Santa Claus Express Train: The Ultimate Guide

The best way to get to Santa Claus Village?

Taking the Santa Claus Express train!

It’s a magical night train that is kinda like the famous Polar Express—you hop on, have epic adventures and wake up ready to meet Santa!

This post is the ultimate guide to the Santa Claus Express train. Here you’ll find out all you need to know to have an awesome journey, including extra tips and tricks we discovered during our trip on Santa’s sleeper train.

Are you ready?

All aboard!

This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please read our Disclaimer.

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!

What is the Santa Claus Express train?

Here are the 3 key things you need to know about the Santa Claus Express train:

• It’s a double decker night train* that runs from Helsinki and takes you all the way to Santa’s village in Rovaniemi (the train continues beyond Rovaniemi, but that is where most tourists get off)
• The train is called Santa Claus Express because it takes people to Santa, but, sadly, it’s not Christmas-themed (this was heartbreaking for us when we discovered it, so we’re giving you heads up, so you’re also not disappointed!)
• The tickets are pricey, so it’s a good idea to be prepared – using all the tips and tricks from this post to have a great journey, since you spent all that money on it

*There are day trains from Helsinki to Rovaniemi too, so if you have the time to spare, and would prefer to travel during the day, you can consider this option too.

Since we mentioned the train is expensive, you might now be wondering, whether you should even consider taking it. We get it! We were doing our Lapland trip on a budget, so we wondered the same thing.

It’s a good question. Why should you take the Santa Claus Express?

Why should you take the Santa Claus Express night train?

Let us ask you something else.

Would you prefer to get up early, queue for hours at an airport, get shouted at at the security (cause let’s face it, they always find something you’ve done wrong), queue more, spend an insane amount of money on bottled water (actually, you don’t have to do this. Just use this trick) and then sit crammed in a small seat with a baby yelling behind you, a middle-seater elbowing you constantly, and a lady in front of you coughing her guts out (together with all her lovely bacteria)?

Or would you prefer to take a magical night train, where you can chill out, sleep and even take a shower??

Well then.

There is your answer.

Taking the Santa Claus Express train is the better option, so do it at least one way.

But, if you are an anxious traveller or a planner (or a combo of the two, like us!), and need more specific info than just what we’ve said so far, you’ll find it all in this post.

Who should take the Santa Claus Express train?

Airport queues and security aside, here is why you might decide to take the Santa Claus sleeper train instead of flying:

• You love trains. And this is a train. Heck, it’s SANTA’S TRAIN! That’s one of the top trains to ride out there, surely?
• You haven’t tried sleeping (or showering!) on a train before and it’s a bucket list activity for you.
• You have kids who will absolutely love this adventure.
• Prices of flights might be higher than the cost of the Santa Claus Express train. We’ll get to this later in the post.
• You might be scared of flying, in which case this is a great alternative, if you want to get to the north of Finland.
• To be more sustainable. Know what’s better than carbon offsetting your flight? Taking the more environmentally-friendly train.
• You might be throwing an epic party under the Northern Lights and need to carry a lot of bottles with you, which wouldn’t fit into your checked luggage. (If you’re doing this, can we be invited??)

Side note: You could, of course, also hire a car and drive instead. But we are car-free travellers and so have no experience of such madness. (Is driving for 10hrs through a foreign country in, most likely, winter, mad? To us yes, when the alternative option is sleeping on Santa’s train!)

A bit about our journey on the Santa Claus Express night train

If this is the first post from us you’ve come across, you might not know anything about our crazy Lapland trip.

Here are some key (unhinged) details you should know, so it all makes sense to you:

• Our Lapland trip actually started in Copenhagen, with our secret, guest-free wedding. Yep, you read that right. We took Mirka’s sister on this trip with us, and when we checked into our hotel in Copenhagen, we told her we were getting married the next day, and she was going to be the only guest. It was so fun and so our vibe. 😂
• Following our wedding and sightseeing in Copenhagen and Helsinki, we took the Santa Claus Express train to Santa’s village where yes, we met Santa himself!
• After that we continued further north, in the hope of seeing the Northern Lights for the first time—we even stayed in a northern lights resort to increase our chances!
• We did all of this on a budget, but still with lots of comfort (it was our wedding trip, after all!).

