Lapland Trip Cost: Real Prices for Flights, Hotels & Activities

How much does a Lapland trip cost? Will you have to sell a kidney? Or your collection of Pokémon cards, that you still probably have somewhere in your parents’ house?

In this post, we want to share the real numbers with you.

We’ll give you a little teaser for now: we spent €184.57 per person per day in Lapland.

Wanna know how much of that was accommodation? Flights? Activities?

Here’s the full breakdown of where the money went, so you know what you can expect on your Lapland trip!

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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!

Lapland on a budget

As you’ll see from our Lapland trip cost breakdown, we did the holiday on a budget.

How?

By planning well and using money-saving tricks.

We shared all of that in our Lapland on a Budget post, so make sure to check it out.

Because if you’re here, wondering how much a Lapland trip costs, you’re probably concerned about money.

Which is fair, Lapland is a famously expensive destination!

So use all the tricks and hacks you can to bring the cost down. Like we did.

Speaking of, here’s a bit about our Lapland trip.

Our Lapland trip

Before we get into the actual numbers, here’s what you need to know about our Lapland holiday:

• We travelled as 3 adults – the two of us and Mirka’s sister – in March and April 2025
• The full trip was 12 days, but it wasn’t all about Lapland. We managed to cover Copenhagen, Helsinki (twice) and Lapland!
• The wild thing? We had a secret wedding at the start of the trip, in Copenhagen! With Mirka’s sister as the only guest, albeit an unsuspecting one. We didn’t tell her until the day before that we were getting married!
• As you can imagine, this trip was pretty important to us, so we researched the hell the Christmas holly out of it. 
• Since it was our wedding and mini honeymoon, we wanted to have a comfortable holiday, but still do it on a budget. So not our usual crazy backpacker style, but still saving money.

If you have any questions at this point about our trip, because let’s face it, it wasn’t a traditional Lapland holiday 😅, give us a shout.

You can also jump on a call with us if you want advice on planning a Lapland trip. Or a secret, crazy wedding, we have a lot of experience of that too. 😆

Lapland trip cost: how much we spent in Lapland

Since this is a post about a Lapland trip cost, we’ll give you the numbers just for the Finnish part of the trip, leaving out Copenhagen and our wedding.

If you do want to know more about that, just drop us a message—we’re happy to share more info, especially since traditional wedding costs are astronomical these days!

Here is the total cost for our adventures in Finland:

€4,983.38

This covered:

• Day 4 & 5: Helsinki
• Day 6 to 9: Lapland (Rovaniemi and Saariselkä)
• Day 10 to 12: Helsinki

Lapland trip cost per day

€4,983 looks like a big scary number.

But the one thing we like to do?

Taking big scary numbers and turning them into cute, fluffy puppies.

How?

Just look.

€4,983.38, total cost for 3 people, works out as just €1,661.13 per person for the trip!

And when you divide that by the number of days? 

€1,661.13/ 9 days = €184.57

You’ll get €184.57 per person, per day! Now that looks a lot less scary and a lot more like a cute puppy, right?

Okay, the scary part is over. Let’s look at our Lapland trip cost breakdown.

Because what did the €4,983 actually get us?

Lapland trip cost breakdown

Here is everything we spent moneys on in Finland:

Category	Item/Activity	Total cost in € for 3 adults	Note
Flights	Copenhagen to Helsinki	€282.15	We flew from Copenhagen because that’s where we got married!
	Ivalo to Helsinki	€464.57	There are only a couple flights a day, so these are always expensive
	Helsinki to Vienna	€207.20	Daniel’s flight was only 18.60, because we used our airmiles!
	Helsinki to Prague	€136.60	Mirka’s sister’s flight home
Accommodation	Helsinki hotel	€134	4 stars, close to train station to catch Santa’s train
	Aurora Cabin	€1,542	The most amazing aurora hotel on a budget
	Helsinki apartment	€213	Including rooftop terrace, sauna, board games etc.
Transport	Helsinki airport train	€13.20	Super easy to catch
	Santa Claus Express (Helsinki to Rovaniemi)	€368	Recommended experience – we had a cabin with a shower!
	Bus to Santa Claus Village (SCV)	€10	Use public transport to save money
	Bus from SCV to Saariselkä	€112.80	Watch out for reindeer!
	Saariselkä transfer	€15	The most expensive 3 minute drive
	Saariselkä airport transfer	€60	Can catch public transport if you don’t have suitcases
	Helsinki airport train + tram x2	€26.40	On the way from Lapland and on our way back home
Activities	Husky ride	€477	Would not recommend!
	Reindeer ride	€417	Would recommend!
	Sauna + jacuzzi + ice pool	€100	Private hire
Food & drink	Dinner in Helsinki – Raan Khao Gaeng Thai Street Food	€42.70	Yum!
	Dinner in Helsinki – Friends & Brgrs	€47.70	Dinner before Santa’s train, to save money
	K-market in Helsinki	€20.13	Breakfast and drinks for Santa Claus Express
	Cafe Regatta	€9.30	Cute, but super busy!
	Mrs Claus Christmas Cottage cafe	€21	Overpriced, but pretty
	K-market in Saariselkä	€18.81	Drinks and snacks
	Northern Lights Village bar	€12	Apology cocktail for Mirka’s sister for putting her through the husky experience
	K-market and Lidl in Helsinki vol. 2	€77.72	Dinner, craft beers for Daniel, snacks, edible presents for people
Travel insurance	Union	€12.63	The low price explanation
Other	Normal	€24.35	Cosmetics, snacks, bits and bobs
	Luggage storage at SCV	€9	More info here
	Pics and video of meeting Santa	€55	Could have been cheaper if we didn’t wait!
	Pharmacy	€13.72	Don’t be like us. Save your money
	Duty free	€40.40	Finnish whisky and salty liquorice liquor souvenirs

