Rovaniemi Ice Floating

Zipped into a thick rescue suit, you lie back in a hole cut into a frozen forest lake and let the water hold you up. You stay dry and nobody swims, while the spruces around the lake stand white to their tips. We compared four ways to do it from Rovaniemi, from a three-hour float by day or under the northern lights to a full day on an icebreaker in the frozen sea. Each one comes with its price and its catch.

  • Frozen lake from roughly December to MarchFloats run in the autumn too, without any promise of a frozen, snowy lake before December
  • Hoping for the aurora?Book the night float early in your stay, so a cloudy sky still leaves you evenings to try again

In a hurry? Our top pick is Nordic Adventures' daytime float, ~$133 a person for three hours with hotel pickup. A guide helps you into the suit, and hot drinks wait in a log cottage afterwards. Book it here.

Book on GetYourGuide Book on Viator

Compare all 4 tours

If you only have a minute

Which Rovaniemi ice floating trip should you book?

Say a friend heading to Lapland asked us where to float. Over a cinnamon bun in a warm café on Koskikatu, this is what we would tell them.

For most visitors the trip to book is Nordic Adventures' daytime float on a frozen forest lake, from ~$133. Three hours covers the pickup and as long in the ice hole as you like, with hot drinks and cookies indoors to finish. In daylight you can see the snowy forest around you, and the photos come out.

Set on the northern lights? The same company's aurora float costs ~$138 and takes you to a dark lake after nightfall, where a campfire waits by a heated cabin. Want the sea instead of a lake? Polar Explorer's icebreaker day starts at ~$363 and the Icebreaker Sampo from Kemi at ~$564, both with a float beside the ship.

No float can promise clear skies or thick ice. Check what each trip costs in full and which weeks the lake is frozen, see how each day is spent, then read the small print we pulled out before you pay.

Our pick

The float we would book: Nordic Adventures by day

It is the most reviewed ice floating trip from Rovaniemi on GetYourGuide, it collects you from your hotel, and three hours leaves the rest of the day free. The catch is plain enough, since daylight rules out the aurora.

A floater in a red rescue suit sitting on the snowy edge of the ice hole while others float behind Our pick

Daytime Ice Floating in Rovaniemi, Frozen Lake Experience, Nordic Adventures

★★★★★ 4.8 from 200+ reviews on GetYourGuide · free cancellation up to 24 hours before

A minibus collects you from your hotel and drives you out of town to a lake in the forest. One reviewer who was picked up at the Santa Claus Village put the drive at about 45 minutes.

At the lake the guide gives a safety briefing and helps you into a thermal rescue suit, worn over your own clothes. You walk down to a hole cut in the ice and lie back in the water. The suit is waterproof and buoyant, so you float without swimming and come out dry.

Stay in as long as you like within the three hours. When the cold reaches your fingers, a cozy cottage waits with hot drinks and cookies, and then the bus takes you back to your hotel.

Duration
About 3 hours
In the water
As long as you like, guide beside the hole
Pickup
Hotel pickup and drop-off
Group
Up to 15, per Viator's listing
Afterwards
Hot drinks and cookies in a cottage
Who can join
Age 14+, 150–210 cm tall, up to 110 kg
Limits
Not in pregnancy or with back trouble; no wheelchairs
Cancellation
Free up to 24 hours; reserve now, pay later
Price per person from ~$133 Daytime · frozen forest lake
GetYourGuide Viator

Live availability and prices on GetYourGuide

Powered by GetYourGuide

How the three hours run, step by step

This is the order the listing and its reviewers describe. Snow on the road can stretch the drive a little.

Out of Rovaniemi

  • Pickup at your hotel in Rovaniemi
  • Drive to a frozen lake in the forest
  • Safety briefing and help into the rescue suit

On the ice

  • Into the ice hole to float on your back, for as long as you like
  • Hot drinks and cookies in the cottage
  • Drive back and drop-off at your hotel

What the price covers

The fare pays for the suit and the guide, and for the ride both ways. Warm clothes for under the suit are yours to bring.

