McDonald's Rovaniemi Lampela — Restaurant in Rovaniemi sub-region

We only ever visit this particular branch of McDonalds on our way through to a northern part of Lapland...every time we visit, we are reminded why we think it is the worst McDonalds ever. On one occasion we sat in to eat and the floor was covered with food and litter everywhere. Nobody in the 40-minute duration we were there was out clearing up. Another visit we saw the same thing with the filth, but with the bin overflowing onto the floor as well.

We just visited again via the drive-in, purely so we could grab a quick bite to eat and make good time for our journey onward. We ended up in the drive-in queue for 30 minutes!!!! No warning from the cashier that there would be a delay, as courtesy before they take your cash and you're commited to stay in line. That is not fast-food service really - the server (at 16:49 on 29th March 2018) didn't even apologise for the delay...she just opened the hatch, thrusted the food at us with a brisk "here you go" and slammed the hatch shut again. Then....one of the double cheeseburgers we ordered was a single! Too bad we had already driven 20 mins up the road before I realised. 😠

The thing is that the staff are perhaps let down by management, there never seems to be any staff rushing along to make the food ready; no targets. Probably need a few extra staff for every shift to make it run more efficiently. In the UK or US the staff would be reprimanded if they didn't 'deliver' the food to the customer in a timely manner or if the branch ranked lower than others. Oh and Rovaniemi McDonalds....why only 1 toilet? That place is always crowded with locals and tourists (bizarrely), so you think they could expand upwards to have additional seating area and extra toilets....

For a country that has one third of its territory lying in the Arctic Circle, Finland strangely does not have enough ‘Northernmost‘ accolades under its belt as it should. In fact, it has the Northernmost McDonalds in the world only because the original Northernmost McDonalds (in Russia) shuttered its doors in 2022 following the dawn of the current War- and factually speaking, with the new Tromsø outlet in Norway now open for business, this is technically the 'Second Northernmost McDonalds' in the world now.

Nevertheless, ‘Northernmost McDonalds in the World‘ feels like one of those mandatory frivolous things you have do since we were already on the map- not to mention those Northernmost postcards which have developed such a cult status online* that I too felt compelled to own one.

For what it’s worth, it costs about €16 to get here from town in what is less than a 7-min drive (so put aside at least €32 for a return trip); and somehow, my niece and I (literally just two of us) managed to chalk up a USD42 bill for two meals with probably an extra McFlurry and a...

If you find yourself in Rovaniemi, the self-proclaimed home of Santa Claus, you might expect to see elves serving hot cocoa and reindeer dashing about. But hold onto your sleigh bells—what you’ll actually find is a McDonald’s that’s become the Santa’s official headquarters.

But here’s the catch, folks: it gets busier than Santa’s workshop on Christmas Eve. During peak hours, finding a seat can feel like searching for a needle in a haystack. You might find yourself doing a little dance, eyeing that one table that looks like it might become available—only to have a family of tourists swoop in like it’s the last sleigh ride to the North Pole.

Just be prepared for the hustle and bustle, and maybe bring a friend to help you snag that coveted seat. After all, even in the land of Santa, everyone loves a good...