My Family and I Lived Out Our Polar Express Dreams and Met Santa Claus in Finnish Lapland — Here’s How

This overnight trip on board the Santa Claus Express in Finnish Lapland ends with a magical encounter.

Gritted, salted, and gray with ice that crunched underfoot, Platform 8 was heaving. Scores of children trudged around, their breaths twisting up on the frosty air. I was with my husband and our two young daughters, waiting to embark on a 500-mile sleeper-train journey to visit Santa Claus.

Almost 20 minutes late, the Santa Claus Express curled into Helsinki Central Station. Some parents scooped kids up the steps, while others ran, scanning the door numbers as they hissed open. While waiting, I had befriended Saara, a pink-haired young woman who worked as a server. We hopped aboard and promised to find her for a dinner of meatballs and mashed potatoes — “the most popular dish on board,” she had said.

Departing nightly, the train takes about 12 hours to wind its way north to the city of Rovaniemi, the heart of Finnish Lapland. Although the train continues to the town of Kemijärvi, most passengers disembark in Rovaniemi to meet the big man at Santa Claus Village, as the theme park is known. It was a few days before Christmas, and the train was packed with Finns traveling home for the holidays, tourists, and lots of children. As they thundered down corridors and clambered into berths, the kids’ joy was infectious.

To beat the dinner rush, we dumped our bags, bolted to the restaurant car, and bagged a table by a window. Saara was already carrying plates of meatballs to other tables, and soon we were spooning up rich, creamy mouthfuls. After dinner we retired to our private cabin to watch the snowy landscape from under our duvets. The compartment was warm as toast, with two berths wide enough to share with our daughters. The three-year-old conked out in moments, while our older daughter lay watching as fat snowflakes billowed toward her nose.

Silent but for the gentle drum of wheels, the train swept past forests blanketed white like an army of ghosts, their branches drooping under the weight of snow. By midnight, the steady sway had sent us all into a deep and restful sleep.

Just before 7 a.m., the conductor announced that we were nearing Rovaniemi. We pulled on snowsuits, gathered our bags, and stood in the aisle, peering out at the winter morning’s ink-black sky. A short taxi ride brought us to the Apukka Resort, a forested escape dotted with glass igloos. We spent the day snowmobiling, dog-sledding, and toasting marshmallows, then went to bed early in anticipation of the next day’s big event.

Santa Claus Village was a 10-minute shuttle ride from the resort. After cups of hot chocolate, we joined the other families in line. For the next hour, we inched up stairs, past elves with pointy ears, before we arrived at a wooden grotto. Inside, a huge man with a knee-length beard and red hat greeted my daughters, his eyes sparkling behind a pair of pince-nez.

“Have you lost your voice?” Santa asked as my younger daughter sat open-mouthed and speechless. Her older sister explained we’d come from London. “May I stop at your house next week when I pass by?” he asked. My girls nodded in excitement, before leaving with two small packages wrapped with yellow ribbon. Inside were stuffed reindeer toys and a pair of real antler tines. Christmas had come early.

The Santa Claus Express from Helsinki to Rovaniemi starts at $25 for a seat and $84 for a cabin. T+L A-List travel advisor Jonathan Alder can design seven-night trips that include a ride on the train and a visit to Santa Claus Village; from $9,000 per person.

A version of this story first appeared in the December 2023/January 2024 issue of Travel + Leisure under the headline "The Polar Express."

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