Included
  • The floating program on a frozen lake
  • A thermal rescue floating suit
  • An English-speaking guide
  • Hot drinks and cookies
  • Hotel pickup and drop-off
Not included
  • Warm layers to wear under the suit
  • Tips
  • Snow and ice in October and November
  • The northern lights, which need the dark

Between us, before you go

A word from one cold traveler to another. You cannot take a phone into the water, so the guide's camera is your camera. Reviewers loved the guides who filmed them, and one complained of waiting days for a video, so ask how the photos reach you before you climb in.

The size rules are strict. You must be at least 14, stand 150 to 210 cm tall and weigh no more than 110 kg. Bring dry socks. What to wear under the suit covers the rest.

Why it beats the aurora float

Both come from the same company at nearly the same price. By day you see the frozen lake and the snowy spruces around you, and the guide's photos show faces instead of black sky. Its GetYourGuide listing carries 200+ reviews against 68 on the night version. Daytime or aurora sets the two side by side.

What you give up is the chance of green light overhead. If that is the reason you came to Lapland, book the night float.

Who we would not send on it

Families with children under 14, whom the listing turns away; the icebreakers take younger floaters. Anyone pregnant or with back trouble. And aurora hunters with one night in town, who should go straight to the night float.

Book it if

You want to try ice floating once, properly, without giving up a whole day. You float in a white forest, get photos you can actually see, and are back at the hotel for a late lunch. It suits couples as well as families with teenagers.

Skip it if

Ready for the ice hole?

The float is on GetYourGuide (4.8 from 200+ reviews) and on Viator (4.9 from 82). Both let you cancel for free up to 24 hours before, so you can check the forecast before you commit.

GetYourGuide Viator

The day itself

How ice floating from Rovaniemi works

Every trip on this page answers two questions differently. Do you want a quiet forest lake or the frozen sea beside a ship? And do you have three hours to give it, or a whole day?

Style · three hours on a lake

Out to a frozen forest lake

Nordic Adventures by day, Nordic Adventures by night

3 hhotel pickup, the float, hot drinks in a cabin

You are in the water within an hour of leaving the hotel, with a guide at the edge of the hole and nobody else's schedule to keep. Pick the daylight for views and photos, or the night for a chance of the aurora. Minimum age is 14.

Style · a full day at sea

An icebreaker on the Bothnian Bay

Polar Explorer, via Sweden, Icebreaker Sampo, Kemi

8–11 ha long bus ride each way, a cruise of 3 to 4 hours

You ride a working icebreaker through the sea ice, walk on the frozen sea when it allows and float in the channel the ship has cut. The float itself is short and shared with a busload. The day costs three to four times as much.

Rovaniemi weather and the ice floating winter across all twelve months

  • Hours of darkness, roughly (aurora time)
  1. Jan-8°C high18 °F

    Deep cold, thick lake ice, short pink days

  2. Feb-7°C high19 °F

    Solid ice on lake and sea, light returning

  3. Mar-2°C high28 °F

    Bright snow, long days, aurora still possible

  4. Apr4°C high39 °F

    Spring sun and thinning ice; check the listing

  5. May10°C high50 °F

    The thaw, nights almost gone

  6. Jun17°C high63 °F

    Midnight sun, open water

  7. Jul20°C high68 °F

    The warmest weeks, no ice at all

  8. Aug17°C high63 °F

    Dark nights come back late in the month

  9. Sep11°C high52 °F

    Autumn colors, first auroras over open lakes

  10. Oct3°C high37 °F

    Floats may run, but ice is not promised

  11. Nov-3°C high27 °F

    First snow and ice, still not guaranteed

  12. Dec-6°C high21 °F

    The darkest weeks and the Christmas crowds

Temperatures are rough daytime highs in Rovaniemi, and a cold snap can push them far lower; out on the lake it feels colder still. The bars show roughly how much of each day is dark, which is the time an aurora can show. Highlighted months are the ones we would pick for a frozen lake. The floating winter in detail.

