Free day to enjoy Helsinki.

Located on the Baltic Sea, Finland´s capital Helsinki is connected by a 2-hour ferry boat ride with Estonia´s capital Tallinn.

Today we offer an optional excursion by a ferry boat which remembers more to a cruise liner rather than a simple ferry, to the Estonian capital, only a 2-hour sailing over the Baltic sea away.

The 700 years-old town of Tallinn, only a short tram ride away from the harbour terminal, you explore with a local guide showing the hidden gems of this stunning medieval town.

In the evening you return by ferry back to Helsinki.

During a comprehensive guided sightseeing tour, you see the marvel-white neoclassical Helsinki Cathedral, topped with its iconic green dome, the nearby Senate Square, and only few hundred meters away the Finnish Orthodox cathedral with an ornate exterior & lavish interior decoration. A contrast is the modern Rock Church, 1969 built into solid rock, and fascinating by its simple Nordic design.

In the afternoon we visit the 2019 opened Oodi Library which is a masterpiece of modern Finish architecture and symbol of Finish design and lifestyle.

In the evening, you board the Santa Claus Express night train of Finish Railways northbound for Rovaniemi in Lapland (900 km).

On the way to the north, the train passes endless numbers of lakes and forests.

After a 12-hour overnight train journey, we arrive in the morning in Rovaniemi, the informal capital of Finnish Lapland, which is the Arctic part of the country, situated at the Arctic Circle.

Rovaniemi nowadays is the gateway to Lapland.

The city was all but razed by the retreating German army in 1944. The famous Finish architect Alvar Aalto directed its rebuilding, introducing an unusual street layout. From the air, the layout was designed to mimic the shape of reindeer antlers.

We start exploring Lapland with a visit to the stylish Arktikum Museum which showcases all aspects of the life in the Arctic region – the people, the culture, the nature, the wildlife. 

In the afternoon, we visit the legendary Santa Claus village, located just a few km outside the city, exactly at the Arctic Circle. Here Santa Claus has its official residence, visited by tourists from all over the world every winter. There are many attractions like reindeers, huskies, and you will have the chance for short reindeer sledge and huskies sledge rides (each about 500-800 meters).

Finland’s and Sweden’s northernmost regions are called Lapland.

This Arctic region is well known for its polar phenomena such as the midnight sun and polar night, but also for its cold and wintry climate, coupled with its relative abundance of conifer trees such as pines and spruces.

Lapland has become associated with Christmas in some countries since 1927, when Finnish radio host Markus Rautio said that Santa Clause lived on Korvatunturi, a mountain in the region. Later, Rovaniemi staked a claim as Santa's "official hometown" and developed the Santa Claus Village attraction to encourage tourism.

In the evening, if weather conditions are good, we chase the Northern Lights while driving to Tornio at the Finish-Swedish border where our hotel for the next two nights is located.

A 2-hour drive takes you to Ranua Arctic Wildlife Park which specializes in arctic and northern animal species, with a history of almost 40 years.

The animals’ spacious enclosures are in the middle of the northern coniferous forest, which is also the natural environment for most of the species living in the park.

Ranua Wildlife Park is home to Finland’s only polar bear and 50 other arctic and northern animal species, a total of about 150 individual animals. A guided tour will show you polar bear, brown bear, wolf, lynx, wolverine, reindeer, moose, arctic fox, eagle, owl, beaver and much more.

In the evening, we have a 2nd chance watching the Northern Lights.

In the morning you have time at leisure after two late nights Aurora chasing, to explore the small city of Tornio on your own, or you can join a an optional unique experience of a 3-hour cruise on an Ice-Breaker ship on the frozen Baltic Sea.

The Ice-Breaker cruise starts in Kemi, 30 minutes away from Tornio, and takes you through the magic world of the frozen sea. On the way the Ice-Breaker is stopping, passengers can get off board, walk on the ice and even float in the ice-cold-water, of course after being dressed in a waterproof and warming special overall.

In the afternoon, a five-hour drive by coach through a scenery of an endless winter miracle takes you to Kiruna in Sweden . Trees overloaded with snow, offer a fascinating scenery in the wilderness of Lapland’s Tundra.

