Guide · After dark

A first-time evening snowmobile tour in Levi, under the aurora sky

Riding a snowmobile at night is a different sport: headlamps on snow, stars overhead, a fire at the halfway stop. Here is what each evening ride from Levi offers, and what none of them can promise.

Check availabilityfrom $146 · free cancellation

Editorial team, snowmobile-levi.comUpdated October 22, 2026about 7 min to read11 sources

On this topic: the tour Levi: Snowmobile Northern Lights Hunting Trip 4.5 (629 reviews) 3 hours from$165per person Check availabilityFree cancellation until 24 hrs before start

In short

01Most booked: The three-hour northern lights trip, rated 4.53 from 629 reviews.
02With a campfire: Several rides stop at a fire, two of them with sausages.
03The lights: No listing guarantees them; the most booked one says so plainly.
04Best hours: FMI names 9 p.m. to 1 a.m. as the best time to see auroras.¹
05From: $165 for the most booked evening trip.

Why a night ride feels like a different trip

A first-time evening snowmobile tour in Levi starts like any other ride, with overalls, a helmet and a lesson on the throttle, and then the daylight goes. The trail shrinks to the cone of your headlamp, the trees turn into shapes, and the snowmobile in front becomes a red tail light you follow. Many people who were nervous by day find the dark calmer, because there is less to look at and more to feel.

Headlights are not optional on the official trails: Metsähallitus says their use is mandatory on snowmobile routes.² On a guided ride the guide sets the pace, and in a group at night that pace is gentler than on a bright afternoon. If a child rides in the sled behind the guide, Finnish rules cap the speed at 40 km/h whenever passengers sit in a towed sled.³

The reason most people book after dark is the sky. Levi's own figures give an annual average of 111 aurora sightings, which explains why so many evening rides are sold as northern lights trips.⁴ A sighting is never a booking feature, though; it is weather, solar activity and luck. Treat the lights as a bonus and the night ride itself as the purchase.

A campfire evening

How the picnic ride unfolds

Arrival

Gear up

Winter gear and clothing are handed out at the start.
Lesson

Clear instructions

The guide explains the snowmobile before anyone drives.
The ride

Into the forest

The group sets off with the guide, children in the sled behind.
The fire

Sausages and drinks

A campfire stop where you roast sausages, hot drinks in hand.
Back

Three hours in all

The whole evening lasts 3 hours, pickup included.

The late northern lights trip most guests book

The most booked evening ride from Levi lasts 3 hours and goes out into the wilderness by the light of the moon, the stars and the snowmobile lamps, looking for the aurora. It is rated 4.53 from 629 reviews, with the guide scored 4.7 and the transport 4.8, and starts from $165. Pickup is included, which helps when the start is late and the roads are dark.

The listing asks you to note its late timing, so plan dinner early and keep the next morning free. It is best suited to adults, though children can join tucked under warm blankets on a sledge, and two people share each snowmobile. Value for money scores 4.3, the lowest of its three sub-scores, which is worth knowing if the lights stay away on your night.

Read the weather line twice. The operator does not cancel for weather, and rescheduling or cancelling is possible only more than 24 hours before the start, subject to availability. On a cloudy evening the ride goes ahead, without the aurora. The free cancellation window of GetYourGuide still applies up to 24 hours before, so the time to decide is the day before, with a forecast in hand.

Darkness by month

Hours without the sun at mid-month, Kittilä station

hrs

Mid-month hours of darkness, counted while the sun is down at Levi's latitude, beside our averages of NOAA's Kittilä station records.⁵

After dark

Evening and night rides from Levi compared

Ride	Total time	The stop	Pickup	Rating
Late aurora trip	3 hrs	Not stated	Included	4.53 (629)
Evening safari with campfire	3 hrs	Campfire, drinks, snacks	Included	4.80 (199)
Campfire picnic ride	3 hrs	Sausages over a fire	Included	4.54 (118)
Ride to an aurora camp	3 hrs	Hut, sausages, drinks	Not stated	4.81 (46)
Snack-stop night ride	3 hrs	Fire snack, 20 min	Not stated	4.51