Lapland Day Trips from the UK: Is One Day Worth It?
One day's worth it for Santa and the Arctic Circle line, book a night if it's the northern lights you want.
You can do Lapland in a day from the UK, Rovaniemi has its own airport and Ryanair and easyJet fly there in winter. Whether one day's worth it depends on what you're going for, so here are the three ways of doing it next to each other. Everything's on our Lapland day trips guide too.
Normal flights, there and back the same day
Some weeks the times line up so you go out in the morning and come home that night, but only from a few airports and on a few days of the week, and they move every season. Check them for your date before you plan anything. You bring your own warm kit on this one.
A package day trip
These use their own charter flights from most UK airports, leave early, come home late, and plan the day on the ground for you. They lend you a thermal suit too.
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One night
This is the one for the northern lights. You need a clear, dark night and a bit of luck, and a morning day trip doesn't give you the dark hours. They're never guaranteed whichever you pick.
What a day gets you
The airport's about 3km from Santa Claus Village, roughly 10 minutes in a taxi, and in winter there's a bus too. Meeting Santa's free and the photo's sold after. Queues are worst at weekends in December, so go there first.
The Arctic Circle runs straight through the village as a line on the ground, and standing across it costs nothing.
Reindeer rides you can usually just walk up to, and they stop in the afternoon. Husky rides start once there's enough snow, usually from December. On a day trip there's normally only time for one, so pick.
How short are the days
In mid-December the sun's up from about 11:07 to 13:20, around -7°C by day and -15°C at night. Late November's longer, about 09:34 to 14:30, and late January runs about 09:52 to 15:05 but it's the coldest. The village is lit all evening so the dark's part of it.
So is one day worth it?
For Santa and the Arctic Circle line, yes, it's all in one place a few minutes from the airport. For the northern lights, no, book the night. We haven't got a same-day Lapland trip priced on the board right now, so check the flight times for your date on the Lapland guide before you book anything.
Day trips in this article
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