Northern Light Trip in Finland - Part 1

Seeing the stunning Northern Light is one of my dream for a very long time. And this year, I decided that I must spend my Chirstmas time in the north to gain new experience as well as viewing the beautiful natural effect - Northern Light. And in this blog, I will share with you guys everything about my trip to Finland during last christmas - 2019.

I read so many reviews from people have already visited Lapland that it is better for you to book a full package tour. Furthermore, the tours in Lapland normally are very pricy, from 1600chf - 3000 chf. It is incredibly expensive for me!!! I was so lucky to found out Wanderlust Trip - a budget tour operator for young travellers. Their Northern Light tour for 5 days and 4 nights costs only around 540chf. It is an amazing opportunity for me. Wanderlust tour was my one and only choice to visit Lapland - Finland. The following parts, I will write in detail my activities during the time in Finland as well as the total travelling cost, so I hope it will benificial for you guys :).

1. Schedule and activities

Day 1:

- I arrived Helsinki in the afternoon by the flight from Zuerich, Switzerland on the 20th December 2019. There is a train which goes directly from Helsinki airport to city centre, and it takes around 30 minutes. The train station is located between Terminal 1 and Terminal 2 of the airport, so it is super easy for you to take the train. To buy the ticket, you can download an app called HSL (when you connect to the Wifi at the airport at the first time, they you automatically suggest you to download it) or you can buy the train ticket at the machine at the train station. I highly recommend you to use the app, an eco-option. The ticket from airport to city centre costs 4.6 euro, for 3 zones A-B-C, for 1 and a half hour. So with that ticket, you still can use for tram or bus in the city centre (zone A).

- I stay in Helsinki for only one night, one day. During winter, the day time in Finland is very short, only from 9:30am to 2pm, moving around in the dark time is not idealy for me as a solo traveller. Therefore, it would be the best for me to stay at the city center. In Helsinki, I stayed at Eurohostel (Linnankatu 9, 00160, Finland) - close to the harbour. Though it is a hostel, the service it very good. I had a single room and shared bathroom and toilet. Plus, you can take tram number 4 directly from Railway station to the hostel or you can also walk. It is very convenient.

Day 2:

- During the time in Helsinki, I mostly used it to rest because I got tired of the previous trip to Spain and also want to save my energy for the next coming days in the north. Eventhough, I still walked around and visited the oldest Christmas market in Helsinki at Senate Square, Uspenski Orthodox Catheral.

- Visiting coffee shops, souvenir stores... are also a good idea to do in Helsinki during winter time.

- End of day 2, I must go take the bus which provided by Wanderlust at 10 pm (for people who choose pick up place at the train station) or at 10:30 pm (for people who choose pick up place at the airport). It was a night bus, so everyone must spend the night on the bus, and you would arrive the next day in Rovaniemi. During the trip, you must spend quite a lot of time on the bus, so for people who has car sick, I dont recommend or you must be very well-prepared.

Day 3:

- We arrived at the Santa Clause Village the next day in the morning. The place was completely covered by the white snow. I really thought we were stepping into a fairytaile. I walked around the area, visited the Christmas House, Santa Claus's Post Office... Taking picture with Santa Claus was the highlight of this attraction. You cannot use camera, phone to take photos when you entered the Santa Room. The Santa will greet you, and take a picture with you. There are many staffs who dressed up like an elf, they will take photo for you and the Santa. Afterwards, they will sell the photos. (It is a very good trick). One photo with large or medium size costs 30euro (super expensive!!!). Or you can choose a package. I shared with Jess (an Australian girl I met from the group) a package of a medium photo, a small photo, 2 certificates of meeting real Santa Claus at Santa Village and 3 postcards for 40euro. However, I can also choose not buying anything.

- End of day 3 (the first day of the tour), we left the Santa Claus Village, moved to Kittila and checked in at the hotel here. The hotel has sauna opened from 7pm - 9pm, free of charge for hotel guests. It was perfect for us to rest after a long ride and get ready for a night out for Northern Light hunt. Unfortunately, it was super cloudy that night, we could not do anything, but we had a good time to play with snow.

(to be continued...)