We’ve already been to the majority of the nordic countries. Money’s always a problem, but we expected that to be the case. Oddly, we had a belief that Finland, of all places, will be different. Well, it turned out that Santa, during the season, surely knows his worth, and so do his elves. How much does a trip to Santa’s hideout cost? How much should you bring for a visit in Rovaniemi and Lapland?
We’d like to start off by saying that we made quite a few mistakes, and the goal of this post is to pinpoint what we could’ve done better. It’s effectively a guide to get to Santa inexpensively, so that visiting Rovaniemi can be a bit more reasonable on our poor wallets.
Getting to Finland
Our destination, the Santa’s hideout, is a small village located near Rovaniemi.
Let us begin by stating the obvious – if you want to save up, avoid the high season. We departed from Cracow (using Wizzair), which cost us approximately 80~ GBP per person. Outside of the Christmas season, you can get the same for up to four times cheaper.
Tip #1: Avoid the high season like the plague.
Turku, Helsinki – Rovaniemi. What to choose?
Good, we’re in Finland. Now, time for the crème de la crème – the journey to Rovaniemi. Generally, the fastest option is obviously a plane, from Helsinki or from London. That option has the potential to be ruined by weather and, truth be told, the Cracow line just didn’t work in our favour here. We’d have to pay extra to get to the local airport, flights cost extra at weekends, etc.
The cheapest, but clearly the most time-consuming option is to choose a bus, which we crossed out instantly, as the prospect of having to sit in a crowded bus for 13 hours, believe it or not, was not the most appealing thing for our holidays.
We chose a pretty time-consuming and simultaneously pricey option – the Santa Express, which journeys from Helsinki and Tampere. This double-decker train with sleeping/sitting slots is really comfy and allows for sleeping in two-person sections.
Tip #2: If you’re flying to Lapland on a weekend right before Christmas, there’s no cheap option. If it’s the middle of the week, choose a plane from Helsinki, it’s up to 3 times cheaper.
A sleeper and a ride from 20:30 to 7:00 costs over 1200 PLN (around 250 pounds) for a two-way ride for one person. You can choose the option with a private shower (the expensive variant) or a shared shower for the full wagon (a tiny bit cheaper). How does it work in practice? There’s effectively no difference, pick the shared one.
Why? Because the shared one is actually much bigger. There’s no worrying about rubbing against the cabin’s wall.
In our wagon, no one (apart from us) used the shower. There were 6 people in the same wagon with us.
Tip #3: The private shower cabin in Santa Express is a pretty useless option.
Tip #4: The sleeper train replaces accommodation, so we can cut 40 – 60 pounds per person.
Rovaniemi, what’s next? How do I get to Santa?
Alright, we’re in Rovaniemi, what now? Well, there’s a slight problem if we’re using the train – you arrive there at 7:00. There’s not much to do at such an hour, and the village (the hideout) is still closed. The first cafes open at 10:00, so all we’ve got left is walks across the city or the one lonely McDonald nearby.
Santa’s village consists of different institutions, all with their own opening hours. Depending on the season, most of it starts operating at 9 or 10 in the morning. Instead of a taxi, we can choose a bus (SantaBus) that will get us to the village, which costs 3.5 EUR. You can find the bus as it usually roams around the centre.
Tip #5: Want to cut some more? Choose Santa Bus as your transport.
Santa’s Village, tickets and prices – how not to pay the elves through the nose?
Entering the village is free, visiting Santa and exchanging a few words is too. You can freely roam around the village and admire the views at no costs. The rest is paid, and costs quite a bit. Dog sledding costs at least 30 EUR, reindeer ride means another 30 EUR, entering the remaining attractions pretty much always means additional 50 or so EUR. The local travel agency’ attractions are even more ridiculous – a snowmobile ride, sledding or a simple tour to observe Aurora Borealis? That’ll set you back from 100 to 300 EUR per person.
Keep in mind, when visiting Santa it is strictly forbidden to take pictures. The only way to get a pic with Santa is to get an elf to do it, which we can then buy for 45 EUR. We get a link to 2 pics and a short film. If you brought your child, Santa has a little gift for your offspring. You can also buy Santa’s autograph for 39 EUR.
The only reasonably priced thing in the village is the Santa Claus Main Post Office, where you can send a Christmas card for a symbolic fee of 1,1-1,3 EUR + the cost of the card (1 – 4 EUR). Here, you can read about prices in Finland outside of the ridiculously priced elf domains.
Tip #6: Want a pic with Santa? Well, you’ll have to pay for it. Only thing you get for free is the entrance.
Tip #7: Queues are much more manageable in the morning, usually you have to wait for around an hour to get to Santa.
Visiting Santa sure is pricey business – but you can do it cheaper
To sum up – the 1800 PLN (370 pounds) we spent on the journey can be easily cut down to 700 PLN (around 140 p). If you want to save up the most, the most pivotal thing is the date. The high season and the weekends are where the highest prices await. If you want to see Santa so badly, you can do it at the beginning of December in the middle of the week for a much more reasonable price. You should also plan your trip around 2 months in advance, as slots disappear rather quickly when a pic with Santa is on the line.
Although our wallet felt weirdly thin after the trip, we have no regrets. The memories we made, of the journey and the various views we got along the way, are worth quite a bit more. Not much more, admittedly, but it’s excusable.
