What to Do in Santa Claus Village With Your Kids
There are plenty of things you can do in Santa Claus Village that your kids will love. In our case, we skipped a lot of those things because we decided to do all our winter safari excursions at Levi, farther north in Lapland, where there was a higher chance of seeing the Northern Lights and where it’s a lot less touristy.
But if you don’t plan to venture outside of Rovaniemi, there are a lot activities you can do with your kids:
1. Go snowsledding
It looks like this is what every kid from every country was doing in Santa Claus Village’s Central Square. Why? It’s fun. And it’s free. You can grab any sled that’s lying around. But technically, you should rent sleds for the day (which we did).
Unfortunately, some family took our sleds that were tied up outside Santa Claus Office. Fortunately, this was already at night, a couple of hours before the park closed. Barring that annoying experience, our girls did had a blast being pulled around and swung at full speed by me.
2. Take a picture with Santa
Tacky? Yes. Must do? Yes.
This is what we came here for, right? The queue is long, sure, but it moves fast. And it’s not a bad thing since we went through a mysterious cavern, a whimsical hall, and up the stairs, before we were ushered into the presence of Father Christmas himself. It was actually a very pleasant experience, with Santa conversing with our kids and patiently having our picture taken with him. (No, you can’t take your own photos and videos. You need to pay for the pricey official ones, but it’s worth it.)
3. Cross the Arctic Circle
Santa Claus Village is located right smack on the Arctic Circle in Lapland. The line is clearly marked on the ground and along the blue light lined up above. The tradition is to cross it, have your picture taken, and for a fee, get a certificate and have your passport stamped.
It’s wholesome family fun. It’s also fun watch tourists in group tours lining up and collectively jumping over the line with a cheer. (Come to think of it, this is the only time I appreciated seeing tourists in group tours.)
4. Write a letter with the Arctic Circle stamp
Another must-do with your kids in Santa Claus Village is writing and sending a letter at the Santa Claus Main Post Office. We bought postcards for our kids, wherein they wrote notes to themselves and had them stamped with the official Arctic Circle postmark, scheduled to be received by them the following Christmas (which happily they did).
You can send letters to anyone in the world (or even to yourself). You can also order a Santa Claus Letter to be sent by Santa himself before Christmas. It’s a serious business. It’s surprising to even see grown-ups writing their own letters (repressed Christmas wishes maybe?).
5. Do winter safaris
There are a lot of options for winter activities inside Santa Claus Village. We just decided not to do them there. However, if you’re just staying in Rovaniemi, you might as well do them inside the property.
There are different safari providers, including Santa Claus Reindeer, Arctic Circle Husky Park, and Arctic Circle Snowmobile Park, that have facilities and areas inside Santa Claus Village. So you can take a reindeer, husky, or snowmobile ride within Santa Claus Village. They, and other providers as well, also offer safaris outside in the forest and the wilderness.
6. Play at Snowman World
Snowman World is like a theme park inside a theme park. Kids can do ice skating and snowtubing. There’s also an ice restaurant and ice bar. We skipped this because we already did this in Kittilä.
7. Shop for souvenirs
Sometimes Santa Claus Village feels more like a mall, as there are so many shops selling souvenirs. Disney parks are out to get your money too, but the focus is on the rides. The gift shops are more like an afterthought. I just thought Santa Claus Village feels too commercialized and has too many shops.
Even so, my wife was more than happy to browse and buy some stuff, particularly at Marimekko and Iittala, Finland’s famous retail design brands.
