Flights to Lapland from the UK

Five airports, and which bed each one is near

The right airport is the one closest to where you are sleeping, which sounds obvious and is the single most common booking mistake on this page. Finavia, the Finnish airport operator, runs four in the region: Rovaniemi, Kittilä, Ivalo and Kemi-Tornio. It groups a fifth, Kuusamo, with them. Kuusamo is not one of the Lapland region’s 21 municipalities, but its airport is the one for Ruka.

Enontekiö also has an airport, but Finavia no longer runs it: the airport passed to the municipality of Enontekiö on 14 July 2021. We could not confirm which flights use it this winter, so it is not in the table.

The table shows what each airport is for, how far it is from the places it serves, and which UK airports Finavia listed with scheduled direct flights last winter. It is the latest full winter list we could find; this winter’s changes follow below.

Finavia says daily buses link Kittilä Airport with Levi and Ylläs, and that the Airport Express and Santa’s Express bus runs from Rovaniemi Airport to Santa Claus Village and Rovaniemi railway station. The municipality of Inari lists a shuttle bus from Ivalo Airport to Saariselkä, and Visit Inari says the shuttle to Inari village has to be booked in advance.

Kittilä Airport and Ivalo Airport, and where each one is

Kittilä Airport is the airport for Levi, so flights to Levi are flights to Kittilä. Finavia describes it as located in the heart of Lapland, about 5 km from the centre of the municipality of Kittilä, with Levi 15 km away and Ylläs around 35 km. Beyond those two resorts, Finavia says it also serves Olos, Pyhä-Luosto, Kolari and Muonio, as well as Sodankylä and Enontekiö. It has scheduled flights from European cities and, in Finavia’s words, multiple daily connections from Helsinki. From the UK, Finavia’s list for last winter showed direct flights to Kittilä from London Gatwick and Manchester, and easyJet adds London Luton and Liverpool this winter (below).

Ivalo Airport is, in Finavia’s words, the northernmost airport in Finland. It sits 11 km from the centre of Ivalo and 25 km from Saariselkä; Inari village is 50 km away. Finavia lists daily connections from Helsinki and flights from European cities. From the UK, last winter’s direct route was British Airways from London Gatwick, which British Airways continues this winter.

Finavia’s summer and autumn list shows no scheduled UK route at either airport, so outside winter you reach both through Helsinki.

Direct flights from the UK this winter

Direct flights from the UK are a winter pattern. Finavia’s list for summer and autumn 2026, from 29 March to 24 October, shows no scheduled UK routes at Rovaniemi, Kittilä, Ivalo, Kuusamo or Kemi-Tornio, so outside winter you connect in Helsinki.

Routes change every season, and Finavia’s own list warns that destinations may change during the season. Treat last winter’s list as a guide and check the airline’s timetable before you book anything else. For winter 2026 to 2027, Finavia has announced these new UK routes:

• easyJet, London Luton to Kittilä from 24 November 2026, on Tuesdays and Saturdays.
• easyJet, Liverpool to Kittilä from 25 November 2026, on Wednesdays and Saturdays.
• easyJet, Newcastle to Rovaniemi from 25 November 2026, on Wednesdays and Sundays.
• BA Euroflyer, London Gatwick to Rovaniemi from 4 December 2026, on Mondays and Fridays. British Airways also continues London Gatwick to Ivalo.
• airBaltic, London and Manchester to Kuusamo, from December 2026 to March 2027. Finavia’s announcement does not say which London airport.

From Belfast. easyJet started a direct route from Belfast to Rovaniemi in December 2025, twice a week on Tuesdays and Saturdays; Finavia called it the first scheduled Belfast service at Rovaniemi. Finavia’s list for last winter shows Belfast to Rovaniemi with easyJet and Ryanair. When we checked on 24 September 2026, Finavia had not published this winter’s full list, and we could not confirm from an airline’s own page that the Belfast route returns for 2026 to 2027. Check easyJet’s and Ryanair’s timetables before you plan around it. Otherwise, from Northern Ireland you connect in Helsinki or fly from a British airport.

Most of the new routes fly twice a week, so your flight days set your trip length. Last winter’s full list appeared on 29 October 2025, three days after the season began, so this winter’s may not exist yet when you book.

