Private Family Full Arctic Adventure: Snowshoeing, Ice Fishing & Fire-Making

• Participants must arrive suitably dressed for cold winter weather. We recommend wearing warm clothing, comfortable hiking shoes or winter boots, gloves, and beanies. Dressing in layers will help you stay comfortable throughout the tour.
• The food and drinks listed in the tour inclusions are provided. We recommend eating a good meal before departure and bringing extra snacks and a bottle of water.

Standard 4-hour option: A great choice for families who prefer a shorter experience with less time in the vehicle. The activity takes place just outside Rovaniemi, allowing you to spend more time enjoying the winter landscape and family activities.

Extended 4.5-hour option: Ideal for families looking for a more remote and immersive Arctic experience. This option takes you farther from Rovaniemi into a quieter part of Lapland, surrounded by peaceful frozen lakes and snow-covered forests. Depending on the conditions and your family’s preferences, you will explore the area on snowshoes or trekking skis at a comfortable pace. This option can also be combined with a private sauna experience or a guided Arctic SnowHotel visit, both available to our guests at a discounted rate.

No previous experience is required. Your guide will explain how to use the snowshoes, navigate with a map and compass, drill an ice-fishing hole and make a fire safely. The tour is designed as an accessible introduction, although it involves walking through snow and is not suitable for guests with limited mobility.

Yes. After reaching the lake, you will prepare a simple camp and learn how to start a fire without matches or a lighter. We use a ferrocerium rod (ferro stick), a reliable fire-starting tool that works especially well in cold and snowy conditions.

Your guide will show you how to create sparks, prepare the fire properly and use a few practical tricks to help it catch in winter conditions. It is a safe and fun activity, and even children can have a go at making sparks under the guide’s supervision.

For safety, your guide is always responsible for chopping, cutting and whittling the wood, while you can focus on preparing the fire and trying the fire-starting technique yourself.

In our standard 4-hour excursion, you will usually spend around 30–45 minutes snowshoeing each way. The exact distance varies, as your guide adapts the route and pace to the whole group, taking into account everyone’s fitness level, comfort and interests.

Snowshoeing in deep, fresh snow can be surprisingly tiring, so there is no pressure to cover a certain distance. When conditions are demanding, your guide may choose easier tracks or firmer paths so that the experience remains enjoyable for everyone. The goal is not to walk as far or as fast as possible, but to enjoy the winter landscape at a comfortable pace.

We do our best, but a fish catch can never be guaranteed during an ice-fishing experience. Fishing time is usually limited to around 20–30 minutes, and success depends on a combination of luck, weather and conditions on the lake, as well as your own attitude, especially patience and keeping noise to a minimum.

The most common catches are perch and pike, although in many cases the fish we catch are small perch. Salmon and trout are not normally targeted with this type of ice fishing.

If you catch a fish that is large enough to keep, your guide may prepare it and add it to the meal, or you can choose to release it back into the lake.

Even when nothing bites, the activity is still a memorable part of a Lapland winter experience: walking out onto a frozen lake, drilling a hole through the ice, learning how traditional ice fishing works, and simply enjoying the fun of trying your luck in the Arctic outdoors.

No. This experience is designed for beginners, and no previous fishing experience is required. Your guide will show you how to drill a hole through the ice, use the fishing equipment, and try the basic techniques of ice fishing.

The catch depends on whether you fish on a lake or river. Perch and small northern pike are commonly found in Lapland’s lakes, while perch are often caught in the rivers around Rovaniemi. Fish species, size and activity vary according to the location and natural conditions, so a catch cannot be guaranteed. Your guide provides the equipment, explains the local techniques and may prepare a suitable fish if you are successful.

Child-sized snowshoes are available from EU shoe size 27, and your guide will help each participant adjust and use the equipment before the tour. A sled is provided for younger children who are too small for snowshoes or need to rest along the way. The route, pace, and walking time are adapted to your family’s ages, abilities, and energy levels.

The activity location and route are selected according to the weather, snow and ice conditions, accessibility, daylight and safety, as well as the group’s interests, skills, fitness, mobility, previous experience and preferred level of challenge. When needed, the guide discusses the available options with participants before departure to select the most suitable plan. Once the activity begins, the selected activity area normally remains fixed, although the route, distance or pace may be adapted if conditions or the group’s needs change. The guide makes the final decision for safety and practical reasons. The one-way vehicle transfer from Rovaniemi to the activity starting point usually takes approximately 20–45 minutes. Round-trip transportation from Rovaniemi is included. This estimate refers only to the one-way journey by vehicle to the point where the activity begins. It does not include the activity itself.