Lapland Without a Car: How to See the Aurora Car-Free

Can you travel to Lapland without a car?

And, more importantly, can you see the Northern Lights car-free?

We’ve got good news for you: yes, you can!

We are car-free travellers and we’ve done an epic trip to Lapland AND saw the aurora using just public transport.

In this post, we’ll tell you exactly how we did it—so you can have a magical trip to Lapland without renting a car too!

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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!

Why we travel car-free

We thought we’d start with a little background info on us—maybe you’ll be able to relate and you’ll feel more at home here, on our website.

Why do we travel without a car?

This might be wild to you, depending on where you come from, but neither of us has a driver’s license (at least at the time of writing, in 2025).

If you do think it’s mad and are wondering why someone would live without a driving licence, here is why we don’t have one:

• We’ve always lived in cities where we didn’t need to drive
• We are all about saving money and buying (and keeping) a car is a big expense
• We never had time to complete a driving course and the one time we tried, we couldn’t find any instructors in our area (not making this up, it was ridiculous!)
• Mirka is not very keen on driving, in fact, it’s making her anxious just thinking about having to learn one day

Basically, a few reasons!

The truth is, travelling (and often living too) without a car is tough, but we’ve made it work, so far. Including seeing Lapland and the incredible Aurora Borealis—without needing to hire a car and without spending a fortune.

Lapland without a car: the problem

Seeing the Northern Lights had been at the top of our bucket list for as long as we could remember, but we kept postponing it for years.

Why? Maybe for the same reasons you haven’t been to Lapland to chase the lights yet:

• We worried about the cost. Turns out, you can totally do Lapland on a budget, if you are smart about it.
• We didn’t want to buy winter gear we’d never use again. Turns out, we didn’t have to.
• We thought we wouldn’t be able to see the aurora without hiring a car, which, as car-free travellers, we couldn’t do.

Why do people think you need a car to see the Northern Lights?

Let’s face it, most people go to Lapland to see the Northern Lights.

Even though there are so many other things to do, like crossing the Arctic Circle, meeting Santa (!!), riding with reindeer and huskies, or risking a heart attack when dipping yourself into an ice pool.

And even though Aurora Borealis is a natural phenomenon and so you shouldn’t base your whole trip around it, or you’ll be setting yourself up for a potential disappointment.

Lapland pretty much equals the Northern Lights.

The thing is, even though people often don’t know a lot about the aurora, they do know you need to be high up north, and somewhere dark, to increase your chances of seeing the spectacular light show.

And as they imagine the arctic wilderness they wonder: “How on earth do you get there without a car??”

Lapland without a car: the solution

One of the things we learned over the years of travelling full-time is, there’s always a solution. That and the fact that you should always carry a roll of toilet paper with you, especially when using public transport in Asia. But that’s a different story. 😬

If you want to visit Lapland without a car, you’ve got a few options:

• You can go on an organised group trip where all transport is provided for you. The problem with these trips is the lack of flexibility and the cost. If you are all about saving money and want to DIY your Lapland trip, consider the other solutions.
• You can pick a base that is accessible by public transport (like the popular Tromsø) and explore further by booking group or private tours. Again, not the most budget-friendly solution, but one that lets you build the itinerary as you want, rather than having to follow a group trip plan.
• The best solution? Staying in a northern lights resort where you can see the aurora without even having to leave the comfort of your bed. Oh, and doing so on a budget too!

The best way to experience Lapland without a car

Have you had a browse around our website? We’ve got posts on how to stay safe as you travel, weird travel hacks you should be using, as well as detailed, no-filter guides on how to make full-time travel your reality.

One thing you might notice when poking around our site is that we focus a lot on sharing our experience with you.

Why?

1. Because we want to share things we truly know—stuff we’ve lived, tested, and experienced first-hand.
2. Because we believe travel stories from real people are way more useful (and fun!) than just generic guides (nobody needs another copy-paste “Top 10 things to do” list).

That’s why, in this post on visiting Lapland without a car, we focus on how we did it—sharing our experience of seeing the Northern Lights car-free.

How to do Lapland without a car

Here are some things you need to know about our car-free Lapland trip:

• We went to Lapland in Finland—remember, Lapland is a region that stretches across multiple countries.
• We started our journey to Lapland in Finland’s capital city, Helsinki.
• Our trip began a few days earlier though—with a totally crazy, secret wedding in Copenhagen. Yes, our wedding! We got married at the start of our trip, without anyone knowing about it. We had just one guest, Mirka’s sister, and even she didn’t know she was going to our wedding. It was very unconventional, very unhinged and very us. 😄
• We did the trip on a budget, because that’s how we travel, but since it was our wedding trip (!!), we also treated ourselves quite a bit. Best of both—saving money and having a magical experience.

