Northern Lights Forecast for Rovaniemi

Northern Lights in Rovaniemi

Rovaniemi is the capital of Finnish Lapland, built where the Ounasjoki flows into the Kemijoki, with its center about 6 km south of the Arctic Circle. The retreating German army burned most of the town in 1944, and it was rebuilt on Alvar Aalto’s “reindeer antler” plan. There is no polar night here, but in late December the sun is up for only about two hours, and the aurora season runs from late August to early April. A town of more than 60,000 people makes enough light to hide a faint display, so most watching happens on the riverbanks and hills at its edge.

The Arctic Garden behind Arktikum

Without a car, people walk to the Arctic Garden, the riverside park outside Arktikum, which looks north across the Ounasjoki. Arktikum, the science center and museum with a 172 m glass corridor pointing north, has exhibits on the aurora. Stay on the bank: Visit Rovaniemi warns that strong currents under the ice make parts of the river near the center dangerous.

Up on Ounasvaara and Santavaara

Ounasvaara, which locals call Oukku, is the 203 m hill across the Kemijoki, reached over the Jätkänkynttilä bridge. Visit Rovaniemi points to it for height and relatively dark surroundings. The viewing tower on its western slopes looks back over the town, and Juhannuskallio at the summit looks out over the Kemijoki.

About 8 km north of the center, the King’s Lean-to (Kuninkaanlaavu) on top of Santavaara looks over the Ounasjoki and the villages of Ylikylä and Nivankylä. The last stretch of road, Santavaarantie, is not fit for an ordinary car; in winter snowmobiles use it, and you go up on snowshoes or skis.

Olkkajärvi and the Arctic Circle Hiking Area

With a car, Visit Rovaniemi suggests the lean-to shelter on Lake Olkkajärvi, about 15 minutes’ drive from the center, and the Arctic Circle Hiking Area, about 25 km north on the Sodankylä road, where trails lead to the Vikaköngäs and Vaattunkiköngäs rapids. The tourist board asks drivers to use the parking areas and never stop on the roadside.

It also asks visitors not to watch on their own in the Norvajärvi area, about 18 km north: the beach, the German soldiers’ cemetery on the lake shore and the Norvasalmi parking area.

Santa Claus Village, the airport and the night train

Santa Claus Village, about 8 km northeast of the center and 2 km from the airport, has a white line across its grounds marking where the Arctic Circle lay in 1865. Rovaniemi Airport is about 10 km north of the center, and overnight trains from Helsinki stop here on their way to Kemijärvi.