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Hello, i am Apekhsa from Bangalore, and i am going to tell you about my perfect Finland & Norway tour from India. First of all i would like to thank lestacindia.com for motivating me by offering me a platform to share our thoughts and experiences of our Finland & Norway tour. Like many first-time travelers in the booking stage, we too were unsure about how to move forward with planning our dream Northern Lights tour in Finland and Norway. This is the reason, i thought i should draft this blog in a way that i will be able to help as well as share my happy moments on our tour. If you’re planning a trip to Finland, this article will help guide you through the essentials.

All about our Finland & Norway Northern lights adventure

Let me first take you through our trip details of Finland & Norway

Our Initial stage of Planning this tour

For me this was the most crucial and tricky stage of this tour of ours. There are many big and small travel agencies in India claiming to be experts in Scandinavian destinations, but in most cases, my research was louder than their knowledge. We never felt satisfied with any of the agencies’ approaches and itinerary formations. We almost made up our mind to start booking the tour on our own, but during northern lights season, a single mistake could make us lose a million invested rupees on this trip. Where we wanted it to be designed as per our pace, we also wanted to stay far from the tension of organizing it.

A relative of a very dear friend of mine, Meera, went to Finland in 2024 on her honeymoon. I asked my friend to get me connected with Meera and here we started getting some clarification. They went to Finland through Lestacworld and were satisfied with the service. Meera shared with me the number of Aryan from Lestacworld and asked me to connect only with him, as she was impressed by the way he coordinated with them.

I gave Aryan a call and explained to him about our requirements. We were clear in our minds that we want to explore multiple countries and not just Finland. Aryan, Suggested us different itineraries with the confidence that we didn’t find in any other travel executive we discussed with.

What we understood from that call is that there are multiple ways we could cover Finland & Norway both in our itineraries. He also suggested the King Crab Safari tour in Norway and a night’s northern lights cruise to Tromso.

We researched the itinerary and found it fit as per our needs and interests.

Our Helsinki, Rovaniemi, Ivalo, Kirkenes & Tromso Itinerary

Here is the itinerary we took on for our Finland & Norway tour:

23 Feb: Day 1: We arrive at Helsinki, from where we are picked up from Airport and dropped off at the city Radisson hotel. The central city from the airport is around a 40 – 50 minute journey. We were accommodated in a central city hotel because we had only 1 day in Helsinki and from here most of the important spots could be covered by walking.

24 Feb: Day 2: We had our breakfast in Helsinki and checked out from the hotel. The car came to pick us up and dropped us at Helsinki airport. It was around a 90 minutes flight to Rovaniemi, where an amazing lady driver, Maria, came to pick us up. Maria was so charming and polite that we felt refreshed after meeting her. She dropped us off at the hotel in the center of Rovaniemi city. In the evening we had a northern lights tour aligned for us. It was a bus that took us to the area where there is less light pollution and more chances of witnessing northern lights. We were lucky enough to witness the northern lights on the very first day of our Lapland arrival.

25 Feb: Day 3: Again we had breakfast in Hotel and were taken to Santa claus village premises. It took us 25 minutes to reach there from the hotel. When we went inside, it was a different world. People were looking happy around as if they were thinking that their dream of coming to Santa Claus village has come true. At least for me and Rohan, it was a dream come true. There were many things to do: you cross the arctic circle, meet Santa, get the photo clicked with Santa, visit the post office, enjoy husky and reindeer sledding, enjoy snowman world, have food in the ice restaurant and much more. It is truly wonderful.

26 Feb: Day 4: On this day we checked out from hotel and were transferred to Saari-selka. It was the mind-blowing Journey. It was a private car transfer for us, so it was scenic, romantic and felt like a dream come true. Saariselka is a small village town of Finland near Ivalo, and is also the home of many glass Igloo properties in Finland. Our stay was arranged in one of the most popular and first of its own type glass Igloo property that is Kakslauttanen arctic resort. Our room was on the west side of the resort. It was Small glass igloo that had shower and washroom attached. It was comfortable. On the very same day in evening, Lestacworld had arranged northern lights chase by reindeer sledge for us. Though the weather was not good enough for northern lights, but we enjoyed the reindeer sledging. Also, because we had already witnessed northern lights, we were more curious about sledging part in this tour.