How to get to Lapland from Helsinki

After our wild wedding in Copenhagen, we flew to Helsinki and stayed there one night, so we wouldn’t feel totally rushed on the trip.

We explored the city a bit, including checking out the famous (and cute) Cafe Regatta.

And the next evening?

We hurried through the rain to the train station to catch the Santa Claus Express overnight train, which took us straight to the Santa Claus Village!!

How exciting is that??

This just shows you that doing Lapland without a car can actually be the better option, because sleeping on Santa’s train is way more fun than driving through the night in a small car!

A note on visiting the Santa Claus Village

Obviously, you don’t have to go meet Santa on your way to Lapland, but then again, why would you not?

It’s free and he is a very nice old man. And you can ask him for a holiday to your next bucket list destination, while you are there! 😄

If you are heading up north, to Lapland, and you are passing Rovaniemi, where Santa lives, you might as well stop by.

One thing to keep in mind, though, is that you should see the real Santa and not get scammed. We explain everything you need to know here (honestly, can’t trust anything in this day and age, not even Santa!).

We are all about turning everything into a cool experience—especially when we are spending a lot of money on the trip. This is why taking a sleeper Polar Express (pretty much!) and meeting Santa on our way up north was a no-brainer for us.

What do you need to know about taking the Santa Claus Express train to Lapland?

• The overnight train is awesome—you fall asleep somewhere beyond Helsinki and wake up in snowy Lapland—pretty much in Santa’s village!
• Your other option instead of taking the train to Lapland is to fly—you can fly directly to Rovaniemi, where Santa Claus Village is located.
• Alternatively, you can fly as far as Ivalo, which is Finland’s (and Europe Union’s) northernmost airport. 
• When comparing the cost of the train tickets with the cost of flights, remember that you can bring luggage on the train for free (limits apply) while on a plane you will often have to pay extra for each bag.
• Also take into consideration that with the night train, you are saving money on one night’s accommodation—a great hack if you are trying to do Lapland on a budget.
• The Santa Claus Express is amazing—sadly, it’s not Christmas-themed, but if you love train travel, sleeping on a train heading to the Arctic is one of the coolest experiences ever.
• There is a lot to be said about the Santa Claus Express—from what cabin to choose to how to pack for the journey, so we will do a separate post on this (COMING SOON!).

How to get from Rovaniemi to the Santa Claus Village

After one of the coolest nights you’ll ever have, because hello, sleeping on Santa’s train!!, you’ll come to Rovaniemi.

Now Rovaniemi is the capital of Lapland and the city where Santa lives.

The thing is, he doesn’t live right in the city centre—that would be weird.

Santa lives in his own magical village, just a bit outside of Rovaniemi.

Meeting Santa Claus in Finland car-free

If you don’t see any reindeer with a sleigh hanging around the Rovaniemi train station, you will have to catch a public bus, if you want to visit Santa’s village car-free.

There are multiple companies running buses between key locations in Rovaniemi, such as the train station, airport, city centre and, most importantly, the Santa Claus Village.

For info on prices and timetables, check out the no. 8 Linkkari bus or the Santa’s Express.

To catch the bus, just walk out of the Rovaniemi train station and head left.

The bus will drop you off right at the entrance to Santa’s village—without you having to worry about renting a car!

Okay, we are in Santa’s village now. How do we go further north, though?

Staying at a northern lights resort in Lapland without a car

From Santa Claus Village, we headed further up north, all the way to a village called Saariselkä.

We booked a gorgeous northern lights resort there—it was so awesome, we actually organised our secret wedding around it (more on that here, if you think that’s totally unhinged 😆).

One of the reasons we picked the Northern Lights Village Saariselkä hotel?

It was accessible by public transport straight from Santa’s village (also it was so so cheap!!).

Bus travel in Lapland

If you want to do something similar, here is the info:

• Rovaniemi, where Santa lives, is the capital of Lapland, meaning it’s a central point accessible by buses from all over Finland
• For all routes, timetables and information on buses, head to this website
• You can catch a direct bus from Santa’s home to the popular Saariselkä village
• There are a few buses per day, run by different companies
• The bus from Santa Claus Village to Saariselkä takes around 3 hours
• We’ve been told the buses do sell out in peak season, so booking in advance is necessary
• We travelled on the 31st of March, so not during the peak season, and the bus was still relatively busy. We booked in advance just to be safe
• Tickets go on sale a few months in advance—don’t panic if they are not available, you might be checking too early
• Pro tip: If you are looking at buses far ahead on the website, click on the “info” next to the ticket price. It will show you when the tickets for that bus will go on sale, so you can put it in your calendar, and book as soon as, making sure they don’t sell out

How to get to your resort in Lapland car-free

Once you get off the bus from Rovaniemi, the question is: how do you get to your actual hotel?

