Husky Ride in Lapland: Why I Hated the Experience

Are you dreaming of going on a husky ride in Lapland?

To tell you the truth, so did I.

Until I went.

The experience was… scarring, let’s just say. 

And I was not even the driver – I was the passenger princess!

My sister, who was the brave driver, hated it equally – if not more – because she was responsible not just for herself, but me and the €2,000 pack of huskies too! But more on that later.

Ready to be traumatised? Hike! (that’s mushing for “go”, btw!)

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Here’s a little bit about our journey, if you are new here! If you know us, feel free to skip this part.

After leaving our old life in Scotland in March 2022 (it rains too much there), we travelled full-time for almost 2 years. Sounds fancy, doesn’t it? Well, it was. If you think that carrying overpacked backpacks in 45°C heat around streets that aren’t even on Google Maps is fancy. And that’s just 1% of all the fun we had! 😆

During the 2 years we volunteered in Italy and Bulgaria (free travel while learning new skills, anyone?), explored other amazing European countries and backpacked Southeast Asia. Btw, even our secret wedding was more of an expedition than a wedding. 😅

And, of course, we researched and planned everything ourselves, because you gotta keep the budget low, right? If you are like us, you’ve come to the right place, because we want to share all the useful travel tips and info with you!

Excited? Good. Let’s get into it so you can go on your own epic adventures too!

Hi, it’s me

First of all, this post is a bit different from our usual ones, because it’s written by one person.

Me!

Hi, I’m Mirka, the Slovak half of Our Enchanted Journey.

I’m writing this post as a personal review of the husky ride in Lapland, because Daniel did not hate the experience. 

In fact, he enjoyed it.

So I want to make it clear, that this is my own, personal review. But also, that it’s just my side of the story.

Speaking of, here’s what you need to know.

Husky ride in Lapland: what you need to know

I want you to know something first.

The point of this post isn’t to discourage you from doing a husky ride in Lapland.

As I said, Daniel enjoyed the experience, and I know many other people do too. 

In fact, no one else seemed as traumatised at the end of it as me and my sister!

What’s the point of this post?

What is the point of sharing this negative review then?

I want to do 2 things in this post:

• Share some realities of doing a husky ride in Lapland, so that you know it’s not all like Insta reels make it look
• Share my own story, so that you can decide, whether it’s the right experience for you or not. Because you never know, you might end up feeling like me and my sister! And wouldn’t you rather someone warned you?

Why is it important to read this?

I won’t be yelling at you: READ THIS POST!!!

I know you are smart.

If you are considering going on a husky ride in Lapland, you should know what the experience entails.

Here are 2 reasons why it’s so important:

1. Experiences in Lapland are not cheap. Prepare to pay a lot of money for things like husky rides, snowmobiling or aurora hunting. We are all about saving money, so we want to make sure you don’t end up wasting it, on experiences you won’t enjoy.
2. I am using the word traumatised here lightly, but I do think that the husky ride experience can be genuinely traumatising for some people and I hope to help them avoid this pain.

Now then, let’s talk about how this horror went down.

Where did we go on a husky ride in Lapland?

If you are planning a Lapland holiday, we’ve got good news for you: 

We went on one that was absolutely epic and – pops open a bottle of fake champagne – it did not cost us a fortune!

If you want to know more about our trip, here is where you can go:

• We did the husky ride in this beautiful, glass-roof cabin resort we stayed at, called the Northern Lights Village Saariselkä. Oh, and yes, the price of our stay was absolutely unreal – we spent so little! We wrote a full guide for staying in the resort here. Northern Lights Village also offers a range of experiences that you can book even if you are not staying there, such as the infamous husky ride.
• If you are avoiding going to Lapland because you are worried you’ll freeze your butt off there, or you’ll have to spend a lot of money on winter gear you’ll never need again, read this post. This was a mistake we made – not seeing the Northern Lights for YEARS because we worried about having to buy clothes for the trip!
• Wanna meet Santa? Who doesn’t right? You can do so in Finland, on your way to the epic northern lights resort, but read this first, so you know how not to get scammed (COMING SOON). 😬

You got all those articles opened? Cause they are packed with tips and tricks on how you can have the best Lapland holiday!

