Ice floating in Rovaniemi

Ice floating means lying in the water of a frozen lake in a special suit. Visit Rovaniemi suggests it as one way to experience the frozen waters around the city: “you can put on a floating suit and try ice flotation.” The sessions near Rovaniemi take place on lakes outside town, never on the rivers in the centre, and they come in three versions: in daylight, in the evening with an eye on the sky, and in autumn on open water before the lakes freeze.

The suits do the work. On the daytime session in our list they are thermal rescue suits, the guide speaks English, and hot drinks and cookies follow when you climb out. The whole outing, including hotel pick-up, takes about three hours.

Day, evening or autumn

The formats differ less in what happens in the water than in the light, the season and the entry limits. The table shows what the product pages state for each one.

The age limit is the point that splits families. Both Nordic Adventures sessions start at 14, while the Safartica sessions go by height instead, so a child of 120 cm or more can join. If your children are younger and smaller than that, ice floating is not an option on any of the tours here.

When the lakes are frozen

Visit Rovaniemi says the waters around the city are generally frozen from December to March, and adds that the timing and thickness of the ice can vary a lot with the weather and the place. The daytime session states that snow and ice on its lake are not guaranteed in October and November. If you travel early in the season, plan the floating for your last days rather than your first, or pick the autumn format instead.

In autumn the order is reversed. From September until about the end of October the nights are already dark enough for the northern lights, while the lakes are still open, and one operator runs lake floating on open water in exactly that window. The first closed snow cover in Rovaniemi typically arrives around 21 October, measured at the Apukka station by the Finnish Meteorological Institute, though it can melt again before winter settles in.

Floating under the northern lights

The evening sessions add the night sky. Visit Rovaniemi gives the aurora season as late August to early April and says the lights appear most often between 22:00 and 02:00, although they can show up as soon as it is dark. According to the Finnish Meteorological Institute, auroras appear on roughly half of all dark, clear nights in central Lapland. Cloud is what usually stops you, and neither evening format can control that. The autumn session says plainly that northern lights are not guaranteed.

Our guide to the northern lights in Rovaniemi explains forecasts and the best months.

Ice floating evenings and every other aurora format from Rovaniemi are compared side by side on rovaniemi-northernlights.com.

Floating in the sea from an icebreaker

The other way to float is in the sea. Both icebreaker cruises from Kemi include an ice floating stop in survival suits: the Sampo sails from 18 December 2026 to 3 April 2027, the more modern Arktis from 1 December 2026 to 31 March 2027. The operator points out that floating only happens when weather, wind and ice allow, and that the stop can be moved or dropped without compensation. Kemi is a full day away from Rovaniemi by bus, so this is a trip of its own. Details are on our icebreaker cruise page.

Why the river in town is off limits

The city centre lies between two rivers, the Ounasjoki and the Kemijoki, and in winter both look solid. The City of Rovaniemi warns that it is not safe to go onto it, and that between the Jätkänkynttilä bridge and the railway bridge the ice is dangerous throughout the winter because of the strong current. Footprints on the ice do not mean it can carry a person. Visit Rovaniemi adds that more water is sometimes released into the river for electricity production, and the ice may then not thicken properly.

This is an official warning, not a law, but it is the reason every floating session runs on a lake with a guide.

What to wear

You float in the provided suit, so the question is what to wear before and after. The Safartica night session includes winter clothing. For the icebreaker, the operator recommends layered thermal underwear and warm, windproof outer clothing. The Lapland safety brochure for travellers warns that wind makes the cold feel worse and can cause frostbite even just below zero, which matters when you stand on open ice after dark. Our page on what to wear in Rovaniemi covers layers, boots and mittens.

If you want to stay on the ice without getting into the water, the ice fishing and snowshoe trips run on frozen lakes north of the city.