Reindeer Sleigh Rides in Finnish Lapland

What a reindeer ride is actually like

A reindeer pulls a sleigh at walking pace along a marked forest track, with a herder leading. There is no steering, no brake, nothing to operate. You sit under a blanket and watch the forest go past. Rides are typically short, and the farm visit around them, feeding, the herder's account of the herding year, coffee by a fire, is usually the larger part of the booking.

Reindeer or huskies, if you only do one

Huskies are noise, speed and adrenaline: they scream before the off and run hard once released. Reindeer are quiet and slow. Families with young children and anyone who found the husky description alarming tend to be happier with the reindeer. If you want the activity to be the story you tell afterwards, take the huskies. If you want the landscape and the herder's world, take the reindeer.

Reindeer herding in Finnish Lapland is a working livelihood with deep Sámi connections, not a set piece built for visitors. We have deliberately not written a paragraph of Sámi cultural background here, because we could not verify one against an official or academic source, and a culture that has spent decades being misrepresented in tourist copy deserves better than our summary.