Here are your options:

• Pick accommodation directly in the town or a village where the bus stops. That way you can walk from the bus stop to your hotel.
• Check whether taxis operate in the area of your accommodation. We did this in Saariselkä. Use Google to find companies or ask in a Facebook group (these are great for asking other travellers specific questions about things like taxis, experiences or winter gear).

The problem? We wanted to know how much the taxi would be—we were doing Lapland on a budget after all. Out of the 4 local taxi companies we contacted only 1 replied and they quoted us a price much higher than our resort did!

Using your hotel’s transfer services is the third option. Our bus didn’t stop directly in front of the Northern Lights Village, so we had to arrange transport from the hotel.

Keep this in mind when doing Lapland without a car

When checking how to get from the bus stop to your hotel in Lapland without a car?

Keep in mind one thing.

Snow.

For instance, our northern lights resort was just a 10 minute walk from the bus stop in Saariselkä.

We could walk that, right?

Not really, since the path to the resort was a snow path, meaning we couldn’t drag our suitcases on it.

When planning your stay, do this:

• Check the path to your accommodation from the bus stop using Street View on Google Maps
• Keep in mind the weather—snow and ice—not just on the path, but also possibly battling you, as you try to walk with all your luggage
• If in doubt, reach out to the accommodation to ask them whether it’s possible to walk there from the bus stop
• Alternatively, consider packing light, into a backpack, which will allow you to walk even on snow paths

Now that you are in Lapland, how do you get around when doing activities?

Doing activities in Lapland without a car

If you are wondering, how you can go about doing all the fun activities in Lapland, without a car, we’ll tell you.

Here are your 3 options:

1. Hotel transfers

When researching the different activity providers?

Compare the price, quality (read reviews!) and the experience itself.

But if you are doing Lapland without a car, also remember to make sure the activity includes a hotel pickup.

Either at your own hotel, or at a hotel close to your accommodation—one you can easily walk to.

2. DIY activities

If you are doing Lapland on a budget and want to keep the cost of activities down, you might not want to book organised experiences that come with transfers.

Fair!

In that case, decide on your accommodation based on the DIY activities available in that area.

For example, Saariselkä sits next to the Urho Kekkonen National Park. This means you are right at the gateway to the second-largest national park in Finland, full of well-marked, maintained trails, where you can go hiking, skiing, snowshoeing etc!

3. Resort activities

The third option is booking a resort that does activities in-house.

Our Northern Lights Village hotel?

We could do reindeer rides, aurora hunting, snowmobiling, husky rides, sauna and ice pool and much more right in it!

This was one of the reasons we chose the Saariselkä resort—not having to go anywhere or worry about transport when doing Lapland without a car!

Pro tip

If you don’t want to stay at an expensive resort (although ours was shockingly cheap), see if you can base yourself in a nearby accommodation. For example, the Northern Lights Village resort offers activities not just to its guests, but anyone, meaning people staying at other accommodation in Saariselkä could just walk to our hotel and go on a reindeer ride there!

How to see the Northern Lights without a car

The main thing you probably want to do in Lapland?

See the Northern Lights, right?

Here is how you can watch the aurora car-free:

1. Group tours

Booking yourself on an aurora hunting organised activity is the easiest way to see the lights without renting a car.

The tours are run by professionals, who are tracking the aurora, and are able to drive you wherever it’s showing—by a car, boat, snowmobile or even a heated sleigh.

The disadvantage?

Actually, there are a few:

• The cost (it’s not the most budget-friendly activity)
• The unpredictability of weather – you might book in advance and it might turn out to be a completely cloudy sky, with zero Northern Lights visibility (try to book on the day, after checking the forecast. Alternatively, pick a provider with a money-return policy)
• It’s not very flexible– unless you book a private tour, you’ll have to go along with the group’s itinerary
• It’s not private – again, if you are on a group tour (because private ones usually cost a month’s rent), don’t go envisioning a romantic, peaceful aurora watching experience. There will be other (annoying) humans there (ew 😆)

2. DIY aurora watching

If you would prefer to DIY your aurora hunting experience (which we totally get), here’s what you need to do:

Research locations in the area that are great for aurora watching prior to booking your accommodation.

You are mainly looking for places that are dark enough—away from light pollution.

And of course, accessible, even if you are doing Lapland without a car.

DIY Northern Lights example

If you are staying in Saariselkä, for example?