27 Feb: Day 5: We were staying another night in the resort, so we had breakfast and started exploring the resort in Depth. There were many amazing things in the resort, like their own Santa claus Village, Planetarium, activity area and much more. Also, we had planned Snowmobile Safari on this day. It was an amazing and unforgettable experience. Me and Rohan, shared the snowmobile, for sometime he drove it and rest of the time i tried to drive it. Overall a perfect experience in the resort.

28 Feb: Day 6: On this day we checked out from resort and transferred to Kirkenes in a private car again. When we travelled, Finnish cabs were not allowed in Norway and Kirkenes is in Norway. Lestacworld arranged the cab from Kakslauttanen to Norwegian border and then a new cab from border to Kirkenes It was smooth, we didnt had to worry about anything. Kirkenes is a small town in the Norway where the snow Hotel and King crab Safari is quite famous. We checked in to the our warm room in snow hotel Kirkenes and we had a few hours to get ready for our King crab Safari tour. It was again the time to ride snowmobile to the areas where we were going to hunt the crabs.

A unique experience that as in Indian, we never thought of. It was fun hunting the crabs and then we took those crab in snow hotel kitchen and restaurant area, where we also learnt the Norwegian style of cooking crabs. After having meal, we were so tired that we want back to the hotel and slept.

1 march: Day 7: Well i was the excited about this day. Today were going to board our northern lights cruise from Kirkenes to Tromso. We quickly got ready and were transferred to the harbor from where we were going to board our northern lights cruise. Finally we boarded the cruise and got our sea view cabin. It was my first time in cruise and we just loved it. There were different activities on cruise, though it was not a very big cruise. We enjoyed every bit of it. After leaving Kirkenes, the cruise first makes a short stop in Vardø in the late afternoon (around 4:05 pm to 5:00 pm). A few hours later in the evening, it docks at Båtsfjord for about half an hour (8:00 pm to 8:30 pm). Through the night, the ship continues along the coast and briefly stops at several small Arctic towns and fishing villages – Berlevåg, Mehamn, Kjøllefjord, Honningsvåg, Havøysund, Hammerfest, Øksfjord, and Skjervøy. These stops are usually quick, as they are part of the ship’s regular coastal service, so we could see the ports but don’t always disembark for long. Finally, around midnight (between 11:45 pm and 1:30 am), the cruise arrived in Tromsø and we were transferred to Tromso Hotel then.

2 march: Day 8: We woke up late on this day and missed our breakfast. Around 1 PM we had our pickup for Tromso cable car tour. We were about to miss our vehicle, special thanks to Aryan, he connected with the driver and asked them to wait for 5 more minutes. It was a nice experience of Tromso cable car after which we returned back to hotel and were again picked up for Northern lights hunt tour. Overall it was a hectic day, but we enjoyed it. Because it was the last leg of our tour, we were a bit tired but the excitement levels were same.

3 March: Day 9: We had to wake up early and start for our whale watching cruise tour. It was a full day journey of Fjords where we were chasing whales and doing different activities with the group. The trip usually starts from the harbor, where you board a comfortable boat and sail out into the fjords surrounded by snow-covered mountains. During the winter months, huge schools of herring gather in these waters, attracting orcas (killer whales) and humpback whales. As the boat moves quietly, you might suddenly see a whale’s tail splashing, an orca pod swimming together, or even hear the sound of whales breathing at the surface. The atmosphere is peaceful yet exciting – the cold Arctic air, the dramatic scenery, and the chance to see these giant creatures in their natural home make it unforgettable. We returned to Hotel at Night and slept after having meal.

4 March: Day 10: We were dropped to Tromso Airpot from hotel from where we had our morning flight to Helsinki. From Helsinki, we were having, our evening International flight to Mumbai, India.

Quick glimpse of our Finland & Norway tour from India

Conclusion

Our Finland & Norway tour from India was truly unforgettable. From the magical Northern Lights in Finland to the stunning fjords and cruises in Norway, every moment felt like a dream. The entire trip was smooth, comfortable, and well-planned, thanks to Lestacworld. Hotels, transfers, and activities were perfectly arranged, leaving us free to simply enjoy our journey. A big thank you to the Lestacworld team for making our Finland & Norway tour from India so special. We would definitely recommend them to anyone planning a trip to Scandinavia.