Best of Lapland : Sauna, ice swimming, dinner & Northern Lights*

My friend and I had the best experience with Tetiana! She picked us up from a central location in Rovaniemi and drove us to their private home just outside of Rovaniemi. Her knowledge of the Finnish culture was amazing and we learnt so much! The sauna was a traditional Finnish sauna (only 150 of these left in Finland!) and we had this to ourselves. Towels, slippers and tea were provided. We went ice swimming in their private late and as recommended made snow angels! Tetiana then made us an amazing traditional Finnish lunch which was the best meal we'd had in Finland throughout our travels. Tetiana was really accommodating and took photos for us and dropped us back at our accomodation. This was my favourite experience in Rovaniemi and would love to do it again! Thanks Tetiana.

This was probably our favourite experience that we had in Rovaniemi. The cabin was in a secluded area and sat on a private lake with a pier that was lit up with fairy lights. We had the sauna to ourselves which was great and as recommended we went ice swimming and jumped into the lake which was a thrilling experience and one I would do again. We were then welcomed into the cabin where Tanya had our dinner ready. Because I don’t eat fish, Tanya had prepared a vegetarian meal for me which was great. My two friends said that the salmon was absolutely delicious and probably the best they have tried. We didn’t get to see the northern lights but honestly after such a good experience in the sauna, ice swimming and dinner, it didn’t really bother us. Tanya was such an amazing host and she
is so knowledgeable about Rovaniemi and the Finnish traditions and we learnt so much from her. Thank you so much to Alex and Tanya for an amazing experience :)

We, my wife, three daughters had REAL sauna experience for the first time together. We really had a great time and we cannot say thank you enough to Alex and his wife. They organized the tour to be better than great, they're offering it in a very low price for the experience. Unfortunately we had a little stormy and snowing weather, but we're completely satisfied with the tour. We'll definitely ask a tour from him.

Mon compagnon et moi même avons passé une soirée hors du temps ! Alex et sa femme ont pris soin de nous et grâce à eux nous avons passé une magnifique soirée ! Tout était parfait :le sauna, le plouf dans l'eau gelée et le repas ... Dommage que nous n'ayons pas pu voir des aurores boréales mais cela ne dépend pas de leur volonté d'alex !
Encore merci

This tour is amazing! Alex and his wife are very friendly. He explained everything clearly about Sauna and wildlife in Rovaniemi. Their house is very warm and lovely. We had fresh Salmon for dinner.

We booked the sauna, ice swimming, Lappish dinner, and northern lights on our 3rd day. Alex, the owner, picked us up on time and drove us to their private compound far from the buzz of the city.
I and my friends are the only tourists so it really felt personal and exclusive! Alex explained how to do the experience with the sauna and ice dipping. He instructed us to spend 15 to 20 minutes in the sauna then go outside the cabin to feel the cold then go back again. He told us to do this 3 times or when we feel we are ready, we should dip ourselves on the lake! Then go straight back to the sauna! We spent 2 hours in and out of the sauna then we finally had the courage to jump in the lake and boy it was freezing! But surprising very exciting and relaxing at the same time! After that, we went to meet Alex and his wife Tanya for dinner in a small cottage with an amazing interior and ambiance . The dinner was cooked by themselves! There were Salmon, potatoes, bread, fresh vegetables, biscuits and drinks! It was so delicious! A wonderful way to end the experience. They also shared stories and interesting facts about the wild animals, mushrooms, and berries in Finland. We really felt their passion for nature and for what they do. We even met their very cute dog Lumi!

Wir haben bei Alex einen Abend in einer echten finnischen Sauna gebucht, inkl. Dinner.

Die max. Kapazität der Sauna beträgt 6 Personen, so dass die Gruppe auf keinen Fall gross wird. Wir hatten den Luxus, die Sauna (eine separate Hütte, genau so, wie man sich das vorstellt) ganz für uns zu haben. So mussten wir auch nicht auf irgendwelche Befindlichkeiten betreffend Kleiderordnung Rücksicht nehmen sondern konnten - wie es sich gehört - die Sauna splitternackt geniessen. Alex holte uns in Rovaniemi ab, denn das Anwesen ist mitten im Wald an einem privaten See gelegen. Alles war bereits liebevoll vorbereitet, so dass wir sofort zum Schwitzen konnten. Zuerst probierten wir die Abkühlung mit dem frischen Schnee, aber bei -25°C war das doch etwas kalt. Daher zogen wir es ab dem 2. Gang vor, ebenfall nackt in den eiskalten See zu springen. Was für ein Erlebnis! Es empfiehlt sich lediglich, bei solchen Temperaturen richtige Badeschlappen mitzubringen, denn die Füsse tun nach kurzer Zeit im Schnee weh, und die bereitgelegten Schläppchen sind zwar gut gemeint, können aber wirklich nur als Notbehelf dienen.

