride. What it does not give you is a long ride.

When a safari is worth it

From 1.5 km upwards, the ride becomes the main part of the visit rather than a short add-on: about 30 to 40 minutes on the sled where the listing gives a time. If you want the ride itself to be the experience, this is the tier to book.

The safaris differ in what comes with the ride. The Beyond Arctic tour includes feeding and professional photos, at a farm about 35 minutes’ drive away. Arctic GM keeps its groups to eight guests and hands out a reindeer driving licence, a souvenir certificate, at the end. On Safartica’s daytime ride, two people share each sled. And the 1.5 km Wonderlapland ride charges extra for winter overalls and boots, so either add them when you book or bring your own warm layers.

If you are staying near Santa Claus Village, look at the 2–3 km ride from the farm inside the village (no transfer, about 30 minutes on the sled) and the 2–2.5 km forest ride that picks up from hotels in the village area (about 40 minutes on the sled).

Daylight or darkness

For photos, daylight wins. You see the reindeer in front of you, the forest around you and the faces of the people on the sled. Around midwinter the days in Rovaniemi are short, so a departure around the middle of the day gives you the most light.

After dark the ride becomes a different experience. On a clear night the northern lights can appear over the trail; on a cloudy night you ride through the dark forest, and reviewers of evening rides mention that it was too dark for good pictures. No operator can promise the lights, and one evening listing says so plainly.

The evening rides also differ a lot in length. Safartica’s evening safari covers 3 km with about 45 minutes on the sled, while the northern lights sledge ride from Arctic Circle Snowmobile Park lists about 20 minutes. If the lights are the main reason for your evening, a dedicated tour on rovaniemi-northernlights.com covers more ground in search of a clear sky.

A note on Sámi culture

Rovaniemi lies outside the Sámi homeland, which in Finland covers Enontekiö, Inari, Utsjoki and the northern part of Sodankylä. Reindeer herding in Finland is practised by both Finns and Sámi, and most farms around Rovaniemi belong to Finnish reindeer-herding families. A reindeer ride here is a visit to a Lapland reindeer farm. It is worthwhile in its own right, but it is not a Sámi cultural experience.

One ride in the table, the 2.5 km Arctic GM safari, describes its hosts as a family with Sámi heritage. That is the operator’s own statement, which we cannot check independently. The reindeer driving licence handed out on some tours is a souvenir certificate rather than a tradition, and we do not list staged ceremonies such as a “Lapland baptism”. More background on our Sámi culture page.