How each day is spent

  • Getting there and back
  • On the ice or the ship
  • May run longer

Hours count from the pickup and come from the listings; the split between travel and time on the ice is approximate. The Sampo row follows the morning cruise, whose bus leaves Rovaniemi at about 5:45 am; the afternoon cruise runs about an hour longer. Polar Explorer's day is shorter if you make your own way to Axelsvik.

  1. Pick your waterA forest lake for three quiet hours, or the frozen sea beside an icebreaker for a full day. Lake or sea compared.
  2. Choose your hourDaylight for views and photos, darkness for a chance of the aurora. Daytime or aurora.
  3. Check the limitsThe lake floats take nobody under 14 or under 150 cm; the icebreakers let shorter floaters in. Who can float.
  4. Dress under the suitThe suit goes on over your clothes, so wear warm, close-fitting layers. What to wear.

The icebreakers are a different trip altogether. Sampo and Polar Explorer compared covers the two ships and which one suits a family.

How to choose

How to pick the right ice floating trip

The suit is much the same on all four. What differs is the water under you and how many hours you spend away from town.

Time

Three hours for either lake float, a full day of about 8 to 11 hours for an icebreaker. Fitting a float into three days.

Northern lights

Only the night float puts you under a dark sky, and even then the lights need clear weather. Your odds overhead.

Children

The lake floats start at 14 years and 150 cm. Sampo lets floaters in from 140 cm, Polar Explorer from 125 cm with a parent. Every limit.

Budget

From ~$133 for a lake float to ~$564 for the Sampo day with its cruise and exhibitions. Every price in one table.

Time in the water

On the lake you stay in as long as you like within three hours. On the Sampo one reviewer had about 10 minutes. The float itself.

Passport

Polar Explorer sails from Axelsvik on the Swedish side, so you cross a border and need your passport. The two ships.

Everything else to do in Rovaniemi

The 4 tours

Four ways into the ice, side by side

We read the ice floating listings for Rovaniemi on both booking sites and kept the four that differ most and score well. Each card gives the price and the length next to the tour company's name. It also names the catch, with a button for each site that sells it.

A smiling floater in a red rescue suit lying in the ice hole between the ladder rails Our pick

Daytime Ice Floating in Rovaniemi, Frozen Lake Experience, Nordic Adventures

The one we would book for a first float.

Three hours from your hotel and back. A guide helps you into a thermal rescue suit on the shore of a frozen forest lake, you float in the ice hole for as long as you like before warming up in a cottage.

  • Rating4.8 from 200+ reviews on GetYourGuide
  • DurationAbout 3 hours, by day
  • Tour companyNordic Adventures
  • Free cancellationUp to 24 hours before, pay later
  • StrengthsHotel pickup; the most reviews; views of the white forest
  • Ideal forCouples and families with teenagers

Good to know: Age 14 and over, 150–210 cm, up to 110 kg. Book December to March if you want a white, frozen lake. What the float feels like.

~$133per person
GetYourGuide Viator
Two floaters in red suits lying on the ice under green northern lights at night Under the aurora

Aurora Arctic Ice Floating, Small Group, Nordic Adventures

The same lake at night, with the sky as the gamble.

Nordic Adventures drives you to a lake far enough from town for a dark sky. You float in a hole in the middle of the ice and watch for the northern lights, then warm up at a campfire and in a heated cabin with hot drinks and snacks.

  • Rating4.9 from 100+ reviews on Viator
  • DurationAbout 3 hours, after dark
  • Tour companyNordic Adventures
  • Free cancellationUp to 24 hours before
  • StrengthsA chance of the aurora overhead; campfire; hotel pickup
  • Ideal forAurora hunters who want more than standing in a field

Good to know: The lights are never guaranteed and the tour runs in all weather. Not for people with heart problems, and colder than by day. Your odds of an aurora.

~$138per person
Viator GetYourGuide
Two visitors walking on the sea ice beside the red bow of the Polar Explorer icebreaker Top rated ship

Icebreaker Cruise with Ice Floating and Walking on Ice, Polar Explorer

An icebreaker for less, with a border crossing thrown in.