Anschliessend gab es noch ein zwar einfaches aber trotzdem hervorragendes Dinner mit geräuchertem+gebratenen Lachs. Wer hier etwas anderes als heissen Saft und Wasser trinken möchte, muss Bier und Wein selbst mitbringen, da Alex keine Lizenz zum Ausschank alkoholischer Getränke hat. Dafür hatten wir während des Essens netten Smalltalk und erfuhren noch einiges über die Bewohner und die Natur. Mit der Nordlicht-Jagd war leider nichts, da nach einem wunderschönen Tag abends Wolken mit etwas Schnee aufzogen. Ansonsten haben wir uns aber extrem wohl gefühlt und werden das beim nächsten Besuch sicher wiederholen.

Alex - Nordic Adventures excelente guía y compañía para llevarte a disfrutar de una tradición laponesa maravillosa de sauna y hielo, cena deliciosa y búsqueda de Auroras Boreales; con la confianza de pedir algo especial para tu pareja y el apoyo invaluable que hemos recibido.
Simplemente: Gracias!!

The area that Alex lives in is very remote with the nearest property being a couple of miles away. You drive down a single lane track with Alex happily telling you how often he has to take the snow plough out and clear it just so he has access to everything. Once he explains how the sauna works he leaves you to it for a couple of hours and goes to prepare the BBQ salmon and potatoes. The sauna itself is a wood burning one and for me it was a million times better than the saunas you are probably used to in hotels etc. I usually cant last very long in those places.
It's just a short walk through the snow to the frozen lake and I'm so glad i was brave enough to jump in as it really was a once in a lifetime experience. Would highly recommend it to everyone.
The food we had was amazing and also in such an idyllic location. This is the food experience that everyone else is trying to recreate in all the hotels and restaurants. We had the same type of meal of salmon and potatoes and sour cream a couple of other times on the trip but this was the best by far...
Do yourself a favour and book this trip.

完美的一次体验，Alex和他的夫人非常友好，桑拿非常舒服，三文鱼也很好吃。除了没有看见极光一切都很美好。下次还会来！

We booked the full day adventure to the Ranua Zoo and Lappish evening in the wilderness with sauna, ice swimming and dinner. We enjoyed every minute from being picked up and driven out of town to the Zoo and spending the morning looking at the animals, having lunch and then back to our accommodation for some relaxation before being picked up again and being taken to a cute little cottage in the forest where we enjoyed a sauna and a dip into the ice lake. The lake was breathtaking (literally), but an amazing experience. Alex and his wife then prepared a beautiful dinner that we ate in the cosy cottage. They were wonderful hosts and lovely people. I would highly recommend this company and our time spent with them has been one of the highlights of our trip.

There was no northern lights coz of cloudy tho, it was a great place to visit with nice dinner, 1st trial of finish sauna, very nice host couple, super warm little house! Thanks Alex, the Nordic Adventures host, and Alex’s wife for the delicious dinner with introducing Golgi!

Increible actividad tradicional, en un sitio privilegiado y muy intimo. Tuvimos la sauna tradicional a nuestra disposición durante casi 2 horas, con el lago al lado mismo.

Despues una cena ligera con un salmon espectacular cocinado por el guia, el cual por cierto fu espectacular en todo momento.

Lo recomendamos totalmente.

Compañia nueva en rovaniemi nos dijo, pero que el trato fue excepcional!

Me and my friends booked with them through positive comments from TripAd about the place. Once we there, we started to understand why do they deserve it. Alex and Tanya's house were in the middle surrounded by great Lapland nature. We highly recommended the tour because after the sauna and dipping in cold water we had a great night sleep and thought that it was best decision to book them.

Give your self some Finnish Sauna and experienced Finland nature.

