Car Rental in Rovaniemi: Everything You Need to Know
Santa's backyard is much bigger than the bus routes. Here's how to rent a car and see the most interesting part of it.
Our drive back to Rovaniemi from Riisitunturi National Park at sunset (3pm) in January
Rovaniemi itself doesn't demand a car. The center is walkable, Santa Claus Village is a short bus ride away, and most northern lights tours pick you up from your hotel. But the second you want to see Finnish Lapland (the true one, the one we love) beyond the city limits, on your own schedule, a rental car changes the trip. This is everything you need to know about renting a car in Rovaniemi: where to pick one up, what winter driving involves, and where to venture.
🛌 Where to stay:
• Arctic SnowHotel & Glass Igloos, Sinettä — outside the city, great if you've got a car, we visited and had lunch there
• Villa Lucky — our own base in Rovaniemi, we watched the lights from the yard
🇫🇮 Top experience:
• Northern lights tour — a guide drives, watches the sky, and takes you away from the clouds
• Sauna and ice dipping experience — something to do between aurora checks
🚗 Car rental:
• Rental cars for the region — worth it if you want to stay further from the city
Jump to: Quick answer · Do you need a car · Where to rent · Airport vs. railway station vs. city · Driving tips for Finnish Lapland · Day trips and road trips · Where to stay · FAQ
Rovaniemi car rental: quick answer
Rent at Rovaniemi Airport if you're flying in. It's the biggest selection, it's barely ten minutes from the terminal, and most major companies have a desk there. Rent at the railway station if you came in on the train from Helsinki. Book ahead for December through March: Rovaniemi's winter tourist season is enormous relative to its size, and cars do sell out. Winter tires are required by law and come standard on anything you rent, so you don't need to think about that part.
Do you need a car in Rovaniemi
Moose or Eli crossing?
For the city itself, you don’t need a car. Rovaniemi's center is small enough to walk, Santa Claus Village and the Arctic Circle marker are about 8 km out and reachable by Linkkari bus line 8, and most tour operators, including aurora hunts and husky or reindeer farms, run their own pickup from hotels in town. You can even book a tour to Riisitunturi National Park to see the tykky trees, but it feels a bit rushed as opposed to driving yourself. You’ll find our favorite winter tours in our article: Winter Activities in Rovaniemi.
Where a car earns its cost is everything past that radius. Ranua Wildlife Park, the fells at Pyhä-Luosto, Levi, Ruka: these are all real day trips, but the bus connections between them are thin and built around resort seasons. If you want to chase clear skies away from Rovaniemi's light pollution (read our guide to the Northern Lights in Rovaniemi With and Without a Car), or you want to be somewhere specific at a specific hour instead of when the bus happens to run, a car is the difference between planning around transit and just going. Freeedom!
Where to rent a car in Rovaniemi
Our cabin on the train Helsinki-Rovaniemi — We picked up our rental car at the station
Rovaniemi Airport (RVN) has the widest rental car selection by far. Per Finavia, the airport operator, the companies with a presence there include Avis, Budget, Hertz, Sixt, Europcar, Enterprise, National, Alamo, Green Motion, Finn-Rent, addCar, and Scandia Rent. Not every desk is staffed around the clock, so if you're landing on a late or early flight, check that your specific company will be open when you arrive.
Rovaniemi railway station also has a rental desk, which is the more useful pickup point if you're arriving on the train from Helsinki rather than flying. We picked our car there in September.
A few city center locations exist too, mostly the same companies running a second, smaller desk. Unless you have a specific reason to pick up downtown, the airport or station will almost always have more cars on the lot.
For our dear American readers, we had no issue finding an automatic car, but you need to book it specifically in advance, like in the rest of Europe.
Whichever counter you use, compare a couple of companies rather than booking the first result. Prices swing a fair amount between them for the same car class, and in peak winter weeks, waiting to compare can mean the difference between having options and taking whatever's left.
Airport vs. railway station vs. city pickup
This one's simple: match your pickup point to how you arrived, unless there’s a drastic difference in price (especially for longer stays). The airport is about 10 km from downtown, an easy 15 to 20 minute ride by airport bus or taxi, so there's no real penalty to renting there even if your hotel is in the center. If you're coming off the train, the station desk saves you a taxi out to the airport just to grab a car.
Driving tips for Finnish Lapland
Reindeer own the road in the Arctic! Here near Kemisjärvi, driving from Rovaniemi
Driving around Rovaniemi is manageable, plenty of locals do it every day and roads are well maintained. But if you venture further and/or drive in winter, there are a few things worth knowing before you get behind the wheel:
Winter tires aren't optional
Finnish law requires winter tires from November 1 to March 31 whenever conditions call for it, and studded tires are permitted the same months. Every rental car here comes fitted for the season, so this is handled for you.
Reindeer and moose use the roads too (year-round)
They especially love dawn and dusk, and a reindeer will not get out of the way for you. Slow down over blind crests and around curves, especially outside town where the road is unlit. If you do hit one, call 112. You're not financially responsible for the animal; Finland's Motor Insurers' Centre compensates the owner through the local reindeer herding cooperative, but you still need to report it.
Daylight
Daylight is limited in deep winter, especially December and early January, so plan longer drives around the hours you'll have light. In summer, you can drive all night!
Gas
Fuel up whenever you pass a station outside Rovaniemi itself. Stops thin out fast on the rural stretches toward Levi, Ruka, or Pyhä-Luosto, and you don't want to be guessing on a quarter tank in -20°C.
