Aurora Village Oy — Local services in Northern Lapland

So there’s lots to say about this. On the plus side, it’s a very cute village, you have your own cozy cottage, and there are a lot of fun things to do around here. But if you came here to see the Aurora, you can definitely see it, but there are some drawbacks.

The biggest one is that there is ambient light from the surrounding towns and also lights within the resort. You can still definitely see the aurora, but the lights do obscure some stuff, especially to the northeast. So do the trees. It is very cool to be able to see the Aurora from your bed; there’s nothing quite like it.

But you do need to plan to spend several days here because it can be cloudy and then you won’t see anything. We were there the first week of February 2025, and really only had one good viewing night.

However, we still had a lot of fun because we went dog sledding, snowshoeing, cross country skiing, snowmobiling through the forest, inner tubing down the side of the cliff, feeding the reindeer and taking a short reindeer sleigh ride, and then again snowmobiling at night. We saw spectacular scenery and really enjoyed ourselves a lot. And that saying something, because while we were there, the temperature dropped to -33°C, which is very cold even for northern Finland. it was so cold the ice carts wouldn’t operate and we never got to ride them. Amazingly, two days after we left the temperature was above zero. Crazy.

A couple of comments about the cottage that might not be intuitive. One is that when you take a shower, you may think that the water is going to roll down the drain at your feet, but in fact, it drains behind you and runs all the way through the bathroom under the sink and vanity and out the back. So don’t panic when the water starts running all over the bathroom, but definitely don’t put your bathmat down until after you finish the shower and you should probably just put the bathmat down outside the door so it doesn’t get wet. (We were in unit number five, so maybe some of the other units are tilted in different directions and I can’t speak to that).

And secondly, when you first walk into the cottage, you may hit the light switch and say to yourself “wow those lights are dim and I can barely see anything“. Well, that’s by design because you don’t want to ruin your night vision with bright lights, but here’s a pro tip: The light switch is actually a dimmer switch, even though it doesn’t look like it. If you press and hold the switch, the lights will get much brighter and that’s very helpful sometimes. They will also dim back down when you need them too.

The breakfast and dinners are fine; nothing incredible but also not bad; just normal. The front desk is helpful as you arrange and rearrange your schedule. We definitely had more success seeing spectacular northern lights on the coast of Norway a couple of hours north of Tromsø, but that was mostly because there was no ambient lighting and we got some clear weather. You just never can tell. Just go and have fun, whatever happens. It sure is beautiful in the forests...

Unfortunately we had a pretty bad experience staying here, I think we were just unlucky I don't believe the place is bad we were just unlucky with an unfriendly receptionist. We were really excited about our stay here and I shifted itinerary just to stay here but here were the problems. When we were checked in by a younger female receptionist who wasn't very helpful with any information, we asked if there were any remaining availability for activities in the evening, she said "the only activity we have left is the sleigh tour" , I asked what is it? is it like a reindeer sleigh? she replied "I don't really know what it is, but it is 130 euros" I went through the activity book at the reception to look for the activity and it wasn't in there, then she said "I dont know why its not in there, im not sure what it is but if you want to do it its 8.30pm and 130euro per person, maybe you can look for it online"

and she really didn't care at all, it was almost like we were bothering her as there were other people behind us waiting for service. Really sad experience, like she couldnt find out what this activity was for us because she couldnt be bothered

We booked the Sauna and icepool experience, we were given ZERO information about it, we were just shown a map and said to go to this location, and we get there and no one is there, so its self operated (which is fine) but there is no instructions at all, we weren't told about the fire, or the wood, or the paper towels provided for helping start the fire, it was crazy, also we booked and paid for 3 people, but only 2 sets of towels were provided at the sauna. With the amount of time taken to figure out and start the sauna to heat up it already took a long time out of our booking.

The side lamp in our room wasn't working, it was out of battery as when you turn it on it flickers then turns off. I went to front desk to let them know it didn't work and if we could get one in the room (because the room lights are extremely bright, so a side light would be better for the eyes and great for ambience, you won't believe the response we were given.. "ah I know what lamp you're talking about, yeah that one is out of battery..." I asked is it possible to get new batteries for it? "I don't think we have any batteries left for it" ... Is it possible to check? (then they look under their counter for literally a few seconds and said) "Yeah we dont have any batteries left"

We paid around 1000Euros a night for this room, they knew about the non-functioning lamp and they didnt do anything about it before we arrived or even after we arrived!? What is this lol.

In conclusion I think we were just unlucky, had a bad receptionist staff who wasn't interested in us, a room that had some non-functioning stuff, no welcoming or instructions for excursions, we were treated so poorly, I felt so embarassed booking this for my friends as I hyped it up so much to them, but it...

Underwhelming and this hotel was what I most looked forward to during my trip. A few positives but mostly negatives about my experience. Started off by being ignored by the waitstaff at the restaurant (they first served 2 tables that arrived after me, and I felt as a solo traveler this was the reason and it made me even more sad because of this). The next day for lunch in restaurant they served me the wrong order (ended up eating it anyway because it looked good, but still it’s the principle of it especially after the previous days poor lunch experience). The dinner was very good however and delicious, as well as received good service that night. The bar is very small (2 seats as the others are blocked by machinery) and only open during eating hours, no late night hours unfortunately for a drink after the night excursions. The fireplace only has two seats and is in the dining area so no real place for relaxation (and not accessible after night tours). There is assigned seating for dinner so if you are unfortunate like myself to be right next to the fireplace you will feel burning up hot while eating, would have preferred a window seat or at least somewhere with comfortable temperature for eating. Let the people who are cold natured choose to sit next to the fire or notify ahead of time so can wear short sleeves and sandals. The rooms get cold at night and you cannot adjust the temperature except for at the reception desk but it closes at 9pm so you are out of luck. The shower water is lukewarm and the sink design is terrible for washing face or brushing teeth as the faucet extends too far and blocks the entire sink. The room lights are also very dim so applying makeup is difficult as you cannot see well. The activities were good (finally something worthwhile!); my favorite was the reindeer feeding. The guides were very personable and made me feel included and the other guests were always friendly. However please note this resort is not favorable for solo travelers. I was unable to book most activities as they require 2 person minimum to book (despite the fact that other travelers are there and would end up being more than 2 people anyway). I had to pay double for the reindeer feeding (it was cheap so I paid for 2 people so I could do it solo, but alas I was put in a group of about 10 others). I was able to book snowmobile by paying an extra $56 for being solo but was not allowed to do husky sled at all. I feel this resort would probably be nice for couples as some areas, such as the cabins could...