We had a great time with the tour we did from Nordic Adventures. Alex is nice and his wife and answered all our questions. We had a great experience in doing sauna and able to go swim at the lake after sauna. The food that was prepared was delicious which made us experienced eating some Finnish foods and also got to taste the famous Glorgi drink . I highly recommend best of lapland tour from Nordic Adventure.

Totally recommended for families. Alex and Tania are a wonderful hosts and fantastic chefs. Many thanks stories about Finland and Rovaniemi

We were picked up by Alex(promptly), the host and driven to his cottage where we enjoyed a sauna and a lovely meal prepared by himself and his wife. It was such an intimate setting where we relaxed in a 2 hour sauna in a traditional log fire stove. The pier was lit up beautifully with warm lights leading you to the private lake where you can ease yourself in to the Nordic temperatures of the water or just jump into the shoulder height water.

We have already planned to come back and perhaps look into hiring out the cabin to stay in. We thoroughly enjoyed our stay and we are all relaxed now as a result of their hospitality.

In March 2018 I traveled with friends in Finland. The purpose of the trip was to see the beauty and fabulous places. They stopped in Rovaniemi, the capital of the province of Lapland.

To fully experience the atmosphere of winter, fairy tales and local beauties used the services of the agency Nordic Adventures. It was the right choice.

All tours were guided by guide Alex. It can be seen that the guy understands what he does. He reacted to all our questions and requests promptly and did his best to make his excursions so pleasant that it was just WOW.

Although, it can not be called excursions - it was really ADVENTURE!

Elegant and beautiful nature. We were in national parks, but at our request we went to the wild nature, Alex worked 100%.

In the village of Santa Claus, even I felt like a child in a fairy tale and began to believe in a miracle again) A wonderful feeling.

Also took the tour "Best of Lapland". A trip to Finnish saunas, evenings with northern lights and an abundance of delicious food. Super!

I can say that the agency Nordic Adventures - this is an agency that from a simple vacation can make a fairy tale! A professional guide who knows everything about Lapland and even more, adapts to the wishes of the client. Huge routes, just those in which you can feel all the beauty and color of Lapland.

And of course, I will recommend to all my friends Alex and Nordic Adventure!! Thank you!

It was my first time in Lapland, so I have had no any idea of what was I going to do there. Tons of offers from various tourism companies, plenty of possible trips and services to choose. However, my search ended up on the Private Lappish evening in the real wilderness (so atmospheric and exciting), offered by the Nordic Adventures travel company. The experience I have received was outstanding, sauna and traditional dinner were included, and I loved it. Never before I have been to the Finnish sauna, never before I have tried Lappish cousine, and I did not regret about choosing this opportunity at all! Whole service was smooth and pleasant, I give my five stars to this trip, but I wish I could leave 6-star feedback! I recommend it to everyone, who is willing to visit this magical place.
Thanks to Alex, I had a great time!

We were picked up at 5 and got to go in the Sauna at 5:45, ate at 7:15 and drove back to Rovaniemi at around 8.

The Sauna and the house were very lovely. We had the sauna all by ourselves and were left alone all the time.

The Dinner was great and we learned a lot about Finnish Traditions.

After Dinner we were shown the Kingdom of the Lord of the House, so the workshop.
It was really great to learn so much about the life here, how it was traditional and how it is now.

The few things that were not perfect:
-We felt a bit rushed. 2 hours of sauna and a bit more time for the dinner would’ve been nice.
- at Dinner we sat next to each other and just ahead of us, pointed directly at us, was a Surveilance Camera. This way we felt a little uncomfortable.

It was an amazing experience to have a Finnish style sauna by the frozen lakeside. My parents were super excited for jumping into the lake / the snow. This was really an unforgettable experience for us who live in a place without snow. The host Alex and his wife were very friendly and keen to share their local’s life with us. And unexpectedly at the end he gave us a little surprise (that I'm not gonna share here haha). Yep, I can tell this is one of the most awesome things in this trip in Finland and it's a MUST do for those who wants to know more about locals.

We went to Alex Rudyuk sauna and dinner in rovaniemi. It was an amazing expirience the sauna is located on a frozen lake in a beautiful spot. You sit in the sauna and then you can jump into the ice or little pool with icy water wich is an amazing thing to do. Dinner cooked by Alex was very tasty.