Okay, now back to the less happy topics. Let’s talk about why I hated the husky ride.

Why did I hate the husky ride in Lapland?

A husky ride in Lapland sounds like such a dream, right?

Driving a pack of fluffy huskies across the stunning Arctic landscape – it’s almost like you are an explorer from the olden days.

So how come I hated the experience?

I will tell you what the problem was. Actually, there was more than one.

I will also note where something is a fact and where it’s just my (/our) experience, so you can make an objective decision for yourself when it comes to husky rides in Lapland.

If you are ready, let’s put away all filters. Here’s what no one tells you about husky rides in Lapland.

#1 It’s a lot of responsibility

Our husky ride in Lapland started with a short intro session. Short as in within a few minutes, we were told how to sit in the sled as a passenger, how to drive the sled as a driver, how to switch these roles, the hand signals that will be used, how to start going, how to stop the huskies, how to behave on the track and how to “park” at the end.

Oh, and also the fact that if we don’t follow these rules exactly and something happens to the huskies, we will be held liable to a €2,000 fine. And that point was hammered home quite a few times.

Not the most chilled-holiday experience.

Let’s not forget the fact that while you need to digest (and REMEMBER!) all this info, something else is going on.

#2 It’s wild (and very noisy)

Before (and during) the ride? The huskies are WILD.

They bark like there is no tomorrow.

They pull on their harnesses trying to get going (even though they are all tied down, of course).

They fight with each other viciously.

(The more rebellious ones get up to more fun stuff with each other, so if you have kids, prepare some answers to questions about that too. 😅)

So while you are trying to memorise hand signals, so you don’t end up having to sell your kidney to pay a €2,000 fine on an already expensive Lapland holiday you will need 5 years to financially recover from?

There are packs of huskies causing a deafening racket right next to you.

One thing to consider

What happened after the lovely (read: stress-inducing intro) was that we were allocated our sleighs and asked to walk to them to take up our positions. Then we waited for ages while the huskies were checked and the sleds were released one by one – which, obviously, riled up the remaining huskies even more.

Just to add, all of this took quite some time.

Now, if you happen to be triggered by barking dogs.

This might not be the best activity for you in Lapland.

A personal story

While travelling full-time, we were unfortunate enough to have multiple bad experiences with dogs.

It resulted in a serious trauma for me that I am still battling.

So while I knew that these huskies were safe (as in, restrained), the noise and their behaviour (including seeing their bared teeth) was very triggering for me.

If you are in a similar situation, here is what you can do:

• You can go see what the experience is like before you book. In the northern lights resort we stayed at, the husky rides happen daily, right next to the Aurora Cabins, so you can go see what the start of the experience is like, before you decide, whether it’s right for you or not.
• You can see if it’s possible to book a private experience. 6 barking huskies might be a lot more manageable for you, than 10×6 huskies, if you do a group husky ride in Lapland.
• You can choose to opt out. Our experience was 2 people per sled, meaning if you were on your own, you got paired up with a stranger. Not ideal, but if you are worried about your partner not being able to go without you, for example, you don’t have to be.

#3 The huskies don’t look like huskies

When we imagined a husky ride in Lapland, we imaged fluffy, big huskies with gorgeous blue eyes.

Maybe that’s just us? Maybe we’ve seen too many movies with Siberian Huskies? (Namely Snow Dogs?)

I mean, we do know not all huskies look exactly like that. But still.

The huskies that we saw in Lapland?

They didn’t look like huskies at all!

If we weren’t told that they were, in fact, huskies, we’d have thought they were a totally different breed.

So this is just a little warning, that if you are expecting big, soft, fluffy huskies, you might not get them.

Fun fact

Even though these dogs are bred and trained specifically for pulling sleighs, not all are equally strong. To our amazement (and increasing confusion), during our lightspeed training session before the ride, we were told we’d need to help the huskies up some slopes!

