Guide · Winter in Levi

Things to do in Levi in winter, from frozen lakes to the fell top

Most guides to things to do in Levi start on the snow. This one starts on the ice, at the frozen lakes and the lit forest trail, then climbs to the fell top, with the slopes, the sky and the dogs in their place too.

Check availabilityfrom $80 · free to cancel

Editorial team, iceskatinglevi.comUpdated October 22, 20266 min read42 sources

The tour for this guide Levi forest ice skating, 1 km lit trail 4.3 (202 reviews) 2 hours1 km lit trail through the forestSkates, helmet and hot drinks included from$80per person Check availabilityCancel for free up to 24 hrs ahead

The quick answer

01On the ice: Forest skating, ice karting, ice fishing and ice floating, all from the village.
02Views: A Gondola2000 sightseeing return takes about 20 minutes.¹
03On skis: About 230 km of cross-country tracks, 28 km of them lit.²
04The sky: Levi records an annual average of 111 aurora sightings.³
05With kids: Kicksleds on the forest trail; karting from 145 cm tall.

Levi in a sentence, and why the ice matters

Levi is a ski resort at Sirkka village in Kittilä municipality, some 170 km beyond the Arctic Circle; its fell rises to 531 m above sea level.⁴ ⁵ Kittilä Airport is 15 km away, a 10-minute drive, so the first evening of a trip can already be spent outdoors.⁶

Most lists of things to do in Levi, Finland start with the slopes. This one starts with the ice, the side of a Levi winter that needs no skis at all. Levi's tourism site counts 718 lakes in Kittilä municipality, and from late autumn they freeze into the stage for skating, fishing and floating.⁷ ⁸

The village itself is compact. The Tourist Information office sits at Myllyjoentie 2, the Front Slopes and Zero Point a short walk away, and most activities pick you up or start within a few minutes of the centre.⁹ ¹⁰ The map below shows the village and the wider area. Several outings include a pickup or a shuttle, as the forest skating and the ice floating listings state, so a car is optional.

One winter day

A day in Levi built around the ice

First

Ice fishing

A small-group trip with a campfire BBQ.
Midday

Gondola views

A sightseeing return takes about 20 minutes.¹
Then

Ice karting

Two 15-minute sessions on the track.
Later

Forest skating

The lit trail, with a kota and hot drinks.
Night

Look up

Levi averages 111 aurora sightings a year.³

On the ice: skating, karting, fishing and floating

Skating comes first on this site. A 2-hour session takes you by shuttle from the Levi Tourist Office into the forest, about 10 minutes away, to a 1 km natural ice trail lit by bulb lights, with skates, helmets, hot drinks, a kicksled for non-skaters and a kota to warm up in, from $80. Levi also has a public rink in the fell pond at the Front Slopes, from the end of January to week 10.¹¹ ¹²

Ice karting is the loud alternative: two 15-minute sessions on a frozen track, a fire break with hot berry juice, and anyone over 145 cm can drive, from $133. Ice fishing is the quiet one: a small-group trip spends 2.5 hours on a lake with a campfire BBQ, from $121.

Ice floating is the strangest of the four. In a buoyant rescue suit you lie back in a hole in a frozen lake, with no swimming skills needed; the evening trip runs 4 hours with a chance of northern lights, from $160. The separate guides on this site cover each in detail.

Compared

Winter outings in Levi side by side

Outing	Duration	Good for	From
Forest ice skating	2 hrs	Families, beginners	from $80
Ice karting	1 to 1.5 hrs	Over 145 cm, speed	from $133
Ice fishing with BBQ	3.5 hrs	Quiet, small group	from $121
Ice floating evening	4 hrs	Something unusual	from $160
Snowshoe adventure	3.5 hrs	Walkers, up to 8	from $122
Forest horse ride	2 hrs	Small group, up to 6	from $184
Northern lights by telescope	3 hrs	Sky watchers	from $126

Durations and group sizes from each listing; from-prices update live on GetYourGuide.

