Lapland Snowmobile vs Husky Safari: Which Arctic Tour Should You Book First?

How the snowmobile and husky tours differ

It was December 18th, -22°C, when I stood at 8:30 in the morning in front of a small husky farm. The farm was 40 minutes northeast of Rovaniemi, deep in the forest near Ranua. The snow crunched under my boots, pakkanen, as we say here when the cold really bites. The dogs, Siberian huskies and Alaskan malamute mixes, started howling the moment they saw me. Steam rose from their fur. The guide, a Finn named Juhani who has run the farm for 14 years, handed me a thick nylon one-piece suit. "The dogs can tell if you're nervous," he said. "That's what they feed on."

Two weeks later I was sitting on a snowmobile, a Lynx 600cc, racing across the frozen Kemijoki. It was 4 pm, dusk had almost faded, and the headlights cut yellow cones into the darkness. The wind tugged at my helmet visor. The guide, a Finnish woman named Sanna, stopped at a bend in the river and pointed at a hill. "Over there, 15 kilometers north, is the Arctic Circle boundary. If we're lucky, we'll see the revontulet later."

I booked both tours as a regular customer, full price, no press invitation. And now I'll tell you what I really think, without the marketing talk you find everywhere else.

The Snowmobile Tour: The Experience

We earn a commission for bookings made through our links on Viator (PID P00303273), at no extra cost to you. This keeps the site free. Learn more →

I booked the combination tour, the snowmobile and northern lights tour in one. Price: 149 euros per person. Duration: 4 hours.

The gear was solid: helmet with visor, thick gloves, overalls, boots. The machine, a Lynx 600, was nearly new, a 2022 model, with heated handgrips. "This is not a toy," Sanna said as she showed me the controls. "Throttle, brake, steering. No full throttle on the ice, traction is different there." She was right. On the river the thing felt like a stubborn moose, heavy, sluggish, but once you got the hang of it, you practically flew.

We rode about 30 kilometers through the forest, past birches with branches sagging under the weight of the snow. At 6:30 pm we stopped at a wooden hut, a kota, out in the middle of nowhere. Sanna lit a fire and made coffee and hot lingonberry juice. And then, around 7:15 pm, it happened: the sky tore open, and a pale green band stretched from east to west. Not Instagram green, more like a milky shimmer that moved as if someone were pulling on a green cloth. Sanna set up my tripod and explained the exposure settings (15 seconds, ISO 1600). The photo she sent me two days later showed colors my eye had never seen.

Who this tour is NOT for: anyone afraid of heights, the machine is loud and jolting. Anyone who gets cold easily, the ride at -25°C is windy even with heated handgrips. And anyone who expects to see the northern lights the way they look on Instagram, no, the naked eye sees them faint, the camera makes the magic.

Why the husky safari almost won me over

The husky tour was something completely different. I booked a 5-kilometer husky safari near Rovaniemi, 95 euros per person, 2 hours including instruction and hot juice in the kota.

The farm was small, maybe 40 dogs, not 200 like the big commercial farms near Santa Claus Village. Juhani explained how to steer the team: "Never let go of the line. Never step on the brake while the dogs are running, or they'll hurt their paws." I stood on the runners, the dogs pulled, and then, silence. Just the crunch of the runners in the snow, the panting of the dogs, the wind in the trees. No engine. No noise. Just Lapland the way it's meant to be.

After 5 kilometers, about 45 minutes of riding, we stopped at a wooden kota. Juhani had built a fire, and the hut smelled of smoke and pine resin. He poured hot lingonberry juice, sweet and tart, and told me how the dogs train in summer, pulling off-road vehicles on gravel tracks to stay fit. "Most tourists book the wrong farm," he said. "They want Instagram, not dogs."

Who this tour is NOT for: anyone who dislikes animal smell, the dogs are wet, wild, and smelly. Anyone who wants speed, the dogs run at about 8 to 10 km/h, no racing here. And anyone with back trouble, the runners don't have suspension, so it's a rough ride.

The moment I made my decision

After both tours, which I did two weeks apart, I was left with the question: which one would I recommend to a friend first?

The answer came to me one cold January evening as I sat in my apartment in Rovaniemi. Outside it was -28°C, the windows were frosted over. I looked at the photos from the snowmobile tour, the green band over the river, my helmet with frost on the visor, the kota with smoke rising from its chimney. And then the husky photos, Juhani's dogs sniffing at the snow, the silence on the runners, the juice in the hut.

I chose the snowmobile. Not because it was better, both were great, but because it's an experience you only get in this form in Lapland. Sure, you can ride a snowmobile in the Alps. Sure, you can go husky sledding in Canada. But the combination of a snowmobile ride through the Arctic night, the fire in the kota, and the chance of northern lights, that's something I haven't found anywhere else.

The husky safari lacks that "wow" moment. It's calm, authentic, almost meditative, but it's also short and static. You ride a loop, drink juice, ride back. The snowmobile gives you the feeling of really being out in the wilderness, even if you only cover 30 kilometers.

But: if you're traveling with kids or you love animals, take the husky tour. My niece (8 years old) went to the husky farm and was still talking about it weeks later. The snowmobile is too loud and too fast for small children.

What I wish I'd known beforehand

Here are the things nobody told me, and the things that make the difference between a good tour and a great one.

• Clothing is everything. I wore merino wool as a base layer, a fleece jacket over it, and the tour's overall on top. On my feet: wool socks and the rental boots. That was enough at -22°C. But I saw tourists in jeans and down jackets, after 20 minutes they were frozen through. Cotton kills in Lapland, that's not just a saying here.
• Time of day matters. In December, Rovaniemi gets about 3 hours of daylight, from 11 am to 2 pm. The husky tour at 2:30 pm was already nearly dark. The dogs could barely see the trail, and neither could I. Book the husky tour for 10 am, when the light is at its finest.
• The northern lights look different in person. The revontulet in the sky are usually pale green or white, like a moving mist. The colors you see on Instagram are long exposures. I was still amazed, but don't be disappointed if your eye only catches a faint glow.
• The farm matters more than the tour. The big commercial farms near Santa Claus Village have 200 dogs, a line at the start, and a souvenir shop. The small farms near Ranua or Palojärvi have 40 dogs, real guides, and honest juice. Pay 20 euros more for the small farm. It's worth it.
• Bring a power bank. At -25°C a battery drains in 20 minutes. My iPhone was dead after 15 minutes of taking photos on the snowmobile tour. Bring a power bank and carry it in the inside pocket of your overall, your body heat keeps it alive.
• Check the cancellation terms. Top northern lights tour operators offer a 100 percent money-back guarantee if the weather doesn't allow visibility. I booked a tour that didn't have that, and sat under a cloudy sky, paid 149 euros, and saw nothing. The tour with the guarantee would have let me rebook.

If you want to do both, and I'd recommend that to anyone spending at least 4 days in Rovaniemi, book the husky tour for your first day (an easy start, no prior experience needed) and the snowmobile tour for the second or third day (more action, a chance at the northern lights). But if you can only do one: take the snowmobile. It's louder, colder, more expensive, but it's the one you'll still be talking about years from now.

Photo Gallery