Where to base yourself in Lapland
Fourteen bases, in four groups: the city (Rovaniemi), the fell resorts (Levi, Ylläs, Pyhä-Luosto, Ruka, Salla, Saariselkä), the far north and the coast (Inari, Kilpisjärvi, Kemi), and across the border (Tromsø, Lofoten, Kiruna, Abisko). Each page says which airport it uses, how many nights it earns and who it does not suit.
The city
One place in Lapland works like a city, with buses, shops and something to do when a tour is cancelled.
Rovaniemi
Lapland’s capital and its easiest base, 10 km from its airport. It suits short first trips and families, less so skiers.
The fell resorts
Built around their slopes, with the activities and the restaurants in one place. What you give up is a town around you.
Levi
Finland’s biggest ski resort by its own account, 15 km from Kittilä airport. It suits skiers and short winter breaks, less so a quiet trip.
Ylläs
Calls itself Finland’s largest by slope length, between Äkäslompolo and Ylläsjärvi. Good for skiers and hikers, poor for nightlife.
Pyhä-Luosto
Two small fell resorts with a national park between them, about 133 km from Rovaniemi. Good for hikers and a quiet trip, wrong for nightlife.
Saariselkä
A ski resort village in Inari, 25 km from Ivalo airport, on the edge of Finland’s second-largest national park.
Ruka
A ski resort in Kuusamo, which is in North Ostrobothnia rather than the Lapland region. Sold as Lapland, and good for skiing either way.
Salla
A small resort in eastern Lapland, for a quiet trip rather than a busy one.
The far north and the coast
Darker, quieter and further from an airport. In the far north the polar night is the real thing, and on the coast the sea freezes.
Inari
A village on Lake Inari and the cultural heart of the Sámi in Finland, home to the Siida museum and the Sajos centre.
Kilpisjärvi
Finland’s most remote road-linked village, under the tabletop fell Saana, wedged between Norway and Sweden.
Kemi
Sea Lapland’s town on the Bay of Bothnia, home to the Sampo icebreaker. Its SnowCastle is no longer rebuilt from snow every winter: the operator now runs a year-round indoor ice exhibit and a seasonal Winter Park.
Across the border
Four of the bases people weigh against Finnish Lapland are not in Finland. Their pages say where they run thinner than the Finnish ones: our sources here are Norwegian and Swedish institutions we have no history with, and neither country publishes the thirty-year snow-depth normal every Finnish page above carries.
Tromsø
Norway’s Arctic city, milder than inland Lapland and far bigger than any Finnish base, with its own pages on when to go, things to do, where to stay and the Northern Lights.
Lofoten
Mountain islands off the Norwegian coast at about 68 degrees north, where the sun does not rise at Svolvær from 7 December 2026 to 5 January 2027. A winter page only, with fewer checked facts than the Finnish bases.
Kiruna
The Swedish mining town that is moving itself three kilometres east. Its church was lifted whole and driven to a new site in August 2025.
Abisko
The driest of all 1,356 stations in SMHI’s 1991 to 2020 normals, by our own sort of SMHI’s file, on the railway west of Kiruna, and the reason people argue about which side of the border has the clearer sky.
How to choose between them
Three questions settle it faster than a list of resorts. Which airport can you fly to, and how long is the transfer at the other end: flights to Lapland sets out which airport serves which base. What are you doing during the day, because a skiing week and an aurora week want different places: experiences covers what each activity involves. And which month are you going in, since that decides the light and the snow more than the base does: when to go.
If you are down to two, these are the comparisons people get stuck on: Rovaniemi or Levi, Finnish or Swedish Lapland and Tromsø or Rovaniemi.
Source: Natural Earth (outlines); Wikipedia coordinates (places). Checked 24 September 2026.
What is missing here
There is no page for every village in Lapland, and there will not be, because a page with nothing checked behind it is worse than none. The bases above are the ones people ask about most, each written from the destination’s own sources.
Who this is not for
This page will not tell you which base is best, because that depends on what you came for. If you already know the month you are going, start with that month instead: it rules some bases out faster than any list can.
Sources
- Regional Council of Lapland, information about Lapland, checked 18 September 2026
Last checked 18 September 2026.
Photographs, all from Wikimedia Commons: Rovaniemi in December by Sadenäyttely, CC BY-SA 4.0, colour-adjusted. Each is cropped and resized here, and our versions carry the same licence as the original.
