Daytime or Aurora Ice Floating in Rovaniemi

Float by day if you want to see where you are; float in the evening if you want a chance of the northern lights and accept that no operator promises them. For two people after dark, Nordic Adventures’ Rovaniemi: Arctic Ice Floating and Northern Lights Tour starts at 7:00 PM and costs US$273.36 for two, US$136.68 each (checked November 2026), with hotel pickup, the suit, a guide, and cookies and hot berry juice afterwards. By day, the same operator’s daytime float is US$262.34 for two.

Every start time

Start times from the GetYourGuide booking calendars for 12 December 2026 and 13 January 2027 and from Viator (checked November 2026).

What the operators say about the lights

None of them promises the northern lights. For Nordic Adventures they are a natural occurrence, and it is not possible to guarantee that they will be visible, or that they will be particularly vibrant or colorful. For NordicUnique Travels they depend on weather and solar wind activity, so they can’t be guaranteed. On Safartica's evening float, if the weather is clear you can see stars and may even see the northern lights. Nordic Adventures’ evening float runs in all weather conditions.

What the Finnish Meteorological Institute says

The Finnish Meteorological Institute puts the chance of seeing auroras on a dark, cloudless night at roughly 50 % in Lapland, naming the ski resorts Ylläs, Levi and Saariselkä; it gives no figure for Rovaniemi. It says the typical time for auroral displays is around midnight, and a couple of hours before and after, though auroras may appear any time the sky is dark enough, and that, with the weather taken into account, the best time in northern Finland is March and early April. Nordic Adventures’ and NordicUnique Travels’ evening floats start at 7:00 and 7:30 PM, before that window; Safartica’s started at 9:00 PM on 13 January 2027.

Daylight on a daytime float

Rovaniemi’s days are short in December. Computed for Rovaniemi in Finnish time, the sun rises at 10:13 and sets at 13:58 on 1 December 2026, and rises at 11:07 and sets at 13:22 on 21 December. On 1 February 2027 it is up from 9:19 to 15:42, and on 1 March from 7:32 to 17:27. A 12:30 PM start falls in daylight on all of those dates; a 10:30 AM start on 21 December is before sunrise, and Wonderlapland's 2:00 PM start on 12 December comes after sunset.

Which suits you

• You want to see the lake and the snow. Float by day, at 12:30 PM in December. Nordic Adventures’ daytime float is US$262.34 for two.
• You want the chance of the lights, and you are two or more. Nordic Adventures’ 7:00 PM float, in the booking box above.
• You are alone and want the evening. Nordic Adventures’ evening float on Viator (US$144.92, one adult can book; winter clothing not included) or NordicUnique Travels’ 7:30 PM forest lake float (US$137.78, runs with two or more, four on Sundays).
• You want it all in one day. NordicUnique Travels’ 6.5-hour option adds ice fishing and a BBQ from 9:30 AM, at US$263.43 each for two; see ice floating prices.

A guest of Nordic Adventures’ evening float on 7 December 2024 found it underwhelming with no aurora and no stars; another, on 15 January 2026, wrote that floating is amazing even without the northern lights.

Sleeping near the pickups

The evening floats bring you back late. Search rooms in Rovaniemi city centre , where seven hotels on Nordic Adventures’ Viator pickup list are, or see Rovaniemi accommodation.