Got questions about any of this? We’re not surprised, it was a pretty unusual trip, even for our standards. 😅 Just drop them in the comments below or DM us on our Instagram.

Oh, and if you need help planning your Lapland holiday, you can also book a call with us, where we can chat through things together!

Now, let’s talk more about the Santa Claus Express train. 

What kind of cabins are available on the Santa Claus Express sleeper train?

Good news? The Santa Claus Express train comes with a range of cabins, so you’ll be able to choose what suits you the most!

Okay, we are not talking Orient Express-style fancy suites, but still.

There are options.

The seat and cabin types

1. Seats

If you’re on a really low budget, but still want to take the Santa Claus Express night train, your best bet is to book a seat and try and get some sleep in a sitting position. Not impossible, we have done it ourselves on a night train in Thailand (and also, all travellers’ favourite – at many airports).

This is the cheapest ticket available, but if you want a bit more comfort and can afford it, there are useful upgrades available, such as having a single seat or an empty seat next to you (can all long-distance trains offer this??).

2. Downstairs cabins

The downstairs cabins are pricier than seats, as you would expect, but they’re still cheaper than the upstairs cabins—we’ll get to why in a minute.

There are 4 types of the downstairs cabin for you to choose from:

• Normal cabin – this is your standard cabin for 2 people, with bunk beds and a washbasin.
• Interconnected cabins – these are 2 normal cabins that have a door in the middle, meaning you can open it up and have access to both cabins at the same time. This is perfect for families or friends who want to hang out together.
• Pet-friendly cabin – yes, you can take a pet with you on the Santa Claus Express train! So if you want to introduce little Benny to Santa, it’s totally possible on a train. Speaking of, this is probably another point for the train in the train vs flight debate!
• Accessible cabin – these are conveniently located right next to the entrance door of the train.

3. Upstairs cabins

This is the height of luxury on the Santa Claus Express train, because the upstairs cabins come with not just a private toilet, but also a shower!!

Yep, we couldn’t believe it either!

In the downstairs cabin, you only have a sink – for brushing teeth or washing your hands, but if you want to use the toilet or take a shower, you have to use the communal bathrooms in the corridor.

In the upstairs cabin, though?

It’s all available inside the cabin itself!

Naturally, this is the most expensive option on the train, so you might be wondering whether it’s worth the premium price.

Is the shower cabin worth the cost?

We’ll be honest with you.

We were reluctant to pay for the expensive upstairs cabins at first.

After all, we were doing Lapland on a budget!

Plus, since we were travelling as 3 adults, with Mirka’s sister, we liked the idea of the interconnected cabins, so we could hang out together.

But then we thought: for €25 extra (per cabin), isn’t it worth being able to shower in our own, private bathroom?

Why should you get the upstairs cabin with a shower?

Here’s why you might conclude the same as we did—that the upstairs cabin is worth the cost:

• You can take a shower, obviously. And if you are travelling like us, meaning you spend the day sightseeing Helsinki, then you take the Santa Claus Express train, and then you spend the next day exploring Santa Claus Village, so you don’t get to your next accommodation (and next shower) until the evening, 36 hours later? Going all that time without a shower might not be your vibe. Trying to time the communal shower for when it’s free might also not be how you want to spend your sleeper train journey. So just get the upstairs cabin.
• Do you have digestive problems? Maybe having access to your own toilet, not having to wait or queue for a shared one would make you more comfortable and less anxious about the train journey.
• Is the joy of all female joys scheduled during your trip? If you know your period will make an appearance just as you are taking the Santa Claus Express train, you might appreciate access to a private toilet and a shower (“Btw, these are the 4 period products for travel that I always pack.” -Mirka)
• Private shower on a train?? Maybe you are weird like us and totally think that’s a bucket list experience you’re willing to pay for? If you are, let us know, we are always happy to meet other weirdos!

In the end, we paid for two upstairs cabins with private showers, and, we have to say, we didn’t regret the decision.

