31 photos to inspire your trip to Lapland

Last updated on January 22, 2024

This was the year I fell in love with winter: not the grey, drizzly days, but the brilliant whites, blues and golden light of a true winter landscape. We saw it in Iceland, but it was Lapland that felt like the winter of fairytales. The snow was soft, the air crisp, and the presence of reindeers topped it off.

I’ve written a blog post detailing our whole 5-day Lapland trip, and another about finding the Northern Lights, but as always, I also like to accompany that with a post that’s all about the photos – you could call it a storybook itinerary. Here’s one for Lapland…

It’s a land dressed in snow…

…with sunny skies. Bask in it…

…or play among the hills…

…for a slice of snowboarding in the forest.

Lapland is the home of Santa and the reindeers that pull his sleigh.

Meet these magnificent creature, the big ones…

…and the small.

They love to feed on lichen…

…so you’ll make plenty of friends.

Then take a ride on a reindeer sleigh.

Who can resist a reindeer selfie?!

For some more magical moments, head to a house amid the snow…

…where huskies have their home.

Spend some time with these beautiful creatures…

…who frolic in the snow…

…and bowl you over with their varied eyes.

These huskies love to run…

…so you can try your hand at mushing. Whizz through the forest…

…and speed over frozen lakes. It’s an experience not to be missed.

And then for something different, try a snowmobile, following paths throughout the forest…

…until you reach a special hill…

…with views across the land…

and an amethyst mine atop…

…where you can dig for precious stones.

If you’re lucky you might see the lights…

….and be bathed in deepest awe.

But even if you don’t see them, there’s plenty to delight. Like chapels made of ice…

…technicolour ice suites…

and glass igloos to get cosy in.

Lapland, you are magic.

Some tips for travelling in Lapland

There are a few different airports in Lapland. We chose to fly to Rovaniemi, which was about 1.5 hours from Luosto where we stayed.

We recommend Lapland Hotel Luostotunturi for a reasonably priced and very well located hotel in Luosto.

For something special, you could splash out on an igloo at Santa’s Hotel Aurora.

We recommend hiring a car so you have lots of flexibility on your travels. We use rentalcars.com to find the best deals.

Things we did while in Lapland included: snowboarding at Pyhä Ski Resort; visiting Jaakkola reindeer farm; a snowmobile safari to the amethyst mine with Lapland Safaris; a husky safari at Korvalan Kestikievari; and snowshoeing, again with Lapland Safaris.

For lots more details, including our full itinerary and how much everything cost, read my 5-day Lapland itinerary post.