A shuttle from Rovaniemi takes you to Axelsvik on the Swedish side, where the Polar Explorer sails for three hours through the frozen Bothnian Bay. It stops so you can float in survival suits and walk on the sea ice; on board you can roam seven decks with an audio guide.

  • Rating4.7 from 400+ reviews on GetYourGuide
  • Duration3 hours on the ship, about 8.5 with the shuttle
  • Tour companyPolar Explorer Icebreaker
  • Free cancellationUp to 24 hours before
  • StrengthsFloaters from 125 cm with a parent; hot drinks on board; a certificate
  • Ideal forFamilies with children too young for the lake

Good to know: Bring your passport. Meals are sold on board, and the walk on the ice is not guaranteed before early January. Check which option the lowest price covers. The two ships compared.

~$363per person
GetYourGuide Viator
The Icebreaker Sampo standing in the frozen Bothnian Bay at sunset The full day

Icebreaker Sampo Cruise with Ice Floating, Icebreaking Company

The big classic, if the budget stretches.

A bus collects you in Rovaniemi and drives about 1 hour 45 minutes to the SnowCastle area in Kemi. The Sampo then cruises for 3.5 to 4 hours, with a guided tour of the ship, a walk on the sea ice and a float in a survival suit. Entry to the SnowExperience and Gemstone exhibitions is included.

  • Rating4.6 from 200+ reviews on GetYourGuide
  • DurationAbout 10 to 11 hours, pickup from 5:45 am or 9:25 am
  • Tour companyIcebreaking Company
  • Free cancellationUp to 24 hours before, pay later
  • StrengthsThe longest cruise; the ship tour; lunch on the afternoon sailing
  • Ideal forTravelers who want the icebreaker as the main event

Good to know: The highest price here. The morning cruise includes no meal, the float lasts about 10 minutes, and phones stay out of the water, so photos are a paid extra. Lake or sea.

~$564per person
GetYourGuide Viator

A quick heads-up: these are GetYourGuide and Viator affiliate links. Book through one and we earn a small commission, at no extra cost to you and with no say in our ranking.

Before you go

Eight things about ice floating that no listing puts in big letters

None of these sits at the top of a booking page. Each one can decide whether you come home with warm memories or cold feet and no photos.

What you should know

  1. You do not get wet. The rescue suit goes on over your clothes and keeps the water out, and it floats you without any swimming. Knowing how to swim helps you relax, the listing says, but it is not required. The float, minute by minute.
  2. Hands and feet feel it first. The water sits around 1 °C (34 °F), one reviewer was told, and the cold creeps in at the extremities. Wool socks and a warm hat make the difference.
  3. Your phone stays on shore. Nobody floats with a camera, so the guide takes the photos on the lake, and on the icebreakers a photo package is sold. Ask how the pictures reach you before you go in.
  4. The size limits are firm. Nordic Adventures sets 14 as the minimum age, a height from 150 to 210 cm and a weight up to 110 kg. Outside that, write to the company first. Who can float.
  5. Early-winter ice is a maybe. In October and November the lake may have no snow or ice, and the sea ice for walking may not hold before early January. The best weeks.
  6. The aurora is never on the ticket. The night float needs a clear sky over a dark lake, and the listing says plainly it cannot be guaranteed. Book it early in your stay.
  7. The icebreaker float is short. On a ship with a busload aboard, everyone takes turns at the water. One Sampo reviewer had about 10 minutes and found it crowded. Lake or sea.
  8. Pack a passport for Polar Explorer. The ship sails from Axelsvik in Sweden, an hour behind Finnish time. Meals are sold on board rather than included. The two ships.

Everything in one table

Four ice floating trips, catch included

The four tours side by side. Each row sets the strength of a trip against its catch.