Again, if you have any questions, give us a shout in the comments below, on our Instagram, or book a call with us, so we can help you plan your Lapland adventures.

Our private toilet AND shower (!)

How much does it cost to travel on Santa Claus Express?

This is a hard question to answer, because:

• Prices differ based on time of the year (Christmas being more expensive, of course)
• They also increase closer to the time of departure

What we recommend when buying Santa Claus Express train tickets:

• If you are flexible, check a few different dates to see if the prices are cheaper on any of them.
• Consider visiting Lapland during shoulder season—we managed to do the whole trip on a budget, while staying in great hotels because of this.
• Remember to check train prices both ways, going up north or coming back down, unless you have a specific preference (for example, we agreed that it feels more magical to us to take the Santa Claus Express train up to Santa’s village, rather than from the village).
• Book as early as you can to get the cheapest rate.

How much did we pay for Santa Claus Express tickets?

Before we tell you how far in advance we booked, and how much we paid, here is something you have to know.

How tickets for the Santa Claus Express train are sold

When buying your ticket for the Santa Claus Express train, you’re actually buying a cabin.

Wait what do we mean by that?

We mean that you can’t just buy a ticket for a bed and share with a stranger.

If you are travelling solo, or you have an odd number of people in your travel group, you’ll have to book a full cabin for a single traveller.

To be fair, just as well that’s the case.

Who wants to be sharing a small area that you sleep (or possibly also shower in!) with a stranger?

That’s less privacy than in a hostel dorm, and that’s saying something.

For us this meant that we were sharing a cabin, while Mirka’s sister (our only, unsuspecting wedding guest!) had a cabin next to us all to herself.

Now, this is how much we paid as 3 adults.

The cost of our Santa Claus Express tickets

Here is all the information about our tickets for the Santa Claus Express sleeper train:

• We paid €368 in total
• That works out as €123 per person
• This was for 2 upstairs cabins with a private shower
• We took the Night train no. 265, from Helsinki to Rovaniemi
• We booked the tickets mid-September to travel at the end of next March, so just over 6 months in advance

Depending on what your budget is for Lapland, you might be thinking that paying €123 for a one-way train journey is too much or okay.

The key is to compare it with the cost of flights.

Flying vs taking the Santa Claus Express train

We’ve already touched on this a bit here, when we talked about reasons for choosing the Santa Claus Express train over a plane.

If you don’t have any issues flying though, and you’re not sure whether the train is really your vibe, decide based on the price.

Here is what we did.

How to compare the cost of a flight vs Santa Claus Express

These are the things you should consider, when comparing the cost of flying to Lapland vs taking the Santa Claus train:

• The price of a train ticket – check out all the options. For example, we calculated how much it would cost us to book two downstairs cabins vs one downstairs and one upstairs vs two upstairs cabins.
• Remember to check the different trains on your chosen day. We had 2 train options with one being majorly cheaper than the other.
• If Rovaniemi is not your final destination, remember to add the cost of a bus (or car rental) to the train price too. For example, in our calculation, we compared the cost of a flight straight to Ivalo (the nearest airport to Saariselkä, where our aurora hotel was located) vs taking the Santa Claus Express train up to Rovaniemi and then a bus to Saariselkä.
• When booking flights, compare the cost of adding luggage to the cheapest basic fare versus choosing a more premium fare (e.g. premium economy) where luggage is already included (we noticed most of the time adding the luggage separately works out cheaper!). Pro tip: remember to collect air miles when you fly!
• And don’t forget to check both ways – flights and trains on the way to Lapland vs on the way back. One might turn out cheaper than the other, for instance, when we went, the trains back from Lapland were double the price of the trains going there!

Ultimately, we decided that we were willing to pay for the Santa Claus Express train once, even if it was more than the flight, because of the experience.

But, doing Lapland on a budget, plus thinking about the vibe, we chose the cheaper option of taking a train going up north, rather than coming back down.

Once you have your calculations, you’ll wanna make sure you book the tickets from the correct website and don’t get scammed.

How to buy tickets for the Santa Claus Express train

Only buy the Santa Claus Express train tickets from the official website called VR.

To be honest, this is our advice about any tickets you buy.

