Guide · Evening ride

Experience reindeer under the northern lights in Rovaniemi

A reindeer pulls you through the dark forest, the snow glows bluish, and with a bit of luck green light dances over the treetops: Here is how to plan an evening sleigh ride.

Check availabilityfrom $217 · free cancellation

Editorial team rentierfarmrovaniemi.deUpdated on October 3, 20266 min read5 sources

The Tour for This Guide Rovaniemi: Apukka Reindeer Sleigh Ride at Night 4.3 (102 reviews) 4.5 hours from$225per person Check availabilityFree cancellation up to 24 hours before start

In short

01The evening ride: Reindeer sleigh at Apukka in the dark, 4.5 hours, from $225.
02Season: Northern lights from late August to early April.¹
03Best hours: In Finland mostly between 9 p.m. and 2 a.m.²
04Guarantee: The drive is worth it even without lights in the sky.
05With huskies: Reindeer safari, huskies, and BBQ evening, 7 hrs, from $253.

Reindeer and northern lights: what to expect

Seeing reindeer under the northern lights in Rovaniemi is an image instantly associated with Lapland: the silent forest, the animal in front of the sleigh, and above it a sky that turns green and sometimes violet. An evening ride combines both. Whether the lights actually appear, however, is decided by nature, not by a tour schedule.

Even without the northern lights, an evening ride in the dark is something special. The snow reflects the little light available, the trees stand like dark silhouettes along the roadside, and the steady trotting of the reindeer has a calming effect. The cold feels sharper at night, sounds are muffled, and every breath forms a small cloud in front of your face. It is this very quiet that stays with you after such an evening.

Go into the evening with the right expectations. If the northern lights appear, it is a gift. If not, you will still have experienced a silent ride through the winter forest that no daytime excursion can match. If you want to see the northern lights exclusively, a dedicated northern lights chase, which follows the clear sky, is the better choice.

How it works

Your reindeer sleigh evening

In the afternoon

Eat something warm

A full stomach keeps you warmer for longer at night.
Before pickup

Dress in layers

Layer by layer against the cold.³
Pickup

To the Apukka farm

A bus picks you up at one of 2 meeting points.
In the darkness

Sleigh ride

A reindeer pulls you through the night forest.
From 9 PM

Watch the sky

Typical window for northern lights until 2 AM.²

The evening reindeer sleigh ride at Apukka

The tour that goes with this guide is an evening reindeer sleigh ride in the dark at Apukka. It lasts 4.5 hrs and costs from $225. A bus picks you up at one of 2 meeting points and takes you to the farm of Apukka Resort Adventures and back. The guide speaks English.

Guests rate the tour 4.29 out of 10. You can also reserve this tour without paying right away and cancel for free up to 24 hours before the scheduled time. This helps if you want to keep your evenings flexible and decide at the last minute which evening works best.

The tour is a ride with a chance of northern lights, not a northern lights chase. The focus is on the reindeer and the night forest. If you are out on an evening with a clear sky, your chances of seeing lights are better. Therefore, do not plan the ride for the last evening of your trip so that you can still switch to another evening if the clouds are thick. And if the sky stays overcast on your evening, you will still have the view from your hotel window on the following evenings.

Climate

Darkness and precipitation in Rovaniemi

Hours without sunDays with precipitationSeason

Shown: hours without sun (mid-month) and precipitation days from 2.5 mm. Data from the NOAA station Rovaniemi Apukka, period 1991 to 2020.⁵

Month by Month

Northern lights season and weather in Rovaniemi

Month	Daylight (h)	Darkness (h)	High / Low	Precipitation Days	Northern lights
Jan	4.1	19.9	-7 / -17 °C	6	yes
Feb	7.9	16.1	-7 / -17 °C	4	yes
Mar	11.4	12.6	-1 / -13 °C	4	yes
Apr	15.3	8.7	5 / -5 °C	4	until early April
May	19.4	4.6	12 / 1 °C	5	no
Jun	24	0	17 / 7 °C	6	no
Jul	21.5	2.5	21 / 10 °C	7	no
Aug	16.9	7.1	18 / 8 °C	6	from late August
Sep	13	11	12 / 4 °C	6	yes
Oct	9.2	14.8	4 / -2 °C	6	yes
Nov	5.4	18.6	-2 / -8 °C	7	yes
Dec	2.3	21.7	-5 / -13 °C	6	yes

Midmonth daylight hours, averages of high and low temperatures, precipitation days from 2.5 mm. NOAA averages 1991 to 2020.⁵ Season according to Visit Rovaniemi.¹

Selection

Evening sleigh tours

Reindeer

Evening tour at Apukka

Reindeer in the dark

Duration: 4.5 hrs
Rating: 4,29
Price: from $225

View tour

Budget

Northern lights sleigh ride

Short and affordable

Duration: 3 hrs
Rating: 4,09
Price: from $89

View tour

Rovaniemi: Santa's Reindeer and Husky Safari with Aurora BBQ

Long

With huskies and a barbecue

Long evening, small group

Duration: 7 hrs.
Group: Maximum 8 guests
Price: from $253

View tour

Decision helper

Which evening is yours?

Choose what matters most to you this evening.