Ice and sky

Three ways onto the ice or under the sky in Levi

Our pick

Forest ice skating

Lit trail near the village

Trail: 1 km natural ice
Included: Skates, helmet
Session: 2 hrs

See the outing

Unusual

Ice floating

A lake by night

Suit: Rescue suit
Swimming: Not needed
Outing: 4 hrs

See the outing

Levi: Northern Lights Tour and Stargazing by Telescope

Sky

Aurora by telescope

Stargazing tour

Outing: 3 hrs
Pickup: Included
Auroras: Never promised

See the outing

Decision helper

Which Levi outing fits your group?

Start from what your group enjoys

Forest ice skating

Kicksleds for those who cannot skate.

Ice karting

No age limit, only over 145 cm tall.¹³

Ice fishing

A small group of up to 8 on a frozen lake.

Ice floating

Lie back in a frozen lake in a rescue suit.

The gondola

A sightseeing return takes about 20 minutes.¹

The Express cabin lift is located at the centre of village Sirkka.

Levi Travel / Visit Levi (levi.fi)Source 14

Levi attractions above the village

Two lifts turn the fell into a viewpoint. The Express cabin lift runs from Zero Point in the centre of Sirkka to the top of the Front Slopes, beside the Levi Summit congress centre.¹⁴ A Gondola2000 sightseeing tour with a return ticket takes about 20 minutes.¹

Snow and ice architecture is the other classic. Lapland Hotels SnowVillage lies between the Levi and Ylläs ski resorts, about 50 km from Levi by ski, and Levi's tourism site lists its day visits from 25 December 2026 to 4 April 2027.¹⁵ ¹⁶ ¹⁷ A guided trip to the Lainio SnowVillage from Levi runs 3 hours, from $141.

For a night under glass, Golden Crown Levi Igloos stand on a fell slope at 340 m, 10 km from the centre.¹⁸ And for the brave, the Sammun Tupa ice hole in the Ounasjoki river is opened as soon as the river has frozen thick and safe enough.¹⁹ These are Levi attractions in the old sense: things to see, once, and talk about for years.

Map

Where the ice is: Levi, its village rink and skating elsewhere in Lapland

Levi among the other Lapland skating bases, the area down to Kittilä, then a close look at the village where the forest skating starts.

Map of Finnish Lapland with Levi in the west, Rovaniemi to the south, and Saariselkä and Lake Inari to the north-east — Finnish Lapland

Map of the area from Levi south to Kittilä Airport and the village of Kittilä with its ice hall — Levi and Kittilä

Street map of Levi village with the Tourist Office on Myllyjoentie, Zero Point at the Front Slopes, Lake Immeljärvi to the south and Lake Sirkkajärvi to the north — Levi village

1
Levi
The resort at Sirkka village in Kittilä, about 170 km north of the Arctic Circle.⁴
In Google Maps ↗
2
Rovaniemi
170 km from Levi; the city keeps 20 free park rinks and a forest skating park 10 km out of town.²⁰ ²¹ ²² ²³
In Google Maps ↗
3
Saariselkä
The pickup village for a skating trip on natural ice on Lake Inari, about an hour away by van.
In Google Maps ↗
4
Lake Inari
SYKE measured 38 cm of ice here at Paksuvuono on 30 December 2022.²⁴
In Google Maps ↗
5
Kittilä Airport
15 km south of Levi, a 10-minute drive.⁶
In Google Maps ↗
6
Kittilä ice hall
The municipal Agnico Eagle ice hall at Havutie 5, with public skating on weekdays from 15.00 to 16.30.²⁵ ²⁶
In Google Maps ↗
7
Levi Tourist Office
Myllyjoentie 2: the start of the forest skating shuttle, usually open Monday to Friday 9:00-16:00.⁹ ²⁷
In Google Maps ↗
8
Zero Point
Zero Point Rental at Hissitie 8 on the Front Slopes rents skates and helmets; the natural-ice rink is in the fell pond at the bottom of the slope.¹⁰ ¹¹
In Google Maps ↗
9
Lake Immeljärvi
A lake of 1.6 km near the centre; walk on it only once the winter trails are officially open, and keep off the thin ice at its northern end.²⁸ ²⁹
In Google Maps ↗
10
Lake Sirkkajärvi
With Levijärvi, a lake by Levi that holds perch, pike and whitefish.³⁰
In Google Maps ↗

Open the map in Google Maps

Checklist

Planning your Levi winter days

Before you go

Book outings with free cancellation
Pack layers: base, fleece, windproof shell
Check the polar night dates for December

In the village

Tourist Information at Myllyjoentie 2⁹
Rent skates and helmets at Zero Point¹⁰
The ski bus ticket is in all ski passes from 2026-2027³¹

Cost calculator

Price your Levi winter days

Pick an outing and the number of people.

Forest ice skating2 hrsfrom $80 Ice kartingTwo sessionsfrom $133 Ice fishing with BBQ3.5 hrsfrom $121 Ice floating evening4 hrsfrom $160

People 2

Total from$159

per participant from $80

Check availabilityfree cancellation

Each sum multiplies the outing's lowest per-person GetYourGuide price by your group size and converts it at the ECB's daily rate; the checkout figure is the one that counts.

Video

Travelling around Levi in Finnish Lapland

YouTube stays switched off until you start the video yourself.

On skis and on foot

Levi's tourism site counts 44 slopes and 26 ski lifts, and about 230 km of maintained cross-country tracks at its peak, 28 km of them lit.³² ² The main trails are lit daily from 6 am to 11 pm, which matters in the weeks of polar night.³³ A beginners' cross-country tour with an instructor runs 2 hours, from $132.

Walking needs no skills at all. Levi's winter walking routes total about 20 km, and the tourism site says they suit people in normal physical condition.³⁴ ³⁵ A guided snowshoe adventure in the wilderness takes up to 8 people for 3.5 hours, from $122.

Horses are a gentler way into the forest. A snowy forest horse ride takes a small group of up to 6 for 2 hours, rated 4.83 from 200 reviews, from $184. It is one of the few winter outings here where the animal does the work and you simply look around. The listing names English and Finnish as its guide languages, and the snowshoe adventure includes pickup, which suits a stay without a car.

Huskies, snowmobiles and reindeer in one line each

Levi's three famous outings have their own specialist guides on sister sites, so here they get a line each. Huskies: a 5 km sledding ride runs 2 hours, rated 4.78 from 594 reviews, from $173. Snowmobiles: an easy 2-hour safari into the nature is rated 4.74 from 636 reviews, from $146.

Reindeer: an experience with a sled ride lasts 1.5 hours, from $130. All three can be combined with the ice: one ice fishing trip rides out by snowmobile, with 2 adults per sled and children in a sledge behind the guide.

If you only have time for one animal day and one ice day, book the animals in daylight and the ice for a later slot. The lit forest trail and the floating lake both come into their own after dark, and both give a possibility of auroras that no listing promises.

Planning around the dark and the cold

Daylight sets the rhythm of a Levi winter. Levi's tourism site says polar night normally starts in December and ends in early January, and for the 2025-26 winter it ran from 10 December to 1 January.³⁶ ³⁷ By mid-February the station at Kittilä Airport has 7.8 hrs of daylight, and by mid-March 11.5 hrs.³⁸

That changes how you order a day. In December, put the outings that need light, such as photography from the fell top, around the middle of the day, and save the lit forest trail, the floating lake and aurora tours for the long evening. In March, everything fits into daylight, and the evening is a bonus.

Cold changes plans too. January averages a low of -17 °C at Kittilä Airport, and the forest skating may be rescheduled or fully refunded at -30°C or below.³⁸ Book with free cancellation, check the forecast each morning, and keep one flexible day in a week-long stay.

Northern lights and events

Levi's tourism site records an annual average of 111 aurora sightings.³ A northern lights tour with stargazing by telescope runs 3 hours, rated 4.64 from 193 reviews, from $126. The skating listing suggests its later time slots for a possibility of auroras, which can turn a session on the ice into a sky watch as well.

Events fill the calendar. The FIS Alpine Ski World Cup slalom races are held in Levi on 14 and 15 November 2026.³⁹ The Pond Hockey World Cup is played on natural-ice rinks without goalkeepers, on 22 and 23 January 2027.⁴⁰ ⁴¹

Pond hockey is ice culture at its most Finnish: outdoor games on natural ice, inside a rink walled with snow.⁴⁰ If your dates fit, an hour of watching between your own sessions on the ice is time well spent.

Choose your date