I must say that me & my friends are fully enjoyable and feeling warm with this Traditional Lappish Evening that hosted by Alex~! We've experienced the little slideable-chair on the frozen lake, special Sauna in the firewoods plus jumping into the ice water in the fascinating lake~!!!
After experiencing the Sauna & icewater-jumping, Alex & his wife already prepared the grilled salmon with Lappish side dishes & veggies. All of them are delicious and sweet with the warm and romantic set-up table inside the house just opposite the cottage.
Everything is SOOOOO GREAT to USSSSS~! & we just feel being well-served with detailed arrangement.
Alex also provide informative sharing about the Finnish and different Lappish topics during his drive that makes our journey without a minute being bored and very memorable~!!! WE LOVE IT!!!
Thank you so much Alex & your wife~! We hope to visit Rovaniemi in Summer Time would absolutely looking forward to seeing you soon~!!! Just bring us to see what you mentioned in Lappish Summer~! GoD BLeSs~!

We have recently enjoyed the best Sauna experience ever we could imagine in Rovaniemi. Alex and his wife were an excelent host for this activity and took us (A couple with two kids) to their really nice cottage by the lake just 30 min away from the Santa Claus Village where we were staying.
The place was like a dream, really nice house and incredible sauna little cottage, just in front of the lake therefore perfect for the Sauna+buterfly snow swim+lake swimm. All very nice light up with candles up to the lake. At the Sauna we found towels, sneakers, water, coffee, tea and some sweets wich was an unexpected plus for this experience. Once inside the Sauna just plenty of time to relax and enjoy the evening.
After Sauna and swimm great experience we enjoyed a lovely grilled Salmon dinner in the Cottage, really very nice atmosphere with the candles and the nice set up of the table where we enjoyed some of the lappish dishes.
We are a couple with two kids (14, 7 years) and really enjoy all of us the great experience and actually something really memorable for the family. Therefore even if it doesn't sound like a family fun activity we would highly recomended as well together with the rest of activities you can do in Rovaniemi (Huskies, Reindeers,.....)
Alex and his wife were at all time very nice with us and explained us many issues and facts of Finland and Rovaniemi. They were a really great Hosts!!!

It's a great end to our holiday in Lapland. Thanks Alex and his wife.
传统芬兰浴，尽管我们没敢往冰窟窿里跳，但依然是个很棒的体验。蜡烛、桑拿标配的香肠和果汁，还有手工曲奇，一个温馨而美好的夜晚。Alex（主人）给我们看夏天的照片，野果、蘑菇，超级赞！值得再去。为我们的拉普兰之旅划上圆满句号。谢谢Alex和他的太太。

We visited the program "traditional Lapland evening", were very satisfied with this place and its employees. Host Alex was very nice and showed us a lot of new things like going to the traditional wood-burning sauna, swimming in the ice-hole, we tried the snowshoes and ended the evening with dinner in a cozy wooden cottage. highly recommend this place!

I went on the Lappish evening tour and I loved it from start to finish. We drove to a lovely spot in the forest by a frozen lake where they have a traditional cottage and wood-fired Finnish sauna. It was lit up with lanterns and torches and looked so welcoming. It was so peaceful and the sky was beautiful with so many stars!

Everything was provided in the sauna: towels, slippers, wood for the fire, cold water, hot water, tea, oils for scent and a walkie talkie in case you need anything else! When I wanted to cool down I could walk outside into the snow and look up at the constellations - it was an almost spiritual experience. It was the best sauna experience I have ever had - much better than a hotel sauna.

The other people in my group tried ice fishing in the frozen lake. After the sauna, we enjoyed delicious wood-fired salmon with simple vegetables and potatoes as well as (non-alcoholic) Gloggi and cinnamon cookies. Alex was very knowledgable and informative about many things to do with Finland.

Even though we did not see the aurora that night, I had already seen it on a different night so I did not mind. This trip was one of the highlights of my trip to Lapland. Thank you very much Alex & Tanya. I would highly recommend it.

The evening started by meeting Alex, who picked us up from our accommodation and drove us straight to his sauna by the lake. There was a dressing room inside containing everything we could possibly need. We did three sessions of sauna. When taking a break, we sat on a bench outside, in -14 deg. Celsius. It didn't seem cold at all. Then, after running approx. 10m, we jumped into a hole in a frozen lake. Its hard to describe the feeling but it's definitely experience of a lifetime. A tasty dinner made by Alex & his wife in a building nearby concluded this great evening.

Make sure to dive in the frozen lake. The alternative is jumping into a snow which, somehow counterintuitively, felt much colder!