Visiting the Santa Claus Village and the Arctic Circle
Rovaniemi, February 27th, 2018.
I met Santa Claus!!! So exciting! 😀
Today, I spent the day at Santa Claus Village, or in other words, Santa’s theme park in Rovaniemi. This is Finland’s most popular tourist destination, as Santa Claus is believed to be originally from Lapland. When I visited Norway, I went to a small town called Drøbak, which is supposed to be Santa’s summer home. However, I knew that his original home was in Rovaniemi, and I had been longing to visit it someday. Today, I finally made it!
On the way to the theme park
After having a good bowl of cereal for breakfast, I set off for Santa Claus Village. To get there, you need to take bus line 8, which runs from the city center to the theme park. The journey takes about 20 minutes, as the park is located on the outskirts of the city. It’s very close to the airport, and in fact, the bus serves both destinations. A one-way ticket costs €3.90 (€7.20 for a round trip in 2018) and can be purchased directly on the bus. I took the 11:10 AM bus, which was full but not overcrowded. There are return buses approximately every hour.
Santa Claus Village is open from 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM, and entrance is free. Essentially, how much you spend depends on what you want to buy—food, souvenirs, etc. Since I had plenty of time, I explored all the attractions, which I’ll explain below.
Let’s get started!
Santa Claus’ Office
Finding Santa Claus is very easy. His “office” is in the park’s main building, where a big sign at the top says “Santa is here.” You can’t miss it.
Upon entering, you walk straight into Santa’s gift shop, which is actually where the visit ends. Outside the shop, to the left, there’s a sign marking the beginning of the tour. From this point on, everything is decorated with letters, packages, presents, world maps, various tools, photos with celebrities, and festive music. I expected it to have a more traditional Christmas vibe, but instead, it truly felt like Santa’s residence!
Following the path, you reach a staircase leading to the upper floor, where our host awaits. There was a short queue, but I only had to wait through four turns (about 10 minutes) before entering. Santa’s elf greeted me at the entrance, managing visitor flow. She was cheerful and smiling as she asked where I was from and chatted with me until it was my turn to go in. From what I observed, most people in line were friends or families. Indeed, I was the only person visiting alone.
Meeting Santa Claus
My visit lasted about two minutes. It was a surreal experience, as if I were meeting the real Santa Claus. He looked exactly like the traditional image we have of him! He was massive compared to a regular person, but what stood out the most were his hands. Seriously, they were HUGE! Unfortunately, I couldn’t take a photo. His eyes were a very light blue, and he had a warm and kind expression, as well as a gentle voice.
During our brief conversation, we talked about my stay in Finland, what I do for a living, and my future plans. Interestingly, when I told him I was from Barcelona, he responded with a “Bon dia” (“Good day” in Catalan) and said goodbye with an “Adeu” (“Goodbye” in Catalan). According to him, “he knows everyone, so he speaks all languages.”
All visits are streamed live on the theme park’s YouTube channel*, though they are not saved. However, the staff records the entire visit and takes several photos of you with Santa. Of course, like any business, this service isn’t free. If you want the photos and video, you have to purchase them online by entering your reference code on the website. You have one year to do so. If I remember correctly, it costs €30 for just the photos and €60 for the photo+video package (as of 2018). I decided to simply keep the experience in my memory.
* Update 2025: The visits are no longer broadcast live, but it is possible to see the village from the outside on the Youtube channel of the city of Rovaniemi or the Santatelevision.com website.
Santa Claus’s Reindeer
Behind the main building, there’s a farm where Santa’s reindeer are ready to pull sleds. They were dressed in Christmas-themed harnesses, and the sleds looked very authentic. You can book a 5 km sled ride, but if I remember correctly, it is quite expensive. Instead, I continued exploring the village, but not before snapping a few pictures of these adorable animals.
Strolling Through Forest Minor and the “Igloos”
Since the snowy landscape was stunning, I decided to take a walk around. Following the village path, I reached a building called Forest Minor. I wasn’t sure if it was a hotel or a restaurant, but from the outside, it looked quite fancy.
