Hotels in Rovaniemi

If going to Santa Claus Village, absolutely get cash out in the main city first, as there are no ATMs in the Village. Some gift shops don't accept card, and neither does the bus between the city and the village... we forked out 3 or 4x the price in a taxi fare, twice, back to the city. We also missed out on a store that had a 50% off storewide sale because they only accepted cash. :( The Village is nice, and you can spend forever just looking at all the souvenir shops. Santa Park is a lovely half hour or 2km walk from the Village with clearly marked track. Your ticket allows you 2-consecutive day entries into Santa Park, but we could've done it in one. We DID do it in one, but we went back because we missed the Show. That was a waste of time to go back for. No talking, bizarre costumes and could not work out any sort of plot. Highlight of the attraction was the Sleigh Ride. At the base of Santa Park, from the car park, there is a hill you can climb to a lookout tower, well worth the visit you can see across the whole town, just be very careful on the steep icy steps. Absolutely A++ for Snowman World. So much fun. We slept in the Igloo (whose designs at least this year we found much nicer than those at the Ice Hotel in Jukkasjärvi, and half the price!) which also gives you 2-day entry into Snowman World which we didn't realise, and only spent 1 day there. Up and down the slides all day and trying to get the hang of ice skating. There was a crack in the ice we had to keep trying to avoid and it would've been nicer if the rink was a bit bigger & with a railing, but they did have supports for those like me who were struggling. They also recommend helmets on the ice slides but don't offer any, so would be good to bring as a safety precaution, but we all lived, great fun!

Me and my family came to Rovaniemi to spend Christmas holiday in snow :) We stayed in Santasport hotel that's located 25min walk away from town centre but its a lovely quiet location and close to Ounasvaara ski resort. As it was Christmas time, many shops were closed during those days , but we could get the food that we needed from the supermarket opposite Mcdonalds. The tour info staff were very helpful explaining about different activities. We were interested to see Husky park and Snowman world which are both situated in Santa claus village as is Santa Claus himself who we visited on Christmas Eve ( had to wait around 2 hours in the queue which we didnt expect but still it was great! ) In Rovaniemi town we visited Arktikum that was very interesting activity to find out about the Lappish ways of life and culture. We had a lovely lunch in Arktikum rrstaurant / cafe and would suggest everyone to go there if you are looking for great place to eat as we had a buffet - soup, choice of different hot meals and salads plus coffee/tea and sweets for €12.50 - great deal. Just walking around Rovaniemi is very nice as the city has a nice feel to it. The only minus would be that parking is payable almost everywhere and sometimes lacking info.

Rovaniemi is an amazing place to take children, to visit Santa and have a photo taken with him up there is an experience, i have never seen my son so gobsmacked and he is 9! The Husky Park is 400 metres down the road, an easy stroll. The staff there are absolutely lovely and helpful and my family and I had the best time there patting and chatting with them all. We went on a Reindeer sled ride to see the Northern Lights, this was my highlight of our 5 week trip. The ride was fantastic - such an experience sledding behind reindeers looking up to the starry skye seeing the beautiful lights shine through, they took us to a tee-pee had Gloggi and cooked our own snag on the fire, then we went and fed the female reindeers and some were pregnant. The Ice Igloo area was fun for the kids, and fun for the adults (vodka shots at the Ice Bar) they were great to warm you up. Not sure if I would sleep there overnight - but it looked amazing. A taxi ride into town to have dinner at some different restaurants was easy enough to get to from there as well. Rovaniemi is a great family trip away!

We loved the Visit to Ranua Zoo most. It was amazing to see the great selection of arctic animals, especially the snowy owl, grey owl and polar bear. Santa Park was a wonderful magical land. Also we loved the activities at Santa Park such as decorating the ginger bread and making elves. The hot chocolate at Cafe 21 was beautifully decorated with marshmallows and tasted great. The Lappish dinner at Restaurant Nili was most delicious traditional cuisine we had in Finland.

Took our daughter for her 18th birthday, highly recommend Rovaniemi, very central to Santa Village and Santa Park, great experience although we didn't see the northern lights, we did however experience reindeer sleighing, huskys and snowmobiles, my daughter was pamepered in the ice hotel at snowman world when they heard it was her 18th birthday, treating her to her first legal drink compliments of the nice bar man. Everyone is so friendly, the place is magical although we did find a few things rather expensive it would not put us off going back again. The trip of a lifetime, thoroughly enjoyed it, the restaurants, pubs and especially the santa experience which we all thought was nowhere near as commercial as we expected, it was fabulous

Lots of restaurants and a 24h small supermarket (Sale 24), plus a larger supermarket in the main shopping Centre (Mall). Santas Village is close by, activities and food there are reasonably priced which was a surprise. The snowmobile, husky and reindeer safari is excellent, our guide Alec was fabulous - so friendly and accommodating. The local ski resort is good and very close to town. Very picturesque town in the winter