A forest lake or the Bothnian Bay: where to ice float from Rovaniemi
From Rovaniemi you can float in two kinds of frozen water. One is a forest lake a short drive from town, for three hours. The other is the frozen Bothnian Bay beside an icebreaker, a full day away at three to four times the price.
Fresh water in the forest, salt water by a ship
The lake floats with Nordic Adventures take you to a frozen forest lake outside Rovaniemi, where a hole is cut in the ice. There is a cabin to warm up in afterwards, with a hot drink of berry juice or tea.
The icebreaker days take you to the sea. In most winters the Bothnian Bay ices over at the top of the Gulf of Bothnia. A big ship then breaks a channel so you can float among the broken floes.
Both work the same way. You wear an insulated suit over your clothes and lie back in the water. The suit keeps you dry, so neither trip is ice swimming.
How long you spend in the water
On the lake, the float is the main event. Time in the hole is flexible, and one reviewer on the Nordic Adventures lake stayed in for about 45 minutes.
On the icebreakers, the float is one part of a long program. A Sampo reviewer floated for about 10 minutes, and reviewers mention that the floating area can feel crowded with a ship's worth of passengers.
If floating is what you came for, the lake gives you far more of it. Our guide to life inside the float suit covers a lake session from the briefing to the hot drinks.
The day around the float
A lake float takes three hours with hotel pickup and drop-off, so it fits around a morning or an evening. You still have the rest of the day for something else.
Sampo keeps you out for 9 h 40 min to 10 h 45 min. Pickup is 5:45–6:20 am for the morning cruise or 9:25–10:00 am for the afternoon one, then about 1 h 45 min by bus to Kemi for a cruise of 3.5 or 4 hours.
Polar Explorer sails from Axelsvik on the Swedish side, and its optional shuttle from Rovaniemi turns the trip into a day of about 8.5 hours. You cross a border, so bring your passport. Sweden's clock also runs one hour behind Finland's.
The ships add things the lake cannot. You walk on the sea ice when conditions allow and see a working icebreaker up close, and Sampo includes a guided tour of the ship. Our Sampo and Polar Explorer comparison goes ship by ship.
A day on the frozen sea
Polar Explorer's three-hour cruise from Axelsvik with a float in survival suits and a walk on the ice when conditions allow. Take the shuttle option from Rovaniemi, and your passport.
Crowd size and atmosphere
The lake trips are the smaller affair. Viator's listing for the daytime float says it is limited to 15 travelers, and the quiet of a frozen forest is a large part of what you pay for.
The ships are bigger in every sense. Polar Explorer carries up to 100 people across seven decks, and its extras run to an audio guide app (16 languages) plus a short film of about 11 minutes in the ship's theater.
On Sampo, reviewers describe a guided visit below deck that reaches the engine room and the bridge. That makes an icebreaker a sightseeing day with a float in it, and the lake a float with a forest around it.
What each one costs
The lake floats start at ~$133 by day and ~$138 at night. The Polar Explorer cruise from ~$363 and the Sampo day at ~$564 cost roughly three to four times as much.
Meals add to the icebreaker bill, and photo packages are sold on board because no phone comes into the water. Our price breakdown lists every extra on all four trips.
Ratings are close across the board. The daytime lake float holds 4.8 from 200+ reviews on GetYourGuide, Polar Explorer 4.7 from 400+ and Sampo 4.6 from 200+.
Who each one suits
Age and height decide this for many families. Nobody under 14 goes on the lake, and you must stand between 150 cm (4 ft 11 in) and 210 cm (6 ft 11 in) tall.
The icebreakers are the option for younger children. To float on Sampo you need to be at least 140 cm (4 ft 7 in) tall, and Polar Explorer goes lower, letting children of 125 cm (4 ft 1 in) and up into the water with a parent.
Our page on who can float covers the health rules as well. Both lake trips exclude pregnant women and people with back problems.
- Choose the lake for a long and quiet float close to town
- Choose the lake at night if the aurora is part of the plan
- Choose an icebreaker if you travel with children under 14
- Choose an icebreaker if you want the ship and the sea ice, and have a whole day free
Ice comes first
Both need ice, and neither can promise it early in the winter. The lake float runs in October and November too, but the listing does not promise snow or solid ice then.
Out at sea, Polar Explorer will not vouch for the ice, or how thick it is, before early January. The sea-ice walk can also be dropped in the first weeks of winter, both icebreaker listings say.
For the weeks with the steadiest ice, see the best time to float. If the northern lights matter to you, the night float on the lake is the trip built around them.