Saariselkä itineraries for three to five days

7 min read Updated October 2026 Compare all tours

Saariselkä is a small resort village on the E75, and nearly every winter tour collects guests at their accommodation, so a plan here is mostly a matter of timing. The two sample itineraries below work around three fixed points: the short daylight, the late hours when the aurora is most likely, and the distance to Inari and Lake Inari. Accommodation is simply "Saariselkä", so you can fit the plan to wherever you are staying.

Three things that shape every plan

Start with the light. From 6 December 2026 to 6 January 2027 the sun does not rise in Saariselkä, and on 21 December there is twilight from 09:36 to 14:41. By 1 February the sun is up from 09:34 to 15:15, and by 1 March from 07:33 to 17:14. Husky rides, snowmobile trips and the drive to Inari belong in these hours. Our page on the polar night has the details for December.

Then the aurora. The regional tourist office gives September to April as the season, and the Finnish Meteorological Institute names the hours either side of midnight as the best time to look. Clouds can hide it completely, so one evening tour is one chance. Spread your aurora evenings over the stay and keep the last night free to repeat one if the earlier evenings were cloudy.

Finally, the journey in. Ivalo airport is 25 km from the village, and the airport bus runs between the airport, Saariselkä, Kiilopää and Kakslauttanen according to the flight schedule, with tickets sold on board. There are daily flights from Helsinki and seasonal direct flights from several European cities, including a weekly Wednesday flight from Munich between 23 December 2026 and 24 March 2027. Flights and buses are covered under getting to Saariselkä.

A long weekend in three days

A long weekend is enough for huskies, a reindeer ride and two evenings under the sky. Stay in Saariselkä; the tours below all start in the village or pick you up there.

• Day 1. Arrive at Ivalo and take the airport bus into the village. If the sky is clear, book the aurora photo tour for the evening. It takes about three hours, picks up within 15 km of the centre and the guide takes the photos, so you need no camera of your own.
• Day 2. Spend half the day on a husky safari. The 10 km tour drives you about an hour to the kennel at Veskoniemi, and the whole outing takes about four hours. In the evening, walk to the Lapponia safari house at Honkapolku 1 for a reindeer sled ride after dark, followed by a hot drink by a campfire.
• Day 3. Choose a two-hour snowmobile ride with hot drinks before your flight. Drivers must be 18 and hold a car licence, while children from 4 ride in a sledge behind the guide.

On the weekend you can also skip a tour and head into Urho Kekkonen National Park on your own. The park stretches east from Saariselkä to the Russian border, and around the village there are maintained winter trails for walking, snowshoeing and skiing. The snowshoe tour by Outdoor Expert begins a few steps from the park border if you would rather go with a guide.

Five days with Inari and Lake Inari

With five days there is time for two trips out of the village and a rest between tours. The first two days can follow the long weekend above. The table shows one way to order the rest; swap days around the forecast so that the aurora evenings fall on clear nights.

Inari lies about 75 km north of Saariselkä. The small-group trip by Trafinari takes seven hours, with a walk to the Jäniskoski suspension bridge, entry to Siida and sausages grilled over a campfire; lunch is at your own expense. Lapland Welcome runs a six-hour version with a guided tour of the museum and a restaurant lunch. Siida is the national museum of Sámi culture and is open from Monday to Saturday, 10:00 to 17:00, in winter, so do not plan this day for a Sunday. Sajos, the centre of Sámi self-government, stands nearby on the Juutua River. More on the village is on our page about Inari and Siida.

Day four belongs to Lake Inari. The ice fishing tour collects you in Saariselkä by minibus and hands out warm clothing at the office in Ivalo. A sleigh pulled by a snowmobile takes you to a small island, where you fish through the ice and eat a three-course lunch in a teepee by the fire. The tour lasts about five hours. Catching a fish is not something to count on; several guests mention going home without one. If you prefer movement, the skating track on the natural ice of the lake is an alternative, about an hour from Saariselkä by van. Both are compared on the ice fishing and Lake Inari page.

That evening, the aurora hunt by snowmobile gives you a third chance at the sky. You drive yourself, stop for snacks and hot drinks by an open fire, and need a valid driving licence. For the last day, a 90-minute cross-country ski lesson starts at the Outdoor Expert office in the village, and Kiilopää, 546 m high and reachable by the ski bus, has a marked trail of about two kilometres each way to its summit.

Swapping in other days

A daytime reindeer safari leaves Saariselkä at noon and takes about two hours, with an hour on the sled in the national park. It suits the shortest days of December and January, when it runs in the brightest part of the twilight. Kuukkeli Sauna World in the village offers a smoke sauna, a panoramic sauna and a warm outdoor pool for two hours, with a transfer in winter. A guided fatbike ride or a horse ride on forest trails are further options listed on our things to do page.

For a longer stay, the day trips page covers the drive to Kirkenes in Norway for king crab, which crosses the border and takes eleven hours, and a village tour to Nellim near the Russian border.

Adjusting the plans to the month

Real winter in northern Lapland usually begins in November, and the ski resort plans to open its lifts on 21 November 2026. In December every daytime tour runs in twilight, so keep the days short and the evenings for the sky. The Skábmagovat film festival of Indigenous peoples takes place in Inari every January, with films shown in an open-air theatre built of snow; the 2027 dates had not been published when this page was written, so check before you add it to a five-day plan. From February the days grow quickly. In late March or early April the reindeer racing championship is traditionally held on the ice of Lake Inari, and the snow in Saariselkä is usually at its deepest around that time. The best time to visit page has the month-by-month details, and getting around explains the ski bus between Ivalo, Saariselkä and Kiilopää.