If you want to make sure you get the best price, correct information on schedules and 100% genuine tickets and no scams, always buy from official websites. (Off topic, but this was so true when buying tickets for the Vatican Museums and the Colosseum as well.)

Is there wifi on the train?

Yes, but seeing as you’ll be whizzing through the Finnish countryside, the connection might be cutting out. 

The best thing to do?

Don’t plan to video call your family or friends from the train. Wait till you’re in Santa Claus Village and do this instead.

Another thing is not to rely on the wifi as a source of entertainment. If you’re planning on watching something or listening to music (Christmas songs, anyone??), make sure to have everything downloaded, just in case the connection is not stable.

What will I get in the cabin?

Here’s what you can expect in your cabin on the Santa Claus Express train:

• The beds come made up with clean sheets, a pillow and a duvet. 
• The upstairs shower cabins come with big towels. The downstairs cabins with just a sink only come with a small face/hand towel.
• You’ll get a 0,35 l bottle per bed – we’ll tell you why you get this shortly.

Tips for taking the Santa Claus Express train

You now know almost everything about the Santa Claus Express train—that is, if you have read the whole post, and didn’t just skip straight to these tips! 🧐

These extra tips will help you have a great journey, especially since, this might be surprising, not everyone reviews Santa’s night train favourably.

In fact, there are plenty of bad reviews out there!

A note on bad reviews for the Santa Claus Express train

We have to admit, the bad reviews almost put us off taking the train.

Mainly because who wants to spend €368 and risk having a bad experience? (Actually, apparently we do. 😬)

But then we concluded, this is kinda like the bad travel insurance companies:

1. You’ve got to know what you’re buying
2. You’ve got to be prepared

And that’s why we’re sharing these extra tips here, so you don’t end up having a rubbish journey on the Santa Claus Express train!

Tip 1: Count with delays

One of the top complaints you’ll find if you check the negative reviews are the train delays.

And yes, train delays are annoying.

Especially if you are on a tight schedule, because you only have so many days off and want to fit as much as you can into them.

The thing is, you can’t influence whether the train will get delayed. 

You are travelling in Finland, in winter (presumably). There can be bad weather. There can be trees falling on the train tracks as a result of it. There can be reindeer blocking the way (likely, right?? After all, this is Santa’s homeland!).

Here are the things you can do to prepare for a potential train delay:

• Give yourself enough buffer, especially if you are booking onward transport, after the train.
  
  We were spending a day in Santa’s village and then taking a bus further up north, to our northern lights resort, after the train journey. Knowing we wanted plenty of time at Santa Claus Village, and that we couldn’t afford to miss the bus, we picked a train arriving early in the morning and an onward bus leaving later in the afternoon. This way, even if the train was delayed by an hour or two, we’d still have plenty of time.
• Pack enough snacks and water. We’ll talk more about this in just a minute.
• If travelling with children, make sure you have enough entertainment to keep them happy even if you get stuck in the middle of nowhere for hours.
• This tip is useful for any annoying life situation, not just a delayed Santa Claus Express service: work on your mindset. You can’t influence the delay. But you can influence your response to it. Getting angry won’t help, it will just ruin your whole journey.

Tip 2: Pack well

There are two things you’ve got to think about when packing for the Santa Claus Express train:

1. What you’ll need for the journey
2. What you’ll need for the next day

Let us explain.

1. What you’ll need for the journey

There’s one big thing you’ve got to think about when deciding what you’ll need for your sleeper train journey.

The size of the cabins on Santa Claus Express train

The thing about the Santa Claus Express train cabins is, they are very small. 

Actually, they are not that small, but they are narrow, as you can see in the picture.

Now, each cabin has space for luggage storage, you don’t have to worry about that.

Everything in the cabin is designed in an efficient way, so you can spend a (relatively) comfortable night there.

The luggage storage is either under your bed (what we had) or behind the beds.

You can see this in the pics below.

So you can absolutely store your luggage in your cabin.

The problem

The issue isn’t storing your suitcases or backpacks. The issue is taking them out if you need anything from them, in your narrow cabin.

It’s not really possible.

So you’ve got to be prepared.