Snow and ice
In winter, roads are often packed snow and ice, with plowed snowbanks on either side that narrow your margin for error. A passing truck can throw up a brief whiteout. Ease off, don't brake hard, and give yourself more following distance than feels necessary.
If any of this sounds like more than you want to manage, that's a completely reasonable call, and it's exactly what guided northern lights tours and day-trip excursions from Rovaniemi are for.
Day trips and road trips from Rovaniemi once you have a car
Riisitunturi is even more beautiful without the groups. Come early if you have your own car!
Day trips
Ranua Wildlife Park, home to Finland's brown bears, wolves, and other native wildlife in enclosures built into real forest, is about 80 km from Rovaniemi, under an hour's drive.
Santa Claus Village and the Arctic Circle marker are about 8 km out, a 10 to 12 minute drive, easy enough to combine with something else the same day.
Riisitunturi National Park, known for the snow-loaded, half-frozen spruce trees locals call "tykky" is about 160 km southeast, around a 2-hour drive. The park itself is remote enough that a guided tour is worth considering . You’ll find further information in our Winter Guide to Rovaniemi.
Pyhä-Luosto National Park, with some of Lapland's oldest fells and a solid hiking network even outside ski season, is roughly an hour and a half by car.
Longer trips
These are far enough that we'd call them an overnight or a proper multi-day swing.
Levi, Finland's biggest ski resort, is about 170 km north, which puts it somewhere in the neighborhood of two to two and a half hours depending on conditions.
Ruka, near Kuusamo, is about 200 km east and closer to two and a half hours.
Saariselkä, deep in Lapland's north, is about 260 km up the E75, roughly 3 hours in summer and closer to 4 in winter conditions.
Inari, home to Finland's Sámi Parliament and the Siida museum, is farther still at around 340 km. We couldn't confirm an exact drive time, but the bus covers it in about 5 hours, so figure on 4 to 4.5 hours by car.
Crossing into another country is also on the table once you have a car. Kiruna, Sweden and Tromsø, Norway are both realistic multi-day road trips from Rovaniemi, though neither is a quick drive. Some northern lights guide even drive it overnight for clear skies, but they’re used to it! We cover both routes in How to Get to Rovaniemi and One Lapland Trip: Three Countries.
For more on where these fit into a longer Lapland itinerary, our guide to Magical Alternatives to Rovaniemi covers several of these towns in more depth, and Finnish Lapland in Fall is worth a look if you're visiting outside peak winter.
Where to stay in Rovaniemi
If you're renting a car specifically to get outside town, it's worth weighing a hotel or. cabin outside Rovaniemi over one downtown, since you'll already have the car for it and a darker sky helps for aurora viewing. It’s our favorite option, aurora or not.
Between our Best Hotels in Rovaniemi guide, our Best Aurora Hotels in Finland guide, and our 22 Glass Igloos in Finland, you've got the full range covered.
Renting a car in Rovaniemi means trading fixed bus schedules for the ability to be at Ranua at opening, catch the last light at Pyhä-Luosto, or turn around and chase clear skies the second the forecast changes. That flexibility is the whole point.
Zoom in on the map below to find an aurora hotel, cabin, or glass igloo in and around Rovaniemi:
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🏨 Explore hotels, apartments, guesthouses, cabins
🧭 Browse activities and tours
🚗 Compare car rentals
🧳 Get travel gear
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FAQ: Car rental in Rovaniemi
Do I need a car in Rovaniemi? Not for the city itself or for Santa Claus Village, which is reachable by bus. You'll want one for day trips to places like Ranua, Levi, or Pyhä-Luosto, where bus connections are limited.
Should I rent at the airport or in the city center? The airport, in almost every case. It's about 10 km out with a wider selection of companies, and it's no more than a 15 to 20 minute ride from downtown either way.
Can I rent a car at Rovaniemi's railway station? Yes, there's a rental desk there, useful if you arrived on the train from Helsinki rather than flying in.
Do I need to bring my own winter tires? No. Winter tires are legally required in Finland during the winter months, and every rental car here comes fitted with them already.
What happens if I hit a reindeer while driving? Call 112 and report it. You're not financially liable for the animal; compensation to the owner goes through Finland's Motor Insurers' Centre.
What's the best day trip once I have a car? Ranua Wildlife Park if you only have half a day, under an hour each way. Pyhä-Luosto if you want a hike, about ninety minutes each way.
Renting a car in Rovaniemi trades fixed bus schedules for the ability to just go. Be at Ranua when it opens, catch the last light at Pyhä-Luosto, arrive to Riisitunturi before tour buses, turn around and chase clear skies the second the forecast changes. Once winter tires and a slower pace are accounted for, it's a straightforward drive, and it opens up a lot more of Lapland than the city center alone.
Finally, read our guide to How to Get to Rovaniemi for the logistics, and explore all of our Lapland Travel Guides here.
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Best Hotels in Rovaniemi
Winter Activities in Rovaniemi
Christmas in Rovaniemi
Best Time to Visit Rovaniemi & Finnish Lapland
How to See the Northern Lights in Rovaniemi
Magical Alternatives to Rovaniemi
Our Northern Lights Tour in Rovaniemi
Car rental in Rovaniemi
Best Glass Igloos in Finland
Aurora Tours in Finnish Lapland
Northern Lights in Lapland
Best Aurora Hotels in Finland
Northern Lights Hub
Lapland in General:
Finnish Lapland in Fall
One Lapland Trip, Three Countries
Kiruna vs. Rovaniemi
Lapland on a Budget
Sauna and Ice Dip
Hiking in Finnish Lapland
Arctic Food Guide