Meaning the driver had to step off the sleigh with one leg (one leg only or €2,000!!!) and push the sleigh!!

6 huskies are, apparently, not enough to pull two small-sized women up a slight slope.

Talk about shattering illusions.

Again, just something to be aware of – not all is as it seems on social media.

#4 The huskies behave like dogs

Duh Mirka! They are dogs, what did you expect them to behave as? Dandelions??

Well no.

But you don’t usually see the dogs peeing and pooping as they run, on social media, do you?

Except they do.

At speed.

Why does it matter to you?

Two reasons:

1. It kinda ruins the magical, romantic experience of riding through beautiful Lapland. In fact, the path is more yellow and brown than white, especially if it hasn’t snowed since the last time the huskies passed it. 
2. More importantly though (and this is something nobody talks about, for some reason), it all end ups on your face. 

Yep. You read that right.

The huskies kick up the snow and it all, and I mean all, pee and poo, ends up flying into your face and hair.

If you are the passenger, prepare to be covered. Not like you will see bits of poop hanging off your hair when the ride finishes. But you will have your face wet from all the snow and ice and, well, the pee and poop that lives on it too.

I understand if you chose to abandon this article and the whole idea of a husky ride in Lapland at this point.

It’s fair.

Go read one of our other Lapland posts which doesn’t include the word poop 15 times in one section. 

If you are insisting on continuing though, I’ll talk to you more about the whole snow/ice blasting your face situation later.

First though, let’s talk about how tiring this whole experience actually is.

#5 It’s hard work

The problem

During your husky ride in Lapland you won’t just be whizzing through the winter landscape with no problems.

There is the whole helping the huskies to go up a slope thing (still can’t get over how ridiculous that is).

But also, if you are doing a group activity, like we did, there are bound to be frequent stops, because someone will mess up or have an issue. This means the whole convoy has to stop.

And not just stop. 

You’ve got to stop the huskies in time (meaning before they get too close to the sleigh in front of you because wild huskies can’t come near each other). That means you have to be constantly on alert and ready.

You’ve got to signal the person behind you so they don’t get too close to you (remember the signals you learned during your 5-minute instruction session??).

And you’ve got to hold the wild huskies down as they try to pull forward with all they’ve got.

Oh, and do this any number of times – depending on how much the people in front of you are messing up/needing to stop.

Fun?

So fun! *heavy sarcasm*

Consider this

If you are a small, light person, holding down a pack of wild huskies will be hard. 

My sister is a small female and she had to use all her weight to hold them down every time we stopped.

Sometimes, it wasn’t enough and we got pulled forwards. 

Too close to the sled in front of us (and the €2,000 fine).

We got told off by the guides that are circling around on snowmobiles during the whole experience in case there are any issues.

Something else?

My sister created a bigger gap between us and the sleigh in front of us, so that, in the future, if she couldn’t hold the huskies, we’d have more of a buffer. 

She got told off for this too and was told to close the gap. 

🙃

Fun!

#6 The cold

This is another duh point, but not really, because hear me out.

You are told that a husky ride in Lapland will be cold.

Heck, you know that yourself – you will be driving around at high speed in the Arctic!

But, in reality, it’s even colder than you’re expecting.

The problem

We knew it was meant to be cold, so we dressed well.

Base layers, woolen jumpers, our amazing (free!) snowsuits.

And it still wasn’t enough.

Both me and my sister got awfully ill soon after.

Sure, it might have been a result of any of the other activities – like standing outside for hours watching the Northern Lights (this is why glass igloos are so worth the money, if you pick well).

But we are suspish that it was the freezing cold husky ride that pushed us over the edge.

Especially, since as the passenger, you will spend most of the ride getting blasted by bits of snow and ice (and don’t forget the pee and poop!!), making you double cold.

