Santa Clause Village in Rovaniemi -Our tour.
The Real Santa Clause lives in Finland. He's at the Santa Clause Village, they say.
The Santa Clause Village in Rovaniemi, Finland: This attraction takes us three hours to see. On our tour, we visit shops in the Christmas House, and see the Christmas exhibition, mail postcards at Santa's Post Office, and even meet Santa himself.If you tour the the entire village, go on reindeer sleigh rides, see Santa, or do extras, like go on snowmobile rides, give yourself more than three hours time.
Below image is a general overview map of the village. We parked our car on the far right of the pic., see the P (near the yellow bus) parking place.
Visitor welcome overview map of the Santa Clause Village
Tomi, Rosa, and Aura standing below
the arctic circle sign
In the right picture we are standing below the arctic circle Napapiiri sign.
The yellow arrows show our distance from: New York = 6204 kilometers ; London 2260 kilometers ; Rome = 2985 kilometers... and so on.
From the southernmost tip of Finland you can count on driving two days if you want to get where we are standing.
Naturally, Santa Clause Village is busy around the Christmas holidays, that is why we are here at the end of February.
Tip: Visit off- season to find discounts, deals,items on sales,great bargains ...and of course, fewer people,as well as,cars and buses.
Welcoming our arrival, we notice these buildings...
We first notice these Santa Clause Village Shops
Left: Arctic Circle , Center: Shop number 1, Right: Iitalla glassoutlet shop.
Gift shopping inside the Santa Claus Village
Inside the Christmas house there is a large shop we found with every kind of Finnish gift.
A Toy Factory and Christmas exhibition.
Rosa finds a key chain pen made of reindeer antler.
Products include: Handcrafted, wooden spreading knives, clothing, mugs,Santa's carved out of wood,and elves.
This is one of the many shops at the Santa Clause Village. We 'dig' a bit for bargain souvenirs.
Adjacent to where we are standing...reindeer fur for sale.
Shop for reindeer skin.
!!--Hang up the Northern lights in your home.--!!
My favorites are the northern lights collection picture framed photos on display. Here are pictures of the northern lights displayed in Finnish Lapland.
Fiery red...
Red Northern lights of Finnish Lapland
Green Northern Lights
White birch trees and stunning
true blue colors of the Finnish norhern lights. Wow!
There are many more "Northern Light's" pictures to select from at the store.
Practical gift ideas from Finland. Everyone spreads something on bread; butter, jam etc.
Spread butter with handmade wooden knives at the Santa Clause Village
Wooden knives which say Finland, Lapland, and Arctic circle.
The Santa Clause Village Christmas Exhibition.
Christmas around the world...What is that like?
We go into the houses and see Christmas tree decorations from different parts of the world.
This exhibition has roomsto see what Christmas around the Christmas tree looks like.
There is an explanation posted about each room. Let's go take a look around the Christmas tree
The Christmas house Christmas exhibition -- Christmas in Finland -- Yes, they Do have a christmas tree in Finland.
The tree is carrying the Finnish flag. Top right, a pic. of the Finnish Santa Clause.
The Christmas house Christmas exhibition -- our tour -- Germany around the christmas tree.
Germany around the Christmas tree. Das ist gut!
A spruce with apples - History of the Christmas tree.
Sprucing up on Christmas tree history. Christmas trees from the 15th and 16th centuries were hung from the inside of the houses' ceilings.
Apples signify the similarity of the forbidden fruit.
Santa Clause Village -- Christmas exhibition -- Around the Christmas tree in Austria
A Christmas tree in a typical Austrian home. Ist so wie es scheint?
Images of Santa Clause
Inside the christmas exhibition - Pictures of Santa -the christmas Spirit in Rovaniemi, Finland.
There is a close-knit relationship between Lapland and Santa. Center picture: Santa looks like a Lapp!
See more eat the exhibition:
- An interactive short movie clip of Christmas around the world.
- Elves under your feet. Be careful where you step!
- Ancient Christmas - What Christmas was once like.
