Where to go dog-sledding in Rovaniemi? I’ll tell you all about it!

Right, let’s not kid ourselves, when you decide to head to Lapland in the depths of winter, it’s partly to make the most of the snow and get your fill of thrills with the activities that go with it. And good news, dog sledding is one of the best activities in Finnish Lapland !

I’ve done it several times, my first being right around Rovaniemi during my Erasmus year in Finland (I promise, I’ll stop telling you my life story) a very very long time ago, and I still remember it as a great experience, especially as I’ve been able to do it again, mainly in Norway.

So, all that to say that if you’re on holiday in Rovaniemi, it’s essential! Let’s look at why, with whom, and a few recommendations. Off we go!

My 4 recommended kennels in Rovaniemi

• Husky & Yoga Nature Lapland – €220, rated 5/5, a small kennel with a great reputation. Transfers from Rovaniemi are included. As the name suggests, they also offer yoga, a meditation room, a sauna, that kind of thing
• Bearhill Husky, €195, rated 4.9/5, a small kennel about ten kilometres north of Rovaniemi. Transfers are included too
• Apukka Husky, €200, rated 4.6/5. A bigger kennel, but a benchmark in Rovaniemi! Transfers are included
• Baba Husky,, €210 for 10km, and still rated 5/5! A small family business in Rovaniemi

Why Finnish Lapland, and Rovaniemi in particular, is a good place to go dog sledding

Right, I go into this quite a bit in the article on dog sledding in Finnish Lapland, but to get good conditions for dog sledding, you need:

• dogs (great, thanks Vincent!)
• snow, and that one’s fine, Lapland is well stocked for a good part of the year
• big flat expanses, and that one’s fine too, there’s looooads of it in Lapland! maybe a bit too much 😀 Because Lapland in winter is mostly frozen lakes, forests, then lakes, then forests

It really is the ideal playground for sled dogs!

Which agencies and kennels to go dog sledding with in Rovaniemi

Right, now we get to the heart of it and I’d say it’s not easy, because there are a lot of them! Rovaniemi is THE town for every activity in Lapland, the northern capital that pulls in quite a crowd. So plenty of operators. Good ones, less good ones (which I’ll steer clear of), small kennels, bigger ones.

Watch out, because some of them need a car, while others provide transfers from Rovaniemi or from the Santa Claus Village. I’ll tell you which is which.

There are also some nice combos with reindeer and snowmobiles, for an “all in one” outing!

Oh, and since they don’t all have the same rules about children, I’ll give you the minimum age too.

Where you need to be careful is the difference between an “agency” and a “kennel“. An agency owns no dogs, it sends you off to a partner kennel, just as it would for snowmobiling or the northern lights. It’s a middleman that organises your trip.

I’ve managed to track down every kennel that takes tourists directly. I’ll list them below, then I’ll give you some agencies worth a look. Here we go!

All the kennels in Rovaniemi

Do watch out: some of them need a car, the smallest ones can’t afford to come and pick you up in Rovaniemi, which can be more than an hour’s drive away. those are the friendliest experiences.

But without a car there are excellent ones too, thankfully!

4 excellent agencies to book your dog sledding trip with

This is where it gets complicated. Lapland is fashionable. And agencies are multiplying. And it’s hard to know who they send their customers to. I’ve done the sorting, and I’m not going to list ALL the agencies, that would make no sense (plus you’d probably nod off).

So here are 4 excellent agencies with very good reviews, working with very good operators.

Dog sledding with children

Plenty of operators set an age limit for children. Sometimes it’s 7, sometimes less, I’ve even seen 16. So it depends on each one. But luckily some are flexible, and a few don’t set any age limit at all! Mind you, we’ll all agree that a 7-year-old nipper is going to sit in the sled and not drive it.

• Husky & Yoga Nature Lapland : no minimum age
• Bearhill Husky : no minimum age, and it’s even free for under-3s!
• Apukka : exactly the same!
• Arctic Circle Snowmobile park : same again, free for under-3s
• Safartica : same here
• Nordic Unique Travels : free for under-2s
• Arctic GM : they take all ages, but children pay

So that’s really positive! It shows Rovaniemi is a family destination 🙂

How are sled dogs treated?

I hear a lot of people say no, they don’t want to do it because it’s cruelty, because the dogs are forced into it, because they’re not made for it and because a sled is heavy.

Well… all of that is wrong (thankfully!)