Swipe the table sideways to see all columns →

Tour Ideal for Price Length Starts from Tour company and rating Strength and catch Book
Daytime lake float (our pick) A first float ~$133per person About 3 h Hotel pickup Nordic Adventures
4.8 on GetYourGuide		 White forest, easy photos, most reviews. No aurora; age 14+.
GetYourGuideViator
Aurora lake float Northern lights hopefuls ~$138per person About 3 h Hotel pickup, evening Nordic Adventures
4.9 on Viator		 Dark sky, campfire, heated cabin. Lights never guaranteed; colder.
ViatorGetYourGuide
Polar Explorer icebreaker Families with younger kids ~$363per person 3 h cruise, about 8.5 h with shuttle Rovaniemi shuttle or Axelsvik, Sweden Polar Explorer Icebreaker
4.7 on GetYourGuide		 Sea float and ice walk, floaters from 125 cm. Passport needed; meals extra.
GetYourGuideViator
Icebreaker Sampo, Kemi The icebreaker as the main event ~$564per person About 10–11 h Rovaniemi pickup, 5:45 am or 9:25 am Icebreaking Company
4.6 on GetYourGuide		 Longest cruise, ship tour, exhibitions. Highest price; a short float.
GetYourGuideViator

Prices are regular "from" rates per person in US dollars and can change. The booking page always has the final word.

Who went

Reviews from travelers who floated

Fourteen travelers, some who floated under a clear green sky and some who got snow on their faces instead, on what won them over and what they would do differently.

★★★★★Daytime lake float, 3 h

The minibus picked us up at the hotel just after breakfast, and within the hour we were standing on a frozen lake with snow loading every spruce around it. Our guide zipped each of us into a red suit and walked us to the hole one at a time. Lying back was strange for about three seconds and then oddly peaceful, with nothing above me but sky. My feet got cold after half an hour, so I climbed out for hot berry juice and cookies in the cottage.

HBHannah B. · Leeds, UKClear sky
★★★★★Daytime lake float, 3 h

Floating on a frozen lake in the sun, dry inside the suit. Our guide took a hundred photos of us.

DTDaniel T. · Haifa, IsraelClear sky
★★★★☆Daytime lake float, 3 h

We went in mid-November and the lake had only a thin skin of ice and no snow yet, which the listing had warned about. The float itself was lovely and the guide was patient with my nerves. Next time I would come in January for the white forest.

SKSofia K. · Thessaloniki, GreeceCloud or snow
★★★★★Daytime lake float, 3 h

My fourteen-year-old just made the age limit and called it the best thing we did in Lapland. Wear wool socks.

RMRavi M. · Bengaluru, IndiaClear sky
★★★★★Aurora lake float, 3 h

We had two clear nights in Rovaniemi and spent one of them in the water. About twenty minutes after I lay back, a pale green band came up over the trees and spread right above us. I could hear the others laughing through their hoods. Afterwards we sat by the campfire with hot juice while the guide pointed out where it was brightest.

CLClaire L. · Lyon, FranceClear sky
★★★★☆Aurora lake float, 3 h

Snow all evening, no aurora at all. Still a calm, odd, lovely hour in the water, and the cabin was warm.

JNJonas N. · Hamburg, GermanyCloud or snow
★★★★★Aurora lake float, 3 h

I nearly skipped the night float because the forecast said cloud, but the tour runs in any weather and I am glad it did. The lake was far enough out that the sky went properly black between the clouds, and for ten minutes a gap opened with a faint green arc in it. Our group was small and the guide filmed each of us in the water. The video arrived a couple of days later. Dress warmer than you think, because the standing around is the cold part.

AWAmelia W. · Brisbane, AustraliaCloud or snow
★★★★★Aurora lake float, 3 h

Lying in the ice while the sky turned green. Nothing else on our trip came close.

MOMarco O. · Turin, ItalyClear sky
★★★★★Polar Explorer via Sweden

Our kids are nine and eleven, too young for the lake floats, so we took the Polar Explorer instead. The shuttle left Rovaniemi early and crossing into Sweden felt like an adventure in itself, so do not forget passports. On board the children ran between the seven decks with the audio guide while we drank hot chocolate. When the ship stopped we walked on the sea ice and they floated in the channel beside the hull, grinning in suits far too big for them, and both came home waving their certificates.

