Kakslauttanen igloo village was one of hotel in my list when I did my planning initially. After I did some research, I noticed that this hotel is always fully booked and transportation is not that convenient for us since we will be base in Rovaniemi most of the time and I do not want to spend additional money (air ticket etc) to Kakslauttanen. I will update as soon as I come back from my trip. So excited!

I assumed you are nw having a good time there ~ shall wait for more updates from you.

Hi

Yes, I signed up these activities (husky ride, aurora viewing etc) in Rovaniemi, other than that everything else is free and easy. Where do you come from? I saw a lot of Europeans sign up with Thomson Holiday - http://www.thomson.co.uk/destinations/europe/finland/lapland/rovaniemi/holidays-rovaniemi.html

Hope this help!

Thanks for the reply. Is there any Finland travel agency I can sign up? I am looking further up Lapland - Ivalo. Do the ones you engage do the route?

I'm not quite sure about Finland travel agency. I only signed up excursions activity in Rovaniemi with http://www.laplandsafaris.com/en/ and http://www.laplandwelcome.fi/

Thank you very much for the info. Do youthink it is worthwhile to visit the zoo?

Hi I didn't visit the zoo. I think worth a visit if you are interested in animal.

http://www.tripadvisor.com.sg/Attraction_Review-g798832-d581281-Reviews-Ranua_Zoo-Ranua_Lapland.html
http://www.laplandwelcome.fi/activities/summer-safaris-in-rovaniemi?id=247

Thank you for the info.

Have a good wkend!

Hi Iva ,
May I know did you sign up online for your excursions via http://www.laplandsafaris.com/en/ and http://www.laplandwelcome.fi/?

Just want to know whether safe to prepay online by credit card.

Hi Keith, yes I made payment online thru these 2 websites.

Seeing aurora is purely luck. Ppl who are not staying in aurora zone is not able to plan trip date as per aurora forecast since most forecast is only useful and available up to 28 days. I suggest you spend at least 6-7 days in aurora zone (maybe 2-3 locations) to maximize your chance. Last year I spent 3 nights in Rovaniemi and I only managed to see very very faint aurora (cloudy at all time), only my camera could captured it under long exposure and I wouldn't consider I have seen it, not visible to naked eyes at all. Then this year I spent 4 nights in Iceland and 2 nights in Lofoten Island, I managed to see aurora 1 night in Iceland (raining all the time but still managed to spot it the last night in Iceland and it was drizzling actually) and 2 nights in Lofoten (weather was fantastic, no cloud super clear sky). Also it is not necessary to sign up aurora viewing tour, you probably will only spend 1-2 hours outside to spot aurora and this kind of tour is not cheap. I just choose to stay somewhere away from city light in my 2nd trip to northern Europe, I had the whole night to spot aurora.

Hope these help!

thanks for the info... hopefully it will not be dimmer as there are report stating it will only be strong again in the next decade.. nonetheless.. the trip up there is sure worth exp... :)

Hi V, what kind of winter gear are you referring to? I bought all my winter wear from Singapore.

Hi Ayda, yes if you have never been to any ice bar, ice chapel or snow hotel. It's an eye opening experience to me.

Other than Arctic Snow Hotel, there are a few snow hotels in Scandinavia, like
Snow Village in Finland - http://www.snowvillage.fi/
Kirkenes Snowhotel in Norway - http://www.kirkenessnowhotel.com/
ICEHOTEL in Sweden - http://www.icehotel.com/

Hi KH, our luggage was sent all the way to Stockholm, we did not collect luggage and checked in again. Our flight (Finnair) touched down Helsinki on time so 1 hour and 45 mins transit time was more than enough for us. Here is the airport map - https://www.finnair.com/sg/gb/information-services/at-the-airport/finnair-ticket-office-and-transfer-service-desks