• Total: €4,983.38
• Total cost per person (3 adults):  €1,661.13
• Cost per day (9 days): €553.71
• Cost per day per person: €184.57
  

Note: All of these are just the on-trip expenses. To get the real Lapland trip cost, remember all the pre-trip spending too, such as your winter clothes, snowboots, Lapland essentials etc.

A note on travel insurance

Our travel insurance was extremely cheap, because:

• we only bought cover for the 4 days in Lapland, not for the full trip (a note here: this was a gamble on our side, don’t just copy this strategy without thinking)
• we bought from our Slovak health insurance provider where we have a significant discount

This was a unique situation for us, since we had health insurance in Slovakia, while living at our home base there.

But don’t worry, we have a great recommendation for you, even if you’re not living in Slovakia!

True Traveller!

They’re the amazing travel insurance company we used for our full-time travels, with a totally mindblowing customer service.

You can see how much their insurance would cost for your Lapland trip right here. The quote generator on their website will show you the price in a few seconds, and you don’t even have to first give up your email or phone number, so check it out!

Would a Lapland trip cost the same today?

The sad reality is that prices just keep going up, everywhere.

The good news?

You can always find ways to save money!

For example, in March 2026, we spotted a deal at the Northern Lights Village, the amazing aurora resort we stayed at, offering 1 night free, if you book 3 nights! (Full review of the hotel here, btw!)

We ran the numbers, because that’s a crazy good deal.

Here is what we discovered. And keep in mind, this was super last minute for Lapland, just one month in advance:

• The Aurora Cabin was €678 for 2 people for 3 nights
• Remember, this includes breakfast, dinner and winter clothes rental, so you really don’t have to worry about anything
• Flights (Vienna – Helsinki – Ivalo and back) worked out at €680
• One extra night of accommodation in Helsinki to get the cheaper flight would cost €80

All in all, this is what it would add up to:

• Total cost: €1,438
• Cost per person: €719
• Cost per person per day: €143.80

Now, this is not the full total cost, of course, you would have to add any other transport, such as the airport train, plus any activities you want do in Lapland, and travel insurance, to keep you safe.

But it just shows you how you can often find a great deal, even last minute, if you know where to look.

For example, at the same time that the Aurora Cabin deal was on, the Santa Claus Express also had a special promo, offering cabins from €50, which is so good, considering how pricey the train normally is.

Btw, we share tips like this on our Instagram, so make sure to give us a follow to not miss out!

Is Lapland worth the cost?

You’ve seen our real Lapland trip cost. We also showed you some back-of-the-napkin numbers for a spontaneous, last-minute Lapland trip.

But is it really worth it?

It’s true that even with all the different ways to save money, Lapland is still an expensive destination.

Here is our honest opinion:

No matter how much you pay for your Lapland trip, if you are lucky enough that the Northern Lights show up for you, it’ll be worth every euro you have paid.

That being said:

• Still try to save money and do the trip on a budget; you don’t have to spend a fortune
• Don’t just rely on luck either, when it comes to the aurora. Yes, it’s a natural phenomenon, but there are ways to increase your chances of seeing the Northern Lights

Use this when planning a Lapland trip

Need help with your Lapland holiday?

• We linked a lot of our Lapland posts throughout this article, so make sure you check them out to get extra tips.
• Have a look at how we did Lapland on a budget, because that post is the mothership with all the useful info.
• Got any questions? Give us a shout on our Instagram!
• Wish we could help you more with your Lapland trip planning? We can! Just book a call with us.
• Lastly, don’t forget to get good travel insurance for your trip. It might save you a lot of money, if anything goes wrong.

What do you think about our Lapland trip cost? Was it more or less than you expected?

If you want, share how much you spent in Lapland with us, once you’re back from your awesome holiday! We’re always curious to hear how much other travellers manage to save.