Remember how we mentioned it’s right at the entrance to the Urho Kekkonen National Park?

Well, one of the trails in the park is the Aurora Trail or Aurorapolku.

It’s short, well-maintained and leads to an aurora hut—a beautiful wooden cabin with a terrace for watching the Northern Lights.

So if you are staying in the village and want to get away from the light pollution, just head up to the hut at night for aurora watching (check aurora forecast first, of course and pack well).

3. Northern lights resorts

Our favourite way to watch the Northern Lights in Lapland without a car?

Staying in a northern lights resort where you can see them straight from your bed—through a glass roof!

The Northern Lights Village resort was awesome—we could see the lights from a nearby forest, avoiding all light pollution, or we could cosy up in our Aurora Cabin and watch them while in bed—all warm and toasty, because arctic winters are freaking cold.

We talk about the resort a lot, because it was awesome and so so cheap—here is where you can find more info if you are thinking of doing a holiday like this:

• If you can’t decide whether a glass igloo resort is worth it for you, read this
• If you want to know what staying at the Northern Lights Village Saariselkä was like, including all our tips, read this
• And if you want more money-saving hacks for doing Lapland on a budget, head here

How to get from Lapland to Helsinki car-free

After all the fun activities and aurora watching, it’s time to go home (heartbreaking, we know!).

How do you get back to Helsinki, if you don’t want to go via Rovaniemi and catch the Santa Claus Express again?

Using, the not-so-planet friendly method called flying. 

It’s also not very budget-friendly, since flights from up north are limited.

But it’s still pretty cool.

The small airport we flew from (Ivalo) is the northernmost airport in Finland and in the European Union! Cool, right?

What to do when flying to/from Lapland

Here are the things you should consider when flying:

• Basing yourself near an airport. The Ivalo airport, for instance, is just a 30-minute drive from the Northern Lights Village Saariselkä resort.
• Checking the airport’s website for information on transport—is there any public transport available?
• Speaking to your accommodation directly about how to get to/from the airport using public transport.
• Remembering to also check whether the airport has drinking water—saving yourself more money!

How to get to the Ivalo airport from Saariselkä 

Here is some info, in case you end up staying in Saariselkä, like we did—it’s a very popular resort village after all.

The good news?

There is a public bus that goes from Saariselkä straight to the Ivalo airport!

What’s even better, this is a small, tourist-friendly place, meaning the bus schedule is set up to meet flights. You don’t have to worry about figuring out when to catch the bus to not miss your flight—the timetable even lists the flight arrival and departure times, telling you exactly which bus you should catch! Here is all the info.

Don’t forget this

If you are planning on catching the public bus to or from the Ivalo airport, remember what we said here.

Not all paths are accessible with suitcases.

Or wheelchairs.

Or prams.

We wanted to take the airport bus—Lapland without a car and on a budget! But going from the Northern Lights Village Saariselkä to the bus stop would have meant dragging our suitcases on a snow trail. 

We were again forced to book an airport transfer at our hotel (convenient, but not budget-friendly).

Bonus tip: Helsinki airport transport

If you are flying via Helsinki and stopping by for a bit to see the city, use public transport to get to and from the airport.

If you are heading to the city centre of Helsinki, take the train.

There is a bus option, but we read that buses take longer and are the same price as the train, so why not just choose the faster option?

Here is what you need to know about the Helsinki airport train:

• The train station is located below the terminal. There is a direct elevator and an escalator from the departures and arrivals hall to the train station.
• Two trains run to/from the airport – I and P. They take slightly different routes, but if you are heading to the main Helsinki trains station, you can jump on either of them.
• For routes and timetables, see the Journey Planner.
• A train ride to Helsinki city centre from the airport takes about 30 minutes. 
• You want to buy the ABC zone ticket—covering zone C, which is where the airport is located.
• When we visited, an adult ticket for the ABC zone was 4,40€ for a single journey, valid for 90 mins.

A crazy car-free idea for Lapland

After our mostly car-free trip to Lapland, we discovered there is a totally car-free option available—without any flights!

How?

There is a Flixbus that goes from Kraków in Poland, all the way to Rovaniemi, Santa’s home!

And it passes cities like Tallinn, Riga, Vilnius and Helsinki along the way!

Is this a crazy journey?

Yes! The bus takes around 37 hours.

Do we still want to do it?

Totally! But we are known to be travel freaks who do weird things.

How about you?

Would you do a bus journey to Lapland like that?

Let us know in the comments below!

This is how we did Lapland car-free. What do you think? Would you do a holiday like this? Let us know in the comments below and remember, if you need more help planning your Lapland holiday without a car, just book a call with us.