The solution

If you are going on a husky ride in Lapland, make sure to:

• Dress well. Especially, if you are planning on being just the passenger, so your physical activity will be minimal. Dress warm. And then add some layers on top of that.
• Bring mouth and nose protection. Daniel wore his Buff. My sister had a neck gaiter from Lidl and I had a thick neck warmer (like this one).
• Protect your eyes. My sister and I wear glasses, so our eyes were protected a bit by them, but we have heard (and seen) that people use goggles for the ride to keep their eyes safe (there will be poop flying about!! I cannot emphasise this enough).

A little note

If you are wearing glasses/goggles and have your mouth and nose covered, make sure your glasses don’t get steamed up as you breathe. Especially as the driver, you cannot afford to lose your vision even if just for a second – don’t forget the €2,000 fine!! (You will be having nightmares about the fine, won’t you? We apologise. Message us on our Instagram if you do.)

#7 The cost

After traumatising my sister, this is probably the most painful part of the experience.

The amount of money it cost us.

Wanna know?

I am not sure if I can even write it without feeling like crying – we are all about saving money and even managed to do so in Lapland, one of the most expensive destinations in Europe!

Well, almost managed to do it.

Mirka had to go and sign us up for a husky ride, of course. 🙄

Okay, here it goes:

This torture cost us €159.

Per person.

I know.

Could have had 3 gig tickets for that.

Or 159 dinners in Asia.

And that’s talking just about one person – we paid for 3!

It’s absolutely insane, but that’s Lapland for you. Prepare to have a full wallet (and read our tips on how to save money when you go!).

What you should do

Before you book your husky ride in Lapland:

1. Shop around. As wild as the price we paid was, we compared it with other options in the area, and it turned out to actually be the best deal.
2. Consider the bad vs the good about husky rides and decide whether it’s worth the money for you.
3. If you are struggling to make up your mind, use our conversion trick to decide easier.
4. Need more help? Book a live chat with us and we can talk you through the husky ride experience to see if it’s going to traumatise you too! (Sounds like fun, right??)

Next, I want to share an important lesson with you.

Important lesson: don’t do a husky ride with the wrong person

A note on strangers

Okay, I know here I said that if you opt out, your partner/friend/relative can still go do a husky ride in Lapland, because they will be paired up with a stranger and that’s fine.

It’s not entirely true.

You can be paired up with a dumbass.

The guy Daniel got?

Ended up not being a very good partner – he signalled too late to the person behind them, so that person’s huskies ended up coming up too close to Daniel and their huskies.

He also let go of the brake and stepped off the sled completely, putting Daniel (and the dogs) in danger – something that was highlighted as the biggest no-no.

He was lucky, though, as the snowmobile police didn’t see it, so he didn’t get into trouble.

This makes all the difference

If you haven’t guessed it by now, I wouldn’t have gotten through this experience without my sister.

Not only was she brave enough to volunteer to go as the first driver.

But when it came to the halfway switching point, when the passenger and the driver could swap?

I couldn’t do it.

Why?

1. Seeing the first half of the ride, I was terrified and convinced I couldn’t drive and hold the huskies.
2. I have a health condition where my joints get incredibly sore in many situations. Sitting on a plastic plank aka the sled was one of them. I was in a lot of pain even just sitting down and could not imagine having to use my joints to steer and hold the huskies down.*

I am eternally grateful to my sister for saving my ass and driving the whole way and keeping us all safe.

I will also forever feel sorry, because guess whose stupid idea it was to do this husky ride in Lapland?

Yep, mine.

Turns out, Daniel and my sister weren’t even that interested in it. (In my defence, I didn’t realise this at the time of booking, I thought we all wanted to do it. Watch out for this Abilene Paradox in your life.)

So, kiddo, I’ve said it a million times, but thank you again for having my back. I will try not to put us into a situation like this again (no promises though! 😅).

*Also consider this

As I have said, I have a medical condition (actually, a few) and so I am not sure whether this will be a problem for anyone else, but sitting on a hard plastic sled for a prolonged period of time?

My legs went completely jello.

There was no way I could have swapped places with my sister at the halfway point, especially since that has to be done safely – you are changing places WHILE constantly holding the huskies down, so as not to injure yourself, the other person or the huskies (remember the €2,000 fine!!!).