Nearby, I also came across the “igloos,” small vacation lodgings with glass walls that offer a full view of the snowy surroundings. I can only imagine how expensive a night there must be…
The Souvenir Shops
There are souvenir shops in every building, but one stands out as it’s entirely dedicated to them. The place is packed with shops, one after another, selling all kinds of Christmas, Santa Claus, Finland, Lapland, and winter-themed items. Some shops even sold regional foods like meat and fish.
Unlike regular souvenir stores, Santa’s Village offers unique items like Christmas tree decorations, figurines, traditional clothing, and handcrafted reindeer bone tools. Personally, most of the shops were quite similar, so choosing where to buy depended on the first impression.
Holiday House
It’s called Holiday House, but it’s actually a hotel with—drum roll—another souvenir shop!
There wasn’t much to see except for a fake Santa Claus. Yes, you read that right… a fake Santa. There was no line to see him until a family walked in, took one look, and immediately left. The supposed Santa was too busy chatting with a store clerk instead of interacting with visitors. I mean, if you’re working and have customers, shouldn’t you focus on them?
Santa’s Post Office
Of course, Santa’s residence wouldn’t be complete without a post office. Here, you can buy letters, postcards, and stamps—and even write and send them. There are several tables with pens where you can sit and compose your messages. There are also two mailboxes: one for standard delivery and another for letters to be sent at Christmas.
As of 2018, stamps cost €1.50 for regular ones and €2.50 for special Santa’s Village ones.
One thing that stood out to me was the strong Asian influence in the post office. There were tons of letters, postcards, and magazines in Asian languages, and I was the only non-Asian person writing at the table.
Reindeer Cafe Restaurant Sirmakko
By then, I was getting hungry, so I looked for a place to eat. Finland is already expensive, and even more so in its most touristic spot. After checking out the restaurant prices, I chose Reindeer Cafe Restaurant Sirmakko**. It’s located in the same building as the souvenir shops, on the upper floor.
This restaurant specializes in reindeer burgers, so that’s what I ordered: a reindeer meat burger with dark bread and fries. It looked amazing:
I hadn’t eaten anything else all day, so I enjoyed it a lot. However, it wasn’t cheap—€19 for this meal. In Spain, it would have cost around €8-10. And believe it or not, this was the most affordable option I found!
** Update 2025: This restaurant is permanently closed.
The Arctic Circle
Another unique feature of Santa Claus Village is that it is located right on the border of the Arctic Circle. The Arctic Circle is the Earth’s parallel line at a latitude of 66º 33′ 44″. The interesting thing about this point is that north of the Arctic Circle, the sun does not set for at least one day in summer and does not rise for at least one day in winter.
Throughout the park, there are signs indicating the latitude parallel at this specific point of the Arctic Circle, like this one:
The official sign is outside, but in winter, it gets so covered in snow that it becomes invisible. However, inside the souvenir building, there is another official marker, located right next to the tourist office.
For reference, Rovaniemi itself is not in the Arctic Circle, but the theme park is.
Snowmobile Exhibition
Within the same park, there is a building showcasing an exhibition of snowmobiles from Finland, Sweden, and Norway. It is interesting to see how these vehicles have evolved throughout history. The exhibition is a bit farther from the rest of the attractions, but admission is free.
Back to Civilization
At 5:05 PM, I took the bus back to the city center. It was packed with people because it was the second-to-last one of the day, and the theme park closed at 5:00 PM. I was exhausted, but I still wanted to give the Northern Lights another chance. So, I had some reheated food for dinner and headed back to the Kemi River.
It was 7:00 PM, but the KP index was 5-6, and I didn’t want to miss the opportunity. This time, I went alone because my Australian companion was completely settled in the hostel. There was no one else by the river either. However, after a while, I joined a group of Israelis and a Venezuelan girl who had also come to see the auroras. Once again, we saw a faint greenish line in the sky, but it was barely noticeable. We walked north for a while, but in the end, we gave up… once again, maybe next time!