You have to understand that dogs really are made for this, for running in the snow, for burning off energy. The best way to realise it is when you walk up to them holding the harness. They know they’re about to run and they go wild! They’re athletes and they looove it!

Then there’s the idea that pulling a sled with people in it is heavy work. Because you’re on snow, and snow slides and puts up no resistance, it’s not like pulling over soil. For the dogs it’s almost nothing. So even if you put 4 or 6 of you in there, they barely feel a thing! To convince you, with the forces at play, here’s this video by Jamy Gourmaud where he shows that, on snow, pulling a 150kg sled only works out as pulling 8kg. Which is why having plenty of flat ground matters.

And then, I’ve visited quite a few kennels across Norway, Sweden and Finland. Some of them for dog sledding, others just to see the dogs, some doing bed and breakfast. I’ve never seen an unhappy or mistreated dog. So no, I can’t say it doesn’t exist. But mushers love their dogs, you can’t do this job if you don’t love them. And anyway, I check pretty much everything before talking about one company or another, so if I ever hear about mistreatment, you’ll never see them in the recommendations.

Oh yes, I also hear that it’s sad to let the dogs sleep outside in the middle of winter. Look at their coat, they’re built to handle -30, these are dogs from Alaska, Greenland, Siberia. The woman I went to in the Lofoten islands (she has since closed) explained to us that in summer, when it was 15°, it was far too much for the dogs and that summer was complicated.

So tell yourself that by going dog sledding you’re treating yourself, but you’re treating the dogs too, and all they want is to run!

4 recommended places to stay in Rovaniemi

Find your place to stay in Rovaniemi!

A few tips for going dog sledding

Right, honestly, it’s not that complicated. There’s a brake pedal, you lean a bit into the bends, you push a bit on the climbs and it’ll work your abs, thighs and forearms. It’s fine!

It’s not especially physical, it’s not hard. The smaller kennels can adapt the route to what each person needs, which is handy.

As we’ve seen, each kennel has its own age limit. There’s a weight limit too. Well, that one is mostly so they know and can add a dog, for example.

But if you’re not in great shape, don’t worry, it shouldn’t stop you from going because nobody is going to make you do acrobatics, the mushers just want you to enjoy it safely 🙂

What time of year can you go dog sledding

Right, this one is a really simple question: you need snow. So it depends on the year, but let’s say that around Rovaniemi, the snow turns up around mid to late November, at least snow stable enough for the dogs to have a blast. It can come earlier, but it can also melt. In 2024 and 2025 the snow arrived fairly late, but in the years before that it was more like October. So book, and worst case, with free cancellation you can get your money back if there’s no snow.

Otherwise, some kennels swap the sleds for karts. That way the dogs can run all year round!

The map of Finnish Lapland

I’ve created a map of Finnish Lapland with everything you’ll need to plan your trip:

• the places to stay, including the ice igloos under the northern lights
• all the best activities, in every town…
• but above all EVERY sled dog company in the whole country, including in Rovaniemi!

In conclusion

And there you go! Now you know everything! Since it’s a big city there are a lot of operators. I’ve taken quite a few out, the ones with plenty of bad reviews, the ones running tours far shorter than what had been agreed, for example.

So before booking, my advice is to look at the ones with good reviews, they’re worth reading to avoid nasty surprises. And to look at why the bad reviews are there too. Whether it’s genuinely bad service or just someone being unfriendly.

Anyway! there are lots of great kennels, small ones, big ones, so you’re bound to find the right one in Rovaniemi!

If you want to know more about Lapland and its activities, here are the articles I’d point you to:

• Discover Finnish Lapland – all the info you need to finalise your trip up there
• The best activities in Lapland – what to do in this stunning region? here are the activities you shouldn’t skip!
• Sleeping in an igloo made of ice – waking up under the northern lights, tempting?
• Going dog sledding in Finnish Lapland – town by town, find the kennels worth booking
• What’s the best place in Finnish Lapland – Levi or Ylläs, Rovaniemi or Saariselkä? I compare them all for you!
• A one-week itinerary in Rovaniemi – find the best activities to make the most of the region!
• Where to sleep in Rovaniemi – sleep in a cabin out in the wild, in a smart hotel or save your money, I tell you everything!
• How to get from the airport in Rovaniemi to Santa Claus Village – find all the buses, the taxis, the ride-hailing options

⭐️ You can find ALL the articles about Finnish Lapland 

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