Saariselkä Reindeer Ride: What’s It Really Like?

Is Saariselkä reindeer ride on your list of winter bucket list experiences?

Maybe you’ve been checking out the reindeer rides at Northern Lights Village Saariselkä?

Or maybe you just want to know what riding with the reindeer is really like—before you fork out a few hundred euros for it. (yikes!)

Either way, you’re in the right place.

We did Saariselkä reindeer ride at the amazing Northern Lights Village, and in this post we’ll tell you what it was like—including all the tips!

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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!

How to prepare for a Lapland trip

First, if you are dreaming about reindeer rides, you’re probably planning a Lapland holiday.

We’re very excited for you and only a little bit envious! (Okay, maybe quite envious, because LAPLAND HOLIDAY!!!)

But we’re also nice people, so we’ll help you along the way:

• Read this to find out what you need to know when choosing a reindeer sleigh ride in Lapland
• Head this way, if you want to know how we did our Lapland holiday on a budget
• Click here, if you want to see all our Lapland posts—they’re packed with unusual tips and tricks so you have the best, stress-free holiday
• Check out this, if you want to see our wild, secret wedding that we had at the start of our Lapland trip
• And book a call with us when it all feels like too much and you want someone to (virtually) hold your hand and help you plan the holiday without screaming at your laptop’s screen

The best Saariselkä reindeer ride

So you wanna know what place offers the best Saariselkä reindeer ride?

We’ll tell you.

We believe that you can find the best Saariselkä reindeer ride at the Northern Lights Village Saariselkä hotel. 

Okay, this is not totally objectively speaking, because we stayed at the resort and loved it.

In fact, we were so keen on staying there, we even picked our wedding date based on the resort’s availability. Yup. More on that madness here. 

Hear us out, though.

Even if you aren’t mad like us (although, we’re all mad here, as Cheshire Cat says), you might still agree that the best Saariselkä reindeer ride is offered by the NLV hotel.

This is why:

• When it comes to other options? The most popular reindeer ride in Lapland? In Santa Claus Village? It actually sucks, quite a bit. We explain why here. 
• We also compared the reindeer experience offered by the Northern Lights Village with the other providers in Saariselkä, and it turned out to be the best in terms of price, quality and reviews.
• Since we were staying at the Northern Lights Village Saariselkä location (NLV actually has 4 locations in Lapland), we didn’t have to go anywhere for the experience—there is a reindeer paddock right onsite. This is one of the reasons we think the Saariselkä Northern Lights Village location is the best—you can do all experiences right there!
• The whole experience felt calm and peaceful. It was so magical, slowly going through the snowy Arctic forest with the reindeer. A bucket list experience for sure, unlike the vibe we got at Santa Claus Village.
• We had two guides with us, despite being a small group, and the lead guide was actually a herder lady, who takes care of the reindeer all year long—for her it’s not just a job, it’s a lifestyle. 
• If you care about how ethical the Saariselkä reindeer ride is, read this. The reindeer experience in the Northern Lights Village comes with a no-touching rule. (Sadly, we saw at least one woman being a moron and touching the reindeer. Some people are the worst.)

Northern Lights Village Saariselkä reindeer ride experience

We’ve told you why Northern Lights Village offers the best Saariselkä reindeer ride experience.

But we know you want more details on what the ride was really like.

We are, after all, known for unhinged stories that usually involve a decent amount of 💩 luck. 😅 (We share those on our Insta, btw, so make sure to give us a follow.)

We’ll have to disappoint you though, the reindeer ride went completely without any hiccups (unless you count Mirka’s sister getting the dodgiest log to sit on around the fire after the ride, and repeatedly falling off it as she tried to sit—yes, we did laugh our bums off, sorry kiddo 😂).

What did we actually do during the experience, though?

1. The introduction

We met our guides in front of the Safari House at the Northern Lights Village Saariselkä hotel. The first thing they did was make sure everyone was dressed well. You’ll be going slowly through the Arctic forest—it’ll be freezing! (And we visited at the start of April – a money-saving hack, btw – when temperatures were a lot more mild.)

