Rovaniemi Transportation

If you go to Santa Claus or Santa Park, try to get some more people that might be waiting for a bus or a taxi and share a 9 seats taxi. For example from Santa Park to Rovaniemi ( MacDonalds) it cost only 25 euros. If you split those 25 per 9...it's cheaper than to take a bus.
Don't be shy.
Just ask people waiting if they agree.

Now, if you're going to Rovaniemi from Finland's capital, Helsinki, you'll probably take the same train ride as I did, spanning an amazing epic length of some 800km. Our journey, though fuss-free and comfortable wasn't without difficulty. Liz and I faced the common language problem in Helsinki Train Station when we tried booking a double sleeping berth .Somehow, the ticketing attendant did not understand our request even though we used all hands, heads and even a portable Magna Doodle to indicate what we wanted. She booked us 2 bunks in a triple berth instead.
Now if you're accustomed to train travel, you would know that a triple berth is bloody high. It took some getting used to but this little mistake turned out to be a blessing in disguise. We were later joined by a pretty Finnish blonde who regaled us with stories of the Finnish Ruska ( Autumn Colours) . This made us even more excited to go to Rovaneimi and after the conversation, Liz and the Blonde slept like good little gals on the lower bunks while I fretted at the top.
When our train finally arrived at Rovaniemi Station at 7:55 a.m, some 12 hours and 35 minutes after we left Helsinki, I was stone asleep. As luck would have it, I failed to wake up when the train conductor moved around the compartments to rouse the passengers. I only woke up in horror when the conductor came to the berth again and said that we were the last passengers on board. We were very lucky to have been discovered by the conducter, if not we would have landed in Helsinki some 12 hours again.

Cost of the Sleeping Berth ( 21 Euros ) . Our Train fare was covered by the Scanrail Tix.
Schedule for the Express Train from Helsinki to Rovaneimi ( Click on weblink below)

Click here to read more of bpacker's dingbat adventures in Rovaneimi.

If you're travelling low budget and you want to travel comfortably anyway, take a night train to Rovaniemi from Helsinki, Turku, or wherever in the southern Finland you are.

It's easy and compared to normal Finnish prices it's quite cheap, too. For students it's something like 35 euros to get more than 800 km north from Helsinki! For adults it's twice the price.

The trains are very comfortable and if you get a cabin (that's a bit more expencive, then) I can guarantee that you sleep well. I myself usually sleep in the normal sitting cars, because they're okey too.

There are usually restaurants cars in the train and all the announcements are also in English. Sometimes there are also fancier Pendolino and InterCity trains travelling during the night. They're even nicer to travel!

The web-page is exellent, you can find all the timetables and calculate the best trip for you and also see the exact price for that particular trip.

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There is direct train from Helsinki to Rovaniemi 2-3 times a day, but if you could, take the night train with a sleeping compartment and you will arrive early in the morning to Rovaniemu fresh and energetic.

I flew to Rovaniemi with a scheduled Finnair flight. The fight only had economic class, though there was a lot of space and great service. Flight operated in a modern brand new aircraft and was perfectly on time. Honestly I was impressed by both flights and can only recommend Finnair.

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One of the easiest ways to fly to Lapland is to Rovaniemi Airport. There are several regular connections from and to Rovaniemi from Helsinki as well as charter flights operating to the airport form other parts of Europe.
It is quiet a small airport and it took us 10 minutes from the bus through check in onto the plane!

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Blue1 is a budget airline flying out of Scandanavia and in my case I flew with them from Rovamiemi to Helsinki. Good enough for these short flights where cost savings is the contributing factor to choice.

They had problems with my original booking but after calling them from Australia it was enventually sorted.

Blue1 Sales Center

For booking in Finland call:
06000-BLUE1 or 06000-25831
(1,75€/minute + local net charge or mobile call charge)

For booking in Sweden call:
0900-10-25831
(15 SEK/minute + local net charge or mobile call charge)

For booking in Norway call:
820-70210
(13,02 NOK/min + 0,59 NOK starting fee + local net charge or mobile call charge)

Please note that an additional service fee according to the table below will apply on reservations made via Blue1 Sales Center.

Domestic flights 20EUR/15 GBP/35CHF per person
European flights 35EUR/ person/25 GBP/55CHF per person
Intercontinental flights 55EUR/ person

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A short Taxi ride from the centre of town is the Airport. Being small it isn't neccesary to arrive hours before your flight like other airports. Try an hour, should give you plenty of time. There are a few shops and a canteen open before some flights.

Rovaniemi Airport is the Gateway for Finnish air traffic to Finnish Lapland, north west Russia, (Murmansk and Archangel), northern Sweden (Luleå), and northern Norway (Lakselv). The airport stands literally on the arctic circle, with the line of latitude running right through the airport grounds. Traffic to Rovaniemi is operated by Finnair, Blue1 and Aeroflot. 432,000 passengers used the airport in 2006.

This arctic location and our excellent relations with our neighbours at Santa’s village suits Santa Claus as well - after all, he has appointed Rovaniemi as his official airport! The airport bears the Official Airport of Santa Claus trademark within the EU and several other countries. Santa’s home is right next to the airport at Santa Claus Village. You can reach it from the airport either on foot or by taking a reindeer, dog team, sleigh or motor vehicle.

Rovaniemi Airport is the Gateway for Finnish air traffic to Finnish Lapland, north west Russia, (Murmansk and Archangel), northern Sweden (Luleå), and northern Norway (Lakselv). The airport stands literally on the arctic circle, with the line of latitude running right through the airport grounds. This arctic location and our excellent relations with our neighbours at Santa’s village suits Santa Claus as well - after all, he has appointed Rovaniemi as his official airport!



The airport bears the Official Airport of Santa Claus trademark within the EU and several other countries. Santa’s home is right next to the airport at Santa Claus Village. You can reach it from the airport either on foot or by taking a reindeer, dog team, sleigh or motor vehicle. The extension to the Lapland Gateway terminal was completed in November 2000.