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Rovaniemi Northern Lights Weekend Package
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Overview
Welcome to Rovaniemi, the capital of Arctic Lapland and an epicenter for Winter adventures. This weekend package invites you to explore the Arctic capital, and to go hunting for the Northern Lights into the white wilderness of Rovaniemi’s frozen forests!
What to expect?
Chose to visit Rovaniemi for a long weekend, Thursday to Sunday, or opt for the shorter version, Friday to Sunday.Check in to your hotel, located in central Rovaniemi. Upon booking you receive a voucher for a three-star or better hotel, typically a Scandic hotel or similar. Present this voucher at the front desk to get your room. Your booking includes breakfast every morning for the duration of your stay.
Now, explore Rovaniemi. Did you know that geographically speaking, Rovaniemi is one of Europe's largest towns and approximately 63,000 Finns call this region home? Around 12,450 Reindeers also do the same.
From inside the urban city to the surrounding Lappish forest, Rovaniemi’s landscape is decorated with countless fells, forests, lakes, and rivers which are all entwined with history, culture, and heritage simply waiting to be explored.
Northern Lights Chase:
The next day, meet your guide in the reception of your hotel at 7pm. After being picked up and properly dressed in professional winter overalls and boots (temperature can drop to -30C), your professional guide will drive you northwards, far away from Rovaniemi, straight out to the wilderness to start hunting for the Aurora.
The weather forecasts and the solar activity reports are always checked during the day. This way, your guides can adapt the tour to get the best chance to enjoy a clearer sky and observe the Northern Lights. Based on the analysis of the meteorological situation and their experience, you will drive to locations that are more promising and offer a better chance to see this natural phenomenon. This means, for example, that if the forecasts and aurora predictions are not promising around the Rovaniemi area, your guide may take you up to 100 km away to get a better sky.
During the tour, your guide checks the evolution of the weather conditions, and you may decide together to jump back in the minivan and get to another location if you feel so. As this excursion is a 4-hour Aurora hunt, you may get the chance to visit up to 3 locations and increase your chance to observe the Northern Lights.
This excursion will also offer you the opportunity to drive long distances through the Lapland wilderness and explore Arctic nature. On the different stops, you may take a short walk through the ancient, white and snowy forest or to the top of Rovaniemi's many fells, cross a hanging wooden bridge over powerful rapids, enjoy the silence on a lake beach, or stand in the middle of an immensity of ice and snow. With any luck, the beautiful Auroras will dance over your heads!
Those experiences are almost always done in the complete dark, this way your eyes get time to adjust to the dark. Not only do your eyes adjust (you actually see better in the dark), but then you see the scenery in a completely new and beautiful way.
On the way, you will also get the opportunity to build a fire, whether in nature, next to a log hut (what locals call a Laavu, or a Kota), or in a teepee. Your guide will teach you how to lit a fire traditionally, without matches or lighter, using nothing else but silver birch bark and flint and steel to lite it.
Once the fire is lit, and the kettle is boiling, your guide will keep an eye on the moving sky. While waiting for the first greenish arches to appear above your head, they will share with you their knowledge and passion about the forest, the nature of Lapland and its wildlife, and naturally the Northern Lights. You will get some hot beverages to warm you up, grill your own sausages over the open fire and enjoy your snack with the most famous Finnish mustard.
You are welcome to bring your own camera with you (you can rent or buy a tripod from the team if you wish) to capture the auroras. In all cases, your guide will be equipped with a professional camera and will take as many pictures as possible (feel free to ask them) of you and the Northern Lights. A link to download all the pictures will be sent to you the next day.
In all the team's excursions, the groups are limited to 8 people maximum. It is essential for them to provide you with the best experience possible and avoid mass tourism. This way, your guide will know you better and will be able to address all your needs and answer your questions.
Furthermore, when it comes to Northern Lights, chances to observe them properly are increased when groups (and light pollution emitted by torches, phones, cameras) are reduced. As they say: the smaller the group, the bigger the experience!
Please note:
- The team will provide you with overalls and boots, but please be prepared and use good under-layers, socks, hats, and gloves.
- Unfortunately, the spottings of the Northern Lights aren't guaranteed on every tour.
- Not recommended for participants with heart complaints or other serious medical conditions.
- A small amount of walking in the cold may be involved.
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