Thankfully, our awesome hotel offers winter clothes rental for FREE to its guests, for the whole stay—that’s another money-saving hack. 

If you are not staying at the resort, don’t worry—you can still borrow the winter gear for the experience itself.

After everyone was kitted out, we were told some basic info and rules, such as the no-touching one. 

“But also that the reindeer get spooked easily, so we are to stay calm and quiet, and not make any unexpected loud noises. I was terrified that I would sneeze randomly during the ride, freaking out all the reindeer who would flee, possibly injuring people in the process! So make sure you dress well and keep your nose and mouth covered!😬” -Mirka

2. The ride

We then walked to the reindeer paddock (so good to be staying in a hotel with reindeer right onsite!) and were assigned to sleighs. 

If there is an odd number of you, don’t worry—you won’t have to share. Read more about how that works here.

Once we were in our sleighs, we were covered by a blanket to keep warm. (Not the cleanest of things, just to warn you. We were covered in reindeer hair after the ride, which was fun, since it all got embedded into our snowsuits, and we couldn’t get it off us 😅). 

Next: picture time! The guides took photos of us in the sleighs on our phones. We have to say, they were great at making sure we had good photos as a memory.

And then, off we went!

Our ride was about an hour and it was absolutely stunning. We’ve already said it, but it was so peaceful. 

So calm. 

So beautiful.

And, thankfully, nobody sneezed. 😂

3. The hangout

After our Saariselkä reindeer ride, we could take more pictures with the reindeer (no touching though!) and then we were led to an outdoor firepit where we could sit and sip on hot berry juice (this is where the infamous log incident happened).

The lead herder lady told us all about reindeer in Finland, how they are taken care of, how they live, as well as what her life, as a reindeer herder, is like.

We could ask her questions and it all felt very genuine and not rushed (which we keep seeing is the main complaint with many experiences providers, not just reindeer sleigh rides in Lapland).

4. The feed

After we heated up, it was time to go see the reindeer again, and bring them their favourite treat—reindeer lichen!

We were told the lichen is like chocolate to them, so they were all going crazy around us.

Because yes, we were inside the paddock, with the reindeer all around—not feeding them through a fence.

At first, it was a little intimidating, because we were told that the reindeer have no sense of personal space, and like to come right up to you (this, btw, also happened to Daniel during the reindeer ride, when our reindeer came up right next to his head during the ride!).

But we were also reassured that they are very aware and aren’t out to steal our fingers— they won’t bite or knock you over.

After all that fun, it was time to say bye to the reindeer (actually, they all decided to bugger away once they saw we ran out of the lichen anyway 😂) and head back to the main area of the hotel.

We instantly wanted to do another Saariselkä reindeer ride, if only it wasn’t so expensive! Btw, we talk all about the cost here.

Keep this in mind when planning your Lapland holiday

Here are a few more things that might help when you’re planning your winter holiday in Lapland:

• If you’re considering doing a husky ride, in addition to a reindeer experience—don’t. Actually, we won’t tell you not to do it, we’ll just ask you to read about our experience first, and then decide whether it’s still something you want to put yourself through.
• No matter what experiences you decide to do, make sure your travel insurance covers them. We use True Traveller when we’re out exploring the world—including during our full-time travels. Their customer service is insane.
• Wish you could chat to us about your Lapland holiday plans? You can! We can jump on a call and talk all things reindeer rides, not getting scammed by Santa, saving money and not losing your toes because you dressed wrong for aurora watching!

And that’s our Saariselkä reindeer ride wrapped up!

If it’s on your bucket list, go for it—you now know exactly what to expect, what to avoid, and how not to accidentally spook Rudolph and his friends.

Dive into the posts we linked, steal our tips, and if you want to talk through your Lapland itinerary, we’re only a call away.