Rovaniemi: Santa Claus Village

We visited Santa! The official Santa Claus village, office, and post office is located on the border of the Arctic Circle in a city named Rovaniemi. Here, it's Christmas every day of the year, but we certainly got the best of it because the ground was covered in snow so it was like we had our own little white Christmas experience without actually being away from home for the holiday. Of course, the whole place is a bit of a tourist gimmick but we steered right into it by going on a reindeer sled ride (really really cool) and visiting Santa's "pets" (a bit of a zoo). It felt so magical to be on a sled pulled by a reindeer, even though at one point our reindeer did a poo right in front of us (but didn't even stop walked which is actually just really impressive!). At the zoo we got to feed and pet a group of reindeer. Some of them had massive antlers and it was a privilege to see them so close! We also had a go on a "snow slide" which was probably intended for kids but was overrun with adults (being at Santa Claus's home really does bring the kid out of everyone which is so nice to see). We even sent some postcards from Santa's post office which was iconic but we have no clue how long they take to arrive.

From Rovaniemi, we caught the "Santa Claus Express" night train back down to Helsinki in order to catch our flight to London. That sadly marks the end of our adventures in the Nordic region. During these two months we've ticked so many things off both of our bucket lists and seen some truly unforgettable things. We've loved every day in the Nordics and suggest that everyone travels here in their life, we'll definitely be coming back to see everything we missed when we're older!Read more