Rovaniemi
Rovaniemi is a city in Finland and the regional capital of Lapland.
Rovaniemi is a city in Finland and the regional capital of Lapland. It is located near the Arctic Circle in the northern interior of the country. The population of Rovaniemi is approximately 66,000, while the sub-region has a population of approximately 70,000. It is the 17th most populous municipality in Finland, and the 11th most populous urban area in the country.
Adapted from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Worth seeing in and around Rovaniemi
10 places within 25 km that the world writes about, in the order of how widely: the ones a visitor has heard of first, then the ones only a local would name.
- 01Santa Claus Village
Santa Claus Village is an amusement park in Rovaniemi, a city in the Lapland region of Finland. It was opened in 1980.
7 km · amusement Park in Rovaniemi, Finland · Wikipedia - 02University of Lapland
The University of Lapland is a public university in Rovaniemi, Finland. It was established in 1979 and is the northernmost university in the European Union.
1.8 km · university in Rovaniemi, Finland · Wikipedia - 03Santa Park
SantaPark is a Christmas theme park and visitor attraction in Rovaniemi in the Lapland region of Finland. SantaPark was opened 28 November 1998.
6.9 km · Amusement Park in Finland · Wikipedia - 04Arktikum Science Museum
Arktikum is a museum and science centre in Rovaniemi, Finland, which opened in 1992. The building is also a popular cultural destination and venue for meetings and conferences and has a cafe and library to serve the customers.
900 m · museum and science centre in Rovaniemi, Finland · Wikipedia - 05Rovaniemen keskuskenttä
Keskuskenttä is a multi-purpose stadium in Rovaniemi, Finland. It is currently used for football matches, football training and sport classes of nearby schools and daycare centres.
500 m · Multi-purpose stadium in Rovaniemi, Finland · Wikipedia - 06Rovaniemi Library
Rovaniemi Library is the main municipal public library of the city of Rovaniemi, Finland. The library building is notable for having been designed by the renowned Finnish architect Alvar Aalto.
600 m · library in Finland · Wikipedia - 07Lappi Areena
Lappi Areena is a multi-purpose indoor arena in Rovaniemi, Finland which hold concerts, trade fairs and sporting events particularly ice hockey. The arena was built in 2003 and has a capacity of 4780 people for concerts and 3500 for ice hockey matches.
2.3 km · indoor arena in Rovaniemi, Finland · Wikipedia - 08Lordi's Square
Lordi's Square is a square in central Rovaniemi, Finland. Next to the square are located a shopping centre called Sampokeskus and a small boulevard.
300 m · square in Rovaniemi, Finland · Wikipedia - 09Rovaniemi Church
The Rovaniemi Mother Church is a church located in the city center of Rovaniemi in Lapland, Finland. The 850-seat church, designed by architect Bertel Liljequist, was completed in 1950.
600 m · church building in Rovaniemi, Finland · Wikipedia - 10Lappia Hall
Lappia Hall is a performing arts venue and conference centre in Rovaniemi, the capital city of the Finnish Lapland region, situated close to the Arctic Circle. It is notable for having been designed by the renowned Finnish architect Alvar Aalto in the modernist style.
600 m · theatre and congress centre in Rovaniemi, Finland · Wikipedia
Ranked by the number of language editions of Wikipedia with an article on each, from Wikidata; the sentences are the openings of those articles, CC BY-SA 4.0.
What Wikivoyage says to see
Most tourists come to Rovaniemi for precisely one thing: Santa.
From Wikivoyage: Rovaniemi, CC BY-SA 4.0. Not yet checked by us.
Things to do
Various Arctic safari companies can arrange all sorts of cold and snowy activities like snowmobile safaris, husky sledding and reindeer sledding. Most of the tour operators have summer activities available too. Try e.g. a wild moose safari; you'll get half of the price back if you don't see a moose. In total, there are nearly a hundred companies that serve travellers with a variety of activities!
From Wikivoyage: Rovaniemi, CC BY-SA 4.0. Not yet checked by us.
Where to eat
Considering the size of the city, Rovaniemi has a remarkably wide range of restaurants. You will find anything from sushi to bear meat and from hamburgers to traditional delicacies. As elsewhere in Lapland, the traditional restaurant meal is sautéed reindeer (poronkäristys), consisting of slices of reindeer meat stewed in a frying pan with butter and water.
- 01Alvari food
- 02Hook Rovaniemi
Koskikatu 11, info.roi@ravintolahook.fi.
- 03Lapin Krassi
Raidetie 1 (on the way to Saarenkylä from the airport, in a small industry park), jouko@lapinkrassi.fi.
- 04Kotipizza Koskikatu
Koskikatu 5,.
- 05Turkinpippuri
Maakuntakatu 29 (next to the Lordi's Square).
From Wikivoyage: Rovaniemi, CC BY-SA 4.0. Not yet checked by us.
Getting to Rovaniemi
- Airports
- Rovaniemi (RVN), 8 km · Kittilä (KTT), 139 km · Oulu (OUL), 175 km
- Stations
- Rovaniemi Airport, 8.1 km · Rovaniemi railway station, 1.2 km
- Kittilä → Rovaniemi134 km · quickest by road, 2h 8m · €15–21
- Oulu / Oulunsalo → Rovaniemi175 km · quickest by road, 3h 30m · €23–33
- Ivalo → Rovaniemi253 km · quickest by road, 4h 7m · €29–41
- Plan a tripFrom anywhereThe planner compares every way there from wherever you are.
Road and air are today’s quick answer; timetabled trains, buses and ferries load on the results page from the operators’ feeds.
No local-transport research exists yet for Rovaniemi
Our researched notes are written from a sourced entry: every shared taxi, boat and village bus with its operator, its rule, its fare and the year we saw it, and what could not be confirmed. Nobody has done that work for Rovaniemi. What is above is what we hold from open sources; nothing here pretends to be more.
- Get inThere are also scheduled flights from international destinations and a remarkable number of seasonal charter flights, mostly from the UK.
- Get inHowever, Santa Claus Bus provides a minibus shuttle service between the airport and hotels in the city centre at a fare of €7 per person one way.
- Get inUnless you like driving long distances or visit destinations along the route, a good alternative is to take a ferry from Travemünde to Helsinki, then board an overnight train (see above) from Helsinki and unload your car in Rovaniemi, ready for any local trips.
From Wikivoyage: Rovaniemi, CC BY-SA. Not yet checked by us; that article was last edited 2026-09.
- 01515 km
- 02694 km
- 03712 km
- 04726 km
- 05735 km
If you know how people move in Rovaniemi – the stand, the rule, the fare – tell us, and the note gets an entry.