Santa Claus Express
We were onboard the Santa Claus Express from Helsinki to Rovaniemi. There were 3 of us, we chose to book a sleeper cabin with shower and toilet, and another bed without shower/toilet. Both cabins were selectd to be close to one another so that the one staying in the berth without facilities can easily use the shower. We were in the impression that the empty bed not taken would be available for sale so I took this bed as I'm used to staying in dorm so I don't mind having to 'room' with a stranger.
Once you board the train, you can enter the cabin that you have paid for as the cabin doors would be unlocked. We were at coach 26 and I located the cabin. Unfortunately the door was locked. I thought someone was inside and had locked the door. I knocked and waited, then knocked and waited again. After my sisters have settled, I brought my backpack up to their cabin to deposit and decided to track down a train inspector.
I reasoned that there would at least be someone in the dining cabin, so I went there to ask. I was told the inspector would be at coach 26 soon for ticket inspection so I went back to stand outside my locked cabin to wait. I was told the cabin is faulty so I was allocated another one - at coach 21.
After retrieving my backpack from my sisters' cabin, I moved towards coach 21. On arriving at the newly allocated cabin, I realised the door was also locked. Fortunately I met a train inspector on my way to this new cabin just before and quickly went to find him. It appeared that he thought nobody was using the cabin and locked it.
I left my backpack in the cabin, grabbed the things I needed for shower and then walked back to coach 26 to where my sisters were for shower. I was a little paranoid due to previous experience where I don't know how to operate simple procedure of opening door. So I tried to open the cabin door right after I closed it, and guess what - door remained tightly locked.
The "new" cabin I was assigned to was one that has more space for pet. I'm not sure if this was the reason why the key card works differently from the one sis were in. I went to their cabin to shower and to ask for help on how to open door. I was lucky this round and we bumped into one of the ticket inspector. I was told I need to push in the key card harder, all the way in till it clicked.
Aside from a little running between coaches in the beginning, the train was comfortable and I had a great night sleep.
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| Pardon my mess |
Arriving in Rovaniemi
We arrived Rovaniemi at 7:20am the next day and walked to the Airbnb we booked. The Airbnb host was very kind to allow us to check in so much earlier that the usual check-in time. It was about 15 minutes walk from the train station. There was a small supermarket just a block away and the airbnb was furnished with kitchen so we cooked our meals in Rovaniemi.
Rovaniemi, located within Finnish Lapland and the Arctic Circle is also known as the "official" home town of Santa Claus. So naturally we paid Father Christmas a visit in the Santa Claus village.
Santa Claus Village
We took a bus to the Santa Claus Village and noticed that normal buses are cheaper at €3.60 per person for one way. The fare for Santa Claus branded bus was €4.
Santa Clause Office
Santa Claus office is the centre building upon entering the village. You'll have to make an appointment to see Santa. We were ushered in at the front of the office but there was a queue to see Santa himself at his office.
One of the elves will take a photo of your meet and greet with Santa and available for purchase right after. We just wanted to see Father Christmas but not interested in getting the photos so we didn't get any.
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| Entrance to Santa Claus Office |
Santa Claus Post Office
The other popular thing to do is to send a mail or postcard from the Santa Claus Post Office. Mails delivered from here comes with a special Arctic Circle postmark. There are 2 mail boxes - a yellow and another red one. Mails through the yellow mailbox will be delivered right now while mails through the red one will be kept and sent for Christmas time.
Another thing you can get here or from Santa's office is a letter from Father Christmas himself. It is said that the letter will be mailed using Santa's own special stamp and Santa Claus' Main Post Office postmark. I ordered one but as we were there just passed Christmas in 2022, I haven't seen it yet as it would be sent in 2023 Christmas. If you want, you can order it online but getting it in Rovaniemi feels different. Haha.
Crossing the Arctic Circle
The Arctic Circle is a circle of latitude that runs 66°33′45.9″ north of the Equator. It is a latitude encompassing the northernmost pole of the Earth. The sun is below or above the horizon for a full 24 hours during solstices, in June and December - Midnight Sun in the summer and Polar Night in the winter.
Santa's Igloo Arctic Circle
This was expensive and moving after 1 night makes holidays a bit more hectic. We had 3 nights in Rovaniemi but after recommendation from friends we decided to find an igloo stay. Given we were travelling in a peak period and by the time we decided to book a stay in an igloo, we had limited options. We found this and got a premium igloo with alcove with breakfast included.
It was comfortable but maximum heating allowable is 25 degrees which was decent but given how cold it was then, a little warmer would be welcomed. It would have been excellent if we managed to catch northern lights by lying in bed but unfortunately weather wasn't great when we were in Rovaniemi. It was fairly cloudy. There was a switch to slowly melt off the snow on the glass roof.
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| Sis said this resembled a type of animal at a glance... i thought it was just for ease of eating...what do you think? |
Other things around Santa Claus Village
There are other activities arond Santa Claus Village like reindeer ride, dogsledding and food which we did none of those. We did have intention to do dog sledding but were planning it for later part of the trip when we were in Sweden. As for food, we read that Santa's Salmon Place is a popular option but we felt the price were a little steep so I ended up getting salmon from the supermarket and fried it ourselves. Different of course, but much cheaper option.
Other things to do, of course was souvenir shopping. We got some magnets but the range of things on sale defnitely more than just that.
I reasoned, if they are above budget to purchase, then I'll take a picture and look at them. Or tried to take a photo of a nicely shaped snowflake...
Side note: Back to the orange slices, sis said they were cut to look like reindeer...mmmmm
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