EKEmma K. · Rotterdam, NetherlandsClear sky
★★★★★Polar Explorer via Sweden

The ship cutting through the ice under a low pink sun, then floating in the channel it left behind. Hours on the bus each way, so bring a book, but the cruise made up for every one of them.

TSTomasz S. · Kraków, PolandClear sky
★★★★☆Polar Explorer via Sweden

Great ship and a short film about icebreakers that was more interesting than I expected. The float was brief because everyone takes turns, and lunch on board costs extra. Bring snacks for the bus.

LGLucía G. · Valencia, SpainCloud or snow
★★★★★Icebreaker Sampo, Kemi

We booked the afternoon Sampo cruise so we could sleep in, and the buffet on board was part of the price. Before the float a crew member took a small group through the engine room and up to the bridge, which I enjoyed more than I expected. Then everyone queued for the suits, slid into the black water between the ice slabs and lay there for about ten minutes. We were back in Rovaniemi after dark and slept like logs.

KYKaito Y. · Osaka, JapanClear sky
★★★★★Icebreaker Sampo, Kemi

Walking on the frozen sea with the Sampo behind us was the moment I keep thinking about. Buy the photo package.

SGSarah G. · Denver, USAClear sky
★★★★★Icebreaker Sampo, Kemi

The 5:45 am pickup hurt, but the drive to Kemi gave us a sunrise over the snow. The cruise was long enough to enjoy the ship and the float was short but fun. The SnowCastle exhibitions filled the wait for the bus home.

OAOliver A. · Cape Town, South AfricaCloud or snow

Been already?

Tell the next traveler how it went

Share your float on the forest lake or out by the icebreaker. We read every review before it goes up, and we publish the critical ones too.

Your rating
The sky on the night or day

At least 40 characters, 40 to go

Zip up

Book the daytime float with Nordic Adventures

If you are in Rovaniemi between about December and March and want to try ice floating once, we would book Nordic Adventures by day. Three hours, a hotel pickup, as long in the ice hole as you can stand, and hot drinks after.

You can hold a place now and pay nearer the day. Cancelling is free until 24 hours before, which leaves room to check the weather. Bring wool socks.

~$133

per person · about 3 hours · hotel pickup

GetYourGuide Viator
  • ✓ Free cancellation up to 24 hours before
  • ✓ Reserve now, pay later
  • ✓ Rescue suit and hot drinks included
  • ✓ Hotel pickup and drop-off

Good to know

Why you float, and what keeps you warm

Five minutes of reading makes the suit, the hole in the ice and the strange calm of lying in a frozen lake much easier to understand before you try it.

Ice floating borrows its gear from sea rescue. The suits are immersion suits, made for people who end up in freezing water, and around Rovaniemi they have become a way to spend an hour lying on a frozen lake in comfort. Forest lakes lie in every direction around the main town of Finnish Lapland.

01A suit built for the sea

The suit covers you from the boots to a hood around your face, with seals at the wrists and neck. It is padded with air and foam, so it holds you on the surface and keeps the cold water off your clothes. How it feels from inside.

02A hole cut in the ice

On the lake the guides keep an opening in the ice, often with rails at one side to climb out. You lower yourself in feet first and lie back. Around you the ice is thick enough to walk on.

03Why you do not sink

The buoyancy is in the suit, not in your swimming. Lying flat, with arms out, you rest on the water like a raft. Most people find it relaxing once the first second of doubt has passed.

The moment most people remember is the quiet, lying back with snow on the spruces and nothing but sky above the hood.

04The lights above

The aurora appears when particles from the sun reach the upper atmosphere, and Lapland lies under the band where it shows most often. It needs a dark, clear sky, which is why the night float drives out of town. Your odds overhead.