Tonight, you will have the 3rd chance watching the Northern Lights, this time in the outskirts of Kiruna where our hotel is located.

Kiruna is the northernmost town in Sweden. The city was originally built in the 1890s to serve the Kiruna Iron Mine. Now it is home of LKAB, a state-owned mining company, one of the pillars of Sweden’s Industry.

Since parts of Kiruna's centre are in danger of collapsing due to massive mining operations, the former centre of the city is being demolished and a new city centre is being built 5 km east, costing billions of euros, paid by LKAB, the mining company. We will make photo stops to show you the already demolished parts of the old town, the new town and the wooden church (from outside, the inside is temporarily not accessible) which is under preparation for movement to the new centre.

In the afternoon, you visit the open-air Sami Museum in nearby village Jukkasjärvi where local Sami people introduce to their culture and history, and you can even feed reindeers.

Lapland is the home of the indigenous people named Sami. The Sami used to live as nomads and reindeer herders. The Sami are Finno-Ugric-speaking people inhabiting the northern region of Norway, Sweden, Finland, and of the Murmansk Oblast, Russia. Traditionally, the Sami have pursued a variety of livelihoods, including coastal fishing, fur trapping, and sheep herding. Their best-known means of livelihood is semi-nomadic reindeer herding. For traditional, environmental, cultural, and political reasons, reindeer herding is legally reserved for only Sámi in some regions of the Nordic countries.

After, you visit the Snow Hotel which was the first and largest hotel made of ice and snow. You can explore rooms of the spectacular frozen structure and the ice bar, where even the glasses are made of ice.
Tonight, if lucky, you will have the 4th chance watching the Northern Lights, again in the outskirts of Kiruna where our hotel is located.

For transportation of the iron ore to the harbours of Lulea and Narvik, the “Malmbanan” (Iron Ore Railway) was constructed. By 1899, the line to Lulea was inaugurated, and from 1903, all the way to Narvik in Norway (called “Ofoten Railway” from the border to Narvik) was operating as well.

In the Morning, you will take a train on the 169 km long section from Kiruna to Narvik. The journey takes 3 hours, passing Abisko at Lake Torneträsk and Ofotfjord, with gorgeous views on the Fjord while the train meanders along the fjord to down to Narvik, which is a harbour city at the Atlantic coast.

Narvik was developed as an all-year ice-free port for the Swedish Kiruna and Gällivare iron mines. The history of modern Narvik begins in the 1870s, when the Swedish government began to understand the potential of the iron ore mines in Kiruna, Sweden. Obtaining iron ore from Kiruna had one significant problem in that there was no suitable Swedish port. The nearest Swedish port, Luleå, had limitations. It was covered with ice all winter, it is far from Kiruna, and it allows only medium-sized bulk freight vessels. Narvik offered a port which is ice-free thanks to the warm Gulf Stream. During WW2 Narvik was heavily bombed by the German army. Still today you can see a parts of the sunken German submarine in the Fjord when traveling by train to Narvik.

In the afternoon, you visit the Narvik Museum which showcases the history of the city, the railway and the importance of the iron ore traffic for the local economy.

In the evening, a cable car takes us up to Narvikfjellet Mountain from where a great view on the city and the fjord. If lucky, you have the 5th chance watching the Northern Lights from the mountain top or the rooftop bar of the hotel. Let’s cross fingers!

In the morning, after a one-hour transfer to the airport, a 2-hour flight takes you to Norways’s capital Oslo.

The afternoon is time at leisure. Optional you can book a 1,5 hour cruise on the Oslo Fjord on an electric driven catamaran.

Oslo, Norway's vibrant capital, is situated between scenic fjords. In a 3-hour morning city sightseeing walking tour we discover the sightseeing highlights of the city centre: the ultra-modern Opera house near the railway station, Akers Fort, City Hall, Nobel Peace Centre, Royal Palace.

In the afternoon, you'll have free time to continue exploring this fantastic city.

With check-out of the hotel at 12:00 our tour through the Northern European countries will come to end.

We wish you a happy flight back home!