The solution

Pack hand luggage well before boarding the train.

We’ll say it again: whatever you will need for your train journey, pack it into your hand luggage, so it’s easily accessible.

These are the things to think about:

• What will you need for the night on the Santa Claus Express train? Food. Water. Pjs. Slippers. Your own cosmetics (the shower cabin does have basic soap and shampoo). Toothbrush and a toothpaste. Night time medication. A big towel, if you are planning on showering, since you only get a small hand towel in a standard, non-shower cabin. Etc.
• But also remember to pack things for the morning, such as your day cream. Hairbrush (btw this hairbrush is an absolute lifesaver and it comes with a travel-friendly bristle protection). Make up. Etc.
• If your hand luggage is full, because you already have it packed for the next day, after your train journey, pack your night time essentials into a tote bag. This is what we did. We packed all our PJs, toothbrushes etc. into a tote bag, so it was all accessible, but also once we got to Rovaniemi, Santa’s hometown, we could just shove the whole tote into the suitcase and not worry about it.

Speaking of Santa’s home. Let’s talk about the second thing you’ve got to consider.

2. What you’ll need for the next day

This, obviously, will depend on what your plans are for the next day, when you arrive to your destination on the Santa Claus Express train.

Most people take the train to Rovaniemi, where Santa lives.

Meaning when you get off the train, you will be stepping out in the Arctic and, very likely, arctic temperatures as well.

We talk about dressing well in tip no. 6.

You might also want to have a small backpack ready for the day’s adventures, so you can just drop your big luggage off in a storage and not bother dragging it around. We talk about all this in our post on Santa Claus Village tips.

Basically, pack smart, so whatever you need for the night on the train and for the next morning and day is handy and accessible, rather than buried at the bottom of your suitcase.

Tip 3: Don’t use the tap water

An important thing to know about the Santa Claus Express train?

The tap water in the sinks is not safe for drinking. Not even for brushing teeth.

This is why you get the small water bottle in your cabin.

The issue with that is, you’ll need more water than that to brush teeth and stay hydrated.

You’ve got 3 options when it comes to getting water for Santa Claus Express:

1. Buying more on the train, in the restaurant car. This is, obviously, the most expensive option.
2. Buying water before boarding the train. We talk about food and drink in tip no. 7. The disadvantage of this is having more to carry and store in the cabin.
3. Bringing a filter bottle. This is not only the most wallet-friendly, but also planet-friendly option. We brought one of your filter bottles with us, because we can use it to squeeze the already filtered water into another bottle—meaning we all had clean, safe water to drink, from our own bottles.

Tip 4: Don’t panic over announcements

This might sound ridiculous. 

But we panicked big time when we got on the Santa Claus Express train.

Why?

Well, the train stopped quite a few times right after we left the main train station in Helsinki.

And every time it did there was a veeeery loud announcement coming from the speaker right next to where your head will be lying on the bed.

Naturally, we were thinking: how on earth are we meant to sleep like this??

Because, remember, there are many stops along the way, even if most tourists only care about Rovaniemi, because that’s where the real Santa Claus lives.

So what happened?

Well, we considered speaking to the train conductor or chatting with customer support on the VR website.

But then we realised: no one complained about this in the reviews. And there are so many other people on this train, surely they will not all just sleep through super loud announcements! (Although, ear plugs are recommended for the train, if you are a light sleeper.)

Sure enough, at some point, we didn’t even realise when, the announcements stopped. So if this happens to you—don’t panic. It will sort itself out. 

Tip 5: Set an alarm clock (but don’t panic)

More on the topic of panicking, because that’s one of our favourite travel activities (okay, one of Mirka’s favourite activities 😆). 

In this case though, we’re going to blame the other Santa Claus Express travellers.

When preparing for our journey on the night train, we looked at a lot of reviews online.

Something that many travellers mentioned?

Making sure you set your alarm, so you don’t oversleep Rovaniemi. But not just that, they all said to set it very early, so you have time to get dressed in your winter gear, pack up and then be ready to pretty much jump off the train as soon as it arrives to Santa’s hometown.