- Tin and wooden toys, dolls, teddy bears and digital toys at the toy factory andmore.
Next stop at the Santa Clause Village...Santa's Main Post Office!
But first...along the way we meet a reindeer herdsman. -Willing to offer us a sleigh ride...
Tomi and his reindeer friend at the ice art exhibition. The Santa Clause Village.
...we are almost out of time and in a hurry to find Santa. Before seeing Santa let's get Aura's postcards mailed out.
Another quick pic. near the ice-sculpture gallery ice-house.
Next to an Ice House in Rovaniemi Finland
An ice House used for the ice-exhibition display. Except for the wooden roof. The windows, block elements, walls, fixtures are all out-of-ice held together by frozen water like mortar.
The perfect spot to mail postcard and letters home... at Santas main post-office
Ahhh, back indoors and out of the snow blizzard where it is warm. A golden sign on a the table reads: Joulupukin Pääposti Santa Claus' Main Post Office. Here, you can read letters, that others sent to Santa.
See a real elf at work. Boy is she fast!
Inside Santa's post office - A friendly elf helper runs the mail department
Making the choice difficult, there are hundreds of postcards on the theme of Santa, Christmas, Lapland, Northern Lights.
Ready to send your mail, ok great. The friendly elf will place on your letter/postcard/parcel an official stamp which also has this on it...
Santa Clause - proof that he exists
Santa Clause does exist
Back out into the cold and to our final stop. To see Santa Clause. Yes, he Is in Finland. This is where to go to See Santa...notice the red welcome note on the side of the steeple?
Going into the entrance of a pointed steeple structure to pay Santa a visit
Tomi is entering the hut to pay Santa a visit. Aura and Rosa are already in the building. Getting closer and closer to Santa! Inside the hut, we venture along the narrow corridors, through paths of snow and ice. Up creaky wooden stairs. What could be up there?
Finally, we are on an upper loft, eyes fixed at some amazing clockwork which the elves put together. A huge wooden clock wheel.
Attached to the ceiling, a grand wooden wheel for Santa's clockwork
These Elves are geniuses! Now we are really close to seeing Santa. The bright light, under the wheel is where all the action is.
Seeing Santa is free, we talked and sat with him, he talked to us, put his arm around Tomi and Rosa, and "Flash" --a we got a picture made with him. This time around we did not get the 'Santa and Us' video to take home. A picture with Santa costs around 25 euros, and the DVD 35 euros.
More to do at the Santa Clause Village:
- Slide down the ice-slides with the kids, or go on Husky Reindeer rides.
- Get a "Been there done that" certificate proof with a golden nugget that you crossed the Arctic Circle. Costs 5 - 12 Euros.
- Make a mini 'Santa Clause' for free at the art hand craft section.
- See interesting ice-sculptures.
- Buy your children a gift from Santa without them knowing about it! That is cute.
Tip(s): Rovaniemi airport is closer to Santa's village than it is to Rovaniemi town. So if you are flying into Rovaniemi, first go to the Santa Clause Village from the airport, then on into Rovaniemi for accommodations.
Santa Claus Village is situated 8 km to the north of Rovaniemi direction Ivalo along highway number 4. You can reach the Arctic Circle also easily by local bus number 8.
Opening hours for the Santa Claus Village. These are tricky, but bear with!
between January 10 and May 31, 10 am to 5 pm
June 1 to August 31 9 am to 7 pm
September 1 to November 30 10 am to 5 pm
December 1 to January 9 9 am to 7 pm
Make sure you do not go...
April 30 between 10 am and 3 pm.
May 1 from 12 noon to 3 pm.
December 24 from 9 am to 3 pm (Santa is Reaaaallly busy then and is unavailable)
The same goes for December 25 at 12 up to 5 pm.
The same for dawning of the new year...
It is a no-go December 31 between 9 am and 5 pm
also...
January 1st between 12 noon and 5 pm.
Go to the Santa Clause Village in late January, early February.
Michelin recommended driving directions to Rovaniemi
Location of Santa's Village in Finland - Google Maps.
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