Rovaniemi in Finland is the official hometown of Santa Claus, and you can find him here in his office every day of the week. The capital of Finnish Lapland, this town sits right on the Arctic Circle just over an hour’s flight north of Helsinki. In early December, daylight hours are short: sunrise is around 9:00 AM, and sunset comes around 2:00 PM.
Here in the Arctic twilight, as Christmas approaches, the atmosphere warms up—and we don’t mean the temperature, which hovers around -20°C, but tourism. This time of year is peak season: from December through early January (Orthodox Christians celebrate Christmas on January 7), more than 100,000 visitors—mostly families from Russia, Great Britain, China, France, and Korea—arrive in this city of 60,000 residents to meet Santa Claus.
At SantaPark, visitors can explore Santa’s cavern, cross the Arctic Circle underground, help the elves decorate gingerbread cookies, ride the Elf Train to Santa’s workshop, and above all meet Santa Claus in his office and have their picture taken with him. There is also the Santa Claus Main Post Office, where his helpers reply to around 600,000 letters every year from roughly 200 countries in the sender’s own language—and where you can mail a letter stamped with the one-of-a-kind Santa Claus postmark.
Tourism in Rovaniemi is not just about Santa Claus, however: for ski lovers, there is a ski hill right in the heart of town featuring alpine ski runs and cross-country trails. Visitors can enjoy unforgettable rides on reindeer- or husky-drawn sleighs and romantic dinners in igloo restaurants with chairs carved from ice (draped in warm reindeer hides so you don’t freeze).
Finally, just south of town lies a wonderful wildlife park home to around 50 Nordic animal species, including polar bears, brown bears, and lynx.
For more information, visit the official website
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