Reindeer in the dark Small budget Huskies and fire included Only the northern lights count Snow and lights at the same time

Evening tour at Apukka

4.5 hours with pickup.

Northern lights sleigh ride

3 hours from $89.

With huskies and a barbecue

7 hours for up to 8 guests.

Pure northern lights hunt

A hunt follows the clear sky.

November to March

Snow mostly from November, lights until early April.⁴ ¹

When the chances of seeing the northern lights increase

The northern lights season in Rovaniemi starts in late August and lasts through the whole winter until early April.¹ But for a reindeer sleigh ride you need snow, and that usually does not arrive until November.⁴ The period when both conditions overlap is therefore shorter: from the first solid snow cover to the end of the northern lights season in spring.

Within a single night, there are better and worse hours. Visit Finland names the time between 21:00 and 02:00 as the typical window for northern lights.² An evening ride that falls within these hours has better chances than a ride in the early evening. Ask about the start times when booking to see what the offer shows for your date.

Darkness plays its part too. In mid-December, the sun in Rovaniemi is not visible for an average of 21.7 hours a day.⁵ In March, that figure is still 12.6 hours without sun.⁵ So in late winter, it is light during the day, and there is still enough darkness in the evening for the lights.

Checklist

Overnight in the sleigh

Dress Up

Long underwear made of wool
Furred, windproof trousers
Gloves and heat pads
Storm hood or buff

Take along

Spare battery kept on your body
Thermos flask with a hot drink
Plan a backup evening

Video

Reindeer sleighs and Northern Lights in Lapland

The video loads only after you tap Play.

Clouds, cold, and honest expectations

The biggest enemy of the northern lights is cloud cover. In Rovaniemi, November brings on average 7 days with at least 2.5 mm of precipitation.⁵ February and March each have 4 such days.⁵ Precipitation days are not the same as cloudy nights, but they give you a sense of how often the weather is unsettled.

At night it gets even colder than during the day. The average low temperature in February in Rovaniemi is -17.2 °C.⁵ Sitting still in the sleigh, your body cools down slowly over a ride of several hours. Plan your clothing accordingly more generously than for a day trip, and rather bring one extra layer.

Be honest with yourself about what you expect from the evening. If you are only satisfied when the northern lights are glowing, a cloudy evening will be disappointing. If you look forward to the reindeer, the forest, and the silence, every evening will be beautiful, and the northern lights are the cherry on top. This way, you go into the night relaxed.

Other evening sleigh rides

In addition to the ride at Apukka, there are further evening tours with sleighs. A northern lights sleigh ride lasts 3 hours and starts from $89. Guests rate it 4.09 out of 777 reviews. According to the offer, the sleigh is pulled there by a snowmobile, not by reindeer.

A northern lights sleigh ride with grilling lasts 2.5 hours and starts from $115. It scores 3.89 out of 273 reviews. Here too, a snowmobile pulls the sleigh according to the offer, with no reindeer involved. Check how much time you spend outdoors under the open sky. On a short evening, there is less time to wait for a gap in the clouds.

If you want to combine reindeer and huskies with an evening by the fire, you will find a safari with reindeer, huskies, and BBQ evening in a small group. It lasts 7 hrs, is limited to 8 guests, and costs from $253. This means you are outdoors for a long time and have opportunities to look at the sky throughout the entire evening.

Photos of reindeer and northern lights

A photo of a reindeer under the northern lights is harder than it looks. The animal moves, the light in the sky is weak, and long exposure times quickly turn the reindeer into a blurry shadow. With a phone in night mode, however, beautiful pictures are possible if you keep the phone steady, ideally resting it on a fence post or the edge of the sleigh.

If you are photographing with a camera, take a small tripod, shoot with an open aperture, and increase the sensitivity. Focus on the sky and the landscape when the reindeer are restless, and photograph the animals when they stand still. A picture of the reindeer as a silhouette against the green sky often has more impact than a sharp portrait. If you are photographing the northern lights for the first time, practice beforehand in the dark in front of your hotel so that the handling feels right in the sleigh.

Think about the battery. In the cold it loses power quickly, so carry spare batteries on your body and swap them when the indicator drops. Turn off the flash; it disturbs the animals and the other guests. And do not forget, while photographing, to simply look as well: some moments stay better in your memory than on the screen.

Staying warm through the night in the sleigh

Visit Rovaniemi recommends dressing in several layers for winter.³ For an evening ride, this means: long underwear made of wool, a thick mid-layer on top, and an outer jacket and trousers that are wind- and snowproof. Insulated trousers are more important in the sleigh than any down jacket, because you sit on cold ground for a long time.

Hands, feet, and face need special attention. Mittens with thin gloves underneath, boots with a thick sole and some room for wool socks, a hat over the ears, and a buff or balaclava in front of your face. Heat packs in gloves and boots are a small but effective help for a long night.

Eat something warm before the tour and drink enough. A full stomach keeps you warm longer, and a thermos of hot tea or cocoa feels good in between if the tour does not provide drinks. After returning to the hotel, the bed is waiting, and with a bit of luck you fall asleep with the image of green lights above the forest. Hang wet clothes to dry overnight so they keep you warm again the next day.

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