Again, just something worth thinking about.

What could we have done to have a better husky ride experience?

As always, in hindsight, you realise there were things you could have done to spare yourself at least some of the pain and misery.

For us, doing this husky ride in Lapland?

• First, I should have researched it more. Maybe read a post like this one, which talks about the experience without the Instagram-rose-tinted-glasses filter.
• I could have also talked more with Daniel and my sister and discovered they weren’t that keen on the ride in the first place.
• We could have picked a shorter ride. We had two options: a 5km ride and a 10km one. I thought 5km wouldn’t be long enough, come on, we’ll be loving it and then it will end? Nah, let’s do 10km!! (*bangs her head on a bedside lamp like Dobby in Harry Potter 2*)
• We could have gone to see at least the start of the experience prior to booking. The activity meeting point was a few cabins down from ours, it couldn’t have been easier.

Why do many people love the husky rides in Lapland?

I can’t speak for others, but I do know 2 things:

• Nobody looked as distressed by the end of this ride, as my sister and me (or maybe that was just my perception).
• People do the husky rides in Lapland even with small children sitting in the sled. Don’t ask me how though.

What I can say is, Daniel enjoyed the ride, as I mentioned at the start.

The thing is, you’ve got to think about your own situation.

Consider this

Using our story as an example:

• Daniel is not as stressy and anxious person as I am. Being told he might be held liable to a €2,000 fine?
  His reaction: “That won’t happen to me!”
  My reaction: “What if it happens to me??”
  It’s just how we are wired as people.
• Not to be sexist, but Daniel is a man. And he is certainly bigger than me and my sister. Meaning steering or holding down the huskies was a lot less work for him.
• Daniel, thankfully, didn’t develop the trauma from our unfortunate dog incidents, unlike me. So he wasn’t triggered right at the beginning of the experience.
• He also, again thankfully, doesn’t have a medical condition that would make him be in pain.

The point?

If this was a 2-passenger sled, so me and my sister could have been sitting together and Daniel would have been driving the whole way?

We probably wouldn’t have hated it.

We would have known we were safe. Being driven by someone responsible. 

We probably would have spent the whole ride laughing our heads off about having poop all over ourselves and how this was probably the worst way to spend €477 ever (man, seeing that number still hurts).

And let’s face it, the huskies would have no chance of pulling all 3 of us if we wanted them to stop. 

The best part about the husky ride in Lapland

Yes, I do actually have something positive to say about this whole experience!

The best part definitely was once we came back from our ride, “parked” the huskies and my sister could finally collapse into the snow, relieved that she didn’t cause €2,000 worth of damage. 😆

And we got to pet the huskies! Who were (mostly) calm after their long run and so happy to interact with us.

We also got to learn more about mushing, training huskies and their life – while sipping on a hot berry juice.

We were lucky enough to meet a few puppies too, although, again, don’t expect tiny little fluffballs when I say puppies, they looked like normal dogs, pretty much (see pic below).

So yes, there were some good parts to the experience too. I just wish I didn’t first have to survive the bad ones.

Don’t forget to get this before your husky ride

Hopefully, you will pick a reputable company for your husky ride in Lapland.

Accidents can still happen, though, and you should not do adventure activities like this without good insurance.

We researched 23 insurance companies when choosing travel insurance for our full-time backpacking adventures.

And you know what?

It was painful, but worth it (unlike the husky ride 😬).

We discovered True Traveller, who is not only an awesome travel insurance provider, but also works at the speed of light – read about our mindblowing experience of submitting a claim to them here.

There you have it.

This is why I hated the husky ride in Lapland.

I think I’ve traumatised myself anew, just writing about it. 😅

What do you think? 

Does this sound like an experience you’d wanna do? 

Let me know in the comments!

And if you have questions about the husky ride and would like to talk to a person who hated it (meee!) or a person who enjoyed it (Daniel), you can book a live chat with us – just let us know which side of the story you want to ask more questions about! 😄

— Mirka