{"id":9816,"date":"2022-12-06T18:08:04","date_gmt":"2022-12-06T16:08:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/travel\/?p=9816"},"modified":"2022-12-06T18:08:04","modified_gmt":"2022-12-06T16:08:04","slug":"discovering-rovaniemi-the-official-home-of-santa-claus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/travel\/destinations\/discovering-rovaniemi-the-official-home-of-santa-claus\/","title":{"rendered":"Discovering Rovaniemi: The Official Home Of Santa Claus"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Rovaniemi, the capital\u00a0of Finnish Lapland at the Arctic Circle, is fast becoming a tourist hotspot.\u00a0Known as the official home of Santa Claus, the\u00a0city\u00a0comes alive\u00a0during the winter months, despite freezing temperatures. Tourists\u00a0from all around the world flock to the destination\u00a0which boasts\u00a0well-planned infrastructure,\u00a0local places of interest and opportunities for\u00a0unique experiences.<br class=\"\" \/><br class=\"\" \/>South Africans who are interested in visiting Rovaniemi\u00a0this holiday season will be thrilled to know that getting there has never been\u00a0easier.\u00a0<a class=\"\" href=\"http:\/\/www.airfrance.co.za\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Air\u00a0France<\/a>\u00a0has increased\u00a0frequency the of flights to the Finnish city with up to one daily flight during the\u00a0Christmas and New Year period.<br class=\"\" \/><br class=\"\" \/>Rovaniemi has a wide range of experiences and attractions\u00a0that make the city a must-visit \u2013 especially during the holiday season. Air\u00a0France\u00a0unpacks five reasons why Rovaniemi should be on your travel bucket list.<br class=\"\" \/><br class=\"\" \/><b class=\"\">Meet Santa Claus<\/b><br class=\"\" \/><br class=\"\" \/>Rovaniemi is known as the official\u00a0home of Santa Claus and every December, holiday\u00a0makers flock to Santa Claus Village,\u00a0located just 8km\u00a0outside\u00a0of the city. The village is home to Santa\u2019s personal post office and visitors\u00a0can\u00a0send postcards and Christmas greetings to loved ones\u00a0all-year\u00a0round. Santa Claus also offers a meet and greet with people from all over the\u00a0world every single day of the year in his very own office and\u00a0there are many\u00a0restaurants, souvenir shops, and some activity providers on site to ensure that\u00a0your trip to the village is one you won\u2019t soon forget.<br class=\"\" \/><br class=\"\" \/><b class=\"\">Get Up-Close With\u00a0Reindeer<\/b><br class=\"\" \/><br class=\"\" \/>What\u2019s a visit to Santa Claus without getting up close\u00a0with some reindeer, right? Did you know that there are more reindeer than\u00a0people spread\u00a0across Lapland? It\u2019s very common to see reindeer walking on the\u00a0side of the road when travelling outside of Rovaniemi, but visiting an\u00a0authentic\u00a0reindeer farm\u00a0is\u00a0another great experience on offer in the city. Here, local reindeer herders\u00a0share their inherited reindeer husbandry lifestyles while\u00a0you feed the animals.<br class=\"\" \/><br class=\"\" \/><b class=\"\">Experience The\u00a0Northern Lights<\/b><br class=\"\" \/><br class=\"\" \/>Rovaniemi is one of the best places in the world to get a\u00a0Northern Lights experience \u2013 and it\u2019s certainly one you won\u2019t soon forget. The\u00a0city is\u00a0geographically well located for a successful Northern lights hunt. Its\u00a0latitude is located in the \u2018Aurora Zone\u2019 where the\u00a0Northern\u00a0Lights are most often\u00a0visible. It\u2019s advisable to book the services\u00a0of a\u00a0professional aurora guide, who\u00a0will take you away from the city to\u00a0the most promising places\u00a0based on the weather\u00a0to ensure optimal chance of witnessing\u00a0this phenomenon.<br class=\"\" \/><br class=\"\" \/><b class=\"\">Enjoy A Thrilling\u00a0Snowmobile Ride<\/b><br class=\"\" \/><br class=\"\" \/>This one is for the thrill seekers out there. If you\u2019re\u00a0looking to get your dose of adrenaline while also touring some of Lapland\u2019s\u00a0remote areas, a\u00a0snowmobile adventure is right up your alley. Since there is\u00a0snow on the ground for approximately six months of the year in and around\u00a0Rovaniemi,\u00a0snowmobile experiences have become incredibly popular. There are\u00a0many tour operators who offer a convenient range of guided snowmobile\u00a0excursions, from beginner\u2019s rides to long-distance safaris. Beginners are\u00a0encouraged to book shorter trips and the use of electronic snowmobile\u00a0safaris\u00a0for a silent and more environmental-friendly experience.<br class=\"\" \/><br class=\"\" \/><b class=\"\">The sauna culture\u00a0is unmatched<\/b><br class=\"\" \/><br class=\"\" \/>While\u00a0Rovaniemi is one of the colder cities in the world, they make up for it\u00a0with their unique experiences. Finnish saunas have become a part\u00a0of the local\u00a0culture and are certainly a must-do experience when visiting Lapland. There are\u00a0many sauna offerings available and whether you prefer it\u00a0steamy, traditional,\u00a0wooden-smoked, lakeside or luxury, Rovaniemi offers plenty of options. If\u00a0you\u2019re brave enough, some of the saunas just outside\u00a0of the city offer a dip\u00a0into an avanto, an opening in the ice of a frozen lake or river, before\u00a0your sauna.\u00a0Ice\u00a0swimming, as it is affectionately known, is\u00a0both refreshing and healthy,\u00a0especially when paired with the hot temperatures of the sauna post-dip. Whichever\u00a0way you decide to experience it, a\u00a0sauna in Lapland will be an unforgettable\u00a0experience.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Rovaniemi, the capital\u00a0of Finnish Lapland at the Arctic Circle, is fast becoming a tourist hotspot.\u00a0Known as the official home of Santa Claus, the\u00a0city\u00a0comes alive\u00a0during the winter months, despite freezing temperatures. Tourists\u00a0from all around the world flock to the destination\u00a0which boasts\u00a0well-planned infrastructure,\u00a0local places of interest and opportunities for\u00a0unique experiences.South Africans who are interested in visiting Rovaniemi\u00a0this [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9827,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2685],"tags":[5101,6023,6022,6021],"class_list":["post-9816","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-destinations","tag-air-france","tag-arctic-circle","tag-finnish-lapland","tag-rovaniemi"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9816","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9816"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9816\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9827"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9816"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9816"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9816"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}