This made us think the train will stop there only briefly, so when we realised we were nearing Rovaniemi, Mirka started panicking, because we weren’t all packed up and dressed to go, ready to jump out of the still-moving train, like we were advised!

Lol!

Turns out, that’s totally not necessary. We’re here to calm you down. Ignore the panickers and their advice.

The train stops in Rovaniemi for a long time. According to the schedule, one of the night trains stops for 15 mins, but ours was at the train station a lot longer than that, possibly due to an issue. Either way, you will definitely have time to calmly get out of the train, and there’s no need to be sitting, bundled up in your winter clothes for 20 mins, ready to start jumping out the moment the train stops in Rovaniemi.

Tip 6: Dress well

We talk a lot about the right clothes for Lapland.

From how to save money when buying them.

To what to wear when aurora watching (and how to keep all your fingers intact).

To how you can use the Santa Claus Village webcam to plan your outfits (we live for quirky travel tips).

You might not think about this, but it’s actually very important to dress well for the Santa Claus Express sleeper train.

Here are the two main things you’ve got to think about:

1. The train is pretty warm
2. You will need to get dressed for the day ahead 

Let’s talk more about them.

1. The train is pretty warm

The Santa Claus Express train is warm. And there isn’t a lot of space. 

Plan to board it wearing less layers than your full arctic outfit, otherwise you’ll melt and won’t have anywhere to store it.

But once you get to the Arctic?

You better have the clothes handy, unless you’re getting a taxi straight from the train station to your hotel.

2. You will need to get dressed for the day ahead 

Again, decide on your specific situation.

If you have a full day in Santa Claus Village ahead of you?

• Have your winter outfits ready at the top of your suitcase, so you can easily take them out in the morning (or as easily as you can, in the small cabin).
• Or have your winter outfits ready in another tote, that you can then scrunch up once it’s empty, and shove into your suitcase.
• Or get changed once you get to Rovaniemi train station and have more space to root around your suitcase. Although, a little warning here, the train station is also small and for the first 30 mins after the train arrives, it’s pretty packed with people sorting out taxis, car rentals, waiting for a bus etc.

Tip 7: Save money on food and drink

If you want to eat on Santa Claus Express, you can either head to the restaurant car or order food to your cabin. You can also pre-order your breakfast, again, straight to your cabin, although this has to be done at least 5 days in advance (so the elves know how much porridge to cook!).

The issue is, of course, that the food and drinks on the Santa Claus Express train are pricey. It’s like on planes.

If you are doing your trip on a budget, be smart, and bring your own.

Here is what we did:

• We had dinner prior to leaving Helsinki. This meant that we didn’t have to waste time on the train eating (time flies when you’re trying to see the train, shoot content, figure out the shower and actually shower, all the while screaming: SANTA WE’RE COMING!!). It also meant we had a warm meal rather than surviving on pastries, which is common when travelling on a budget.
• We bought pastries for breakfast before boarding the train. There is Lidl right opposite the train station in Helsinki and K-supermarkets to the left and right, so you’ll have plenty of options.
• We also had snacks with us, in case anyone got hungry.
• Originally, we considered going to the train’s bar for a drink, as it looked really cool, with seats facing the windows so you can watch the Finnish landscape whizz by. Then we saw the prices and realised we wouldn’t be able to see much through the windows anyway, so we went back to our cabin. Thankfully, we were smart and picked up beer and cider in the supermarket earlier—another money saving tip!
• We had a good plan for staying hydrated. We already talked about saving money on water here, since tap watery is not sanitary, and the last thing you want is to 💩 yourself in front of Santa. 😬

The antisocial bar (sit, watch and don’t talk to me! 😂) and our money-saving drinks

Tip 8: Pack wipes

This is probably the second top complaint that comes up in reviews.

People paying for a cabin with a shower, like we did. And then the water being only cold. Or completely nonexistent.

Here is what you can do if this happens to you:

• Keep in mind that this is a train. With a finite amount of water. Meaning at the start of the journey, the water might still be running cold as it’s heating up. But if you wait too long? Maybe everyone will have showered by then and there will be no hot water left for you. So time your shower well, but also don’t assume the train doesn’t have hot water, just because your shower is running cold.
• If you are having an issue with the temperature of your shower, or water in general, find a member of staff to speak to. Remember to also check out information on compensation, to see if you are entitled to any.
• If there is no running water on the train at all, this is obviously a major problem, as it means not only showers, but sinks and toilets are not working. In this case, hopefully the staff will provide you with a solution. But, if it is just the case of no hot water in your shower, packing body wipes is a good idea. You can find our full Lapland packing list here (COMING SOON).
• The body wipes are a good idea in general. Maybe you’ll find the water in the shower too cold. Or maybe you just won’t be bothered to faff with a shower in the small space, on a moving train, after a whole day of exploring. The point is, it’s always good to have a backup plan.

Where to go next

If you are thinking of taking the Santa Claus Express train, you’re probably planning an epic Lapland holiday.

Yay!

Here are some things that might help:

• We did our Lapland trip on a budget and shared all our secrets here.
• If you want a tip for an amazing, northern lights resort, that doesn’t cost a fortune, head this way.
• Remember to also check out the post about meeting the real Santa Claus, once the train takes you to his village (and not getting scammed!). 
• And don’t forget to use the Santa Claus Village webcam when planning your winter wonderland holiday—it’s such a useful free hack!

The best travel insurance for Lapland

Thinking about things that could go wrong is not very magical-holiday-in-Lapland vibe, we know.

But the thing is, Lapland is dangerous.

• Think reindeer jumping in front of your car (pro tip: go car-free).

• Slipping on icy paths.

• Breaking your leg as you fall into thigh-deep snow (almost happened to us more times than we want to admit 😬).

• Getting awfully ill, because it’s FREEZING outside (also personal experience 😭).

The best way to prepare yourself? 

Getting good travel insurance.

We trust True Traveller, because, to put it frankly, they don’t suck. Unlike most travel insurance companies out there. 

They:

• are a company created by 3 travellers to help other travellers, so they know what you really want when you are out there, exploring the world.
• cover 92 sports and activities as standard, without you paying extra.
• have an amazing customer service—it’s our secret hack for checking whether an insurance company is good.
• will blow your mind with their claims process.

Oh, and they have amazing prices—for us, they were the best, but also the cheapest travel insurance option even when we went full-time travelling for 2 years!

Check them out if you are looking for great travel insurance, they are not that well-known, but maybe that’s the secret?

Need help with any of this? You can book a call with us and we can chat about your plans together! While blasting Christmas songs and drinking hot chocolate. Sounds fun, right?

We hope this Santa Claus Express train guide answered all your questions and that you’ll have the most magical night journey on it!

Santa Claus Express train in a few quick Qs

What is the Santa Claus Express?

A night train from Helsinki to Lapland—double-decker, comfortable and a total bucket list experience. It will take you to Rovaniemi, where the real Santa Claus lives in his village.

Is the Santa Claus Express worth it for me?

Yes, if you: have kids, are a train lover, want to avoid flying or are a traveller who likes unique experiences.

Should I take the train or fly?

Taking the train is ideal if you want a more relaxing, sustainable and unique journey. You can sleep, shower, and avoid airport stress, queues, and cramped seats. Flights may be faster, but they often cost more once you factor in luggage, connections, and timings.

What cabins are available?

Seats, downstairs 2-person cabins (some are even interconnected), and upstairs 2-person cabins with private shower and toilet.

How much does the night train cost?

Prices vary by season and how far in advance you book. For example, we paid €123 per person for upstairs cabins with private showers, booking 6 months in advance. Always compare the train cost with flights, including luggage and onward transport.

Where can I buy tickets for Santa Claus Express?

Only buy tickets from the official VR website to avoid scams and ensure correct information on schedules.

Is there Wi-Fi on the Santa Claus Express train?

Yes, but connectivity is patchy, especially in rural areas. Download any shows in advance or bring offline entertainment like travel-friendly games, instead of relying on the internet.

Can I drink tap water on the train?

No. Tap water in sinks isn’t safe for drinking or brushing teeth. Bring or buy bottled water on the train. Alternatively, come prepared with a filter bottle and save yourself money (and the environment).