Flying to Lapland via Helsinki

If no direct flight suits your dates or your airport, connect in Helsinki. Finnair flies from London Heathrow, Terminal 3, to Helsinki, and says the flight takes a little less than 3 hours. Finnair’s flights to Rovaniemi from Helsinki run several times a day all year, and it gives the flight time as 1 hour 15 minutes to 1 hour 55 minutes. Finavia’s winter list also shows Finnair flying from Helsinki to Kittilä, Ivalo, Kuusamo and Kemi-Tornio.

At Helsinki, coming from Great Britain, you go through passport control; Finavia says holders of biometric passports can use automatic border control. Domestic flights leave from gates 5 to 36. Visit Finland says most connections at Helsinki Airport can be made in as little as 45 minutes. Treat that as a minimum, not a plan. Finavia says that if your flights are not on one booking under one ticket number, allow enough time for the transfer.

How long is the flight to Lapland?

From London to Lapland, allow roughly three and a half to four hours direct, and four to five hours in the air via Helsinki, plus the time between flights.

• Direct. TUI gives the flight from Gatwick to Lapland as 3 hours 30 minutes. When British Airways launched London Gatwick to Ivalo in December 2024, its timetable left at 08:35 and arrived at 14:30, both local times. Lapland is two hours ahead of the UK, so that is just under four hours in the air.
• Via Helsinki. A little under 3 hours to Helsinki, then up to 1 hour 55 minutes to Rovaniemi.

The two-hour time difference catches people out: an arrival time that looks six hours after take-off on the ticket may be four. Where is Lapland explains the time zone.

The night train from Helsinki

You do not have to fly the last leg. VR, the Finnish railway, runs the Santa Claus Express night train from Helsinki or Turku to Rovaniemi, Kolari and Kemijärvi. You can take a seat or a cabin: a two-person cabin on the lower deck, a two-person cabin with its own shower on the upper deck, or what VR calls a nostalgic three-person cabin. There is a restaurant car, and you can book a place for your car.

VR gives the distance from Helsinki to Rovaniemi as about 820 km and the fastest rail journey as 8 hours 22 minutes. On the night train you sleep through most of that, and VR’s own tip is to take a cabin and arrive rested in the morning. On the busiest nights of the ski season, VR says up to five night trains leave Helsinki: two to Kolari and three to Rovaniemi. When we checked, VR was selling night train tickets for journeys up to 25 April 2027.

From Kolari station, VR says Ylläs is 35 km away by bus, and Levi 85 km by bus or car. From Rovaniemi station, the bus to Levi takes about 2.5 hours, and Visit Inari says the bus from Rovaniemi to Inari takes about 5 hours. For Rovaniemi itself, the night train takes you all the way.

What security takes off you, and what you can rent

Pack for the security check as well as the cold. Finavia’s winter guidance says:

• At Lapland airports, liquids must come out of your bag and go into a one-litre plastic bag. At Helsinki Airport they can stay in the bag.
• Flammable ski waxes and cleaning agents may not be carried on aircraft.
• Power banks, spare batteries and rechargeable hand warmers may only go in hand baggage.

Warm outer clothing is bulky, and you can rent it. One rental set listed on Visit Rovaniemi includes a winter jacket, winter trousers, mittens, snow boots and a tube scarf, and asks you to wear your own base and middle layers, wool socks and a hat. If your trip includes a rental set, pack layers rather than a heavy coat, and check your airline’s baggage allowance before you add anything large. What a trip like this costs is on the cost page.

What people get wrong

Three of these are the same mistake wearing different clothes: booking the airport with the most UK flights instead of the airport nearest the bed.

Flying into Rovaniemi for a stay in Levi. Rovaniemi had the longest list of UK routes last winter, and VR puts the bus from Rovaniemi station to Levi at about 2.5 hours. Kittilä Airport is 15 km from Levi.

Flying into Rovaniemi for Inari. Visit Inari puts the two 340 km apart. Ivalo Airport is 50 km from Inari.

Treating Ruka as a Rovaniemi trip. Ruka’s airport is Kuusamo, about 30 minutes away by car.

The other three are about time. Last winter’s route is not a promise: new routes start, old ones stop, so check the airline’s timetable for your own dates. Nor is any of this a daily service. Most of the new UK routes above run twice a week, which means the next direct flight after a missed one can be days away. And if you book two separate tickets through Helsinki, leave real time between them: Finavia tells travellers whose flights are not on one booking to allow enough time for the transfer.

If you are not yet sure where to stay, pick the base first on Lapland holidays or when to go, then the airport. If you are coming for Christmas, read Christmas in Lapland before you book flights; Santa Claus Village is 3 km from Rovaniemi Airport.