05The frozen sea

The northern end of the Gulf of Bothnia freezes over in most winters, which is what keeps icebreakers busy out of Kemi and Axelsvik. On those cruises you float in the dark channel the ship has opened through the ice. Sampo or Polar Explorer.

06Manners at the hole

Follow the guide's instructions to the letter, go in one at a time and leave alcohol for later, since the listings bar it. What to wear underneath covers the clothes that make the difference.

3 hA lake float from hotel to hotel

About 1 °CThe lake water, per a reviewer

14+Minimum age on the lake floats

Dec to MarThe rough frozen-lake season

Only have a long weekend? Our guide Floating in three Rovaniemi days shows how to fit it in with everything else.

Questions and answers

Frequently asked questions about ice floating in Rovaniemi

Fourteen questions we hear again and again, with the full answer.

How much does ice floating in Rovaniemi cost?

The two lake floats on this page start at ~$133 by day and ~$138 at night, each for about three hours with hotel pickup. The icebreaker days cost more, ~$363 with Polar Explorer and ~$564 on the Sampo. Every price and extra is in our cost guide.

Which ice floating trip should I pick?

For most visitors, Nordic Adventures' daytime float, because it is short, collects you from your hotel and has the most reviews. Pick the night version if the northern lights matter most, and an icebreaker day if you have children under 14 or want the ship as well.

Do I need to know how to swim?

No. The rescue suit keeps you afloat on your back without any effort. The listing says you will feel more comfortable if you can swim, but it is not a requirement, and a guide stays at the edge of the hole the whole time.

Will I get wet or cold?

The suit is waterproof, so your clothes stay dry, though some reviewers on other floats found a suit damp inside or leaking at the feet. The cold reaches hands and feet first. Warm layers and wool socks underneath help a lot. What to wear.

When is the season for ice floating?

The lake is reliably frozen roughly from December to March. The floats can run in October and November, but the listing does not promise snow or ice then. The icebreakers need sea ice, which Polar Explorer does not guarantee before early January. The best time to float.

Will I see the northern lights?

Maybe. The night float takes you to a dark lake, but the lights need a clear sky and solar activity, and no tour can promise them. Reviewers describe nights with a bright aurora and nights with snow and cloud. Your odds overhead.

How long do you spend in the water?

On the lake floats, as long as you like within the three hours; one reviewer was in for about 45 minutes. On the icebreakers everyone takes turns, and one Sampo reviewer had about 10 minutes.

Can children go ice floating?

Not on the lake floats, which start at 14 years and 150 cm. On the Sampo the minimum height for floating is 140 cm, and on Polar Explorer children of 125 cm and over can float with their parents. Every limit.

Are there weight or health limits?

Nordic Adventures sets a maximum of 110 kg and a height of 150 to 210 cm, and turns away pregnant women and people with back problems or limited mobility; the night float adds heart problems. The icebreaker staff may check each person's condition before the float.

What should I wear?

Warm, comfortable layers that fit under a suit, from thermal underwear and a fleece to wool socks and a hat. Leave bulky jackets and big bags at the hotel. On the icebreakers bring outdoor clothing for the deck and sunglasses in spring. The full list.

Can I take photos while floating?

Not with your own phone, which has to stay out of the water. On the lake the guides take photos and videos for you, and on the icebreakers a photo package is sold. Ask how and when the pictures are sent before you go in.

Is food included?

The lake floats include hot drinks and cookies. On the Sampo a buffet lunch comes only with the afternoon cruise, and on Polar Explorer meals are sold on board. Eat before an early pickup.

Do I need a passport?

For Polar Explorer, yes, because the ship sails from Axelsvik in Sweden. The lake floats and the Sampo stay in Finland, though carrying ID is sensible on any trip. The two ships.

Can I cancel for free?

Yes. All four can be cancelled free of charge up to 24 hours before, and on GetYourGuide you can reserve now and pay later. Weather does not cancel the night float, which runs in all conditions, so decide by the day before.

Read before you travel

Guides to floating in a frozen Lapland

Ten questions that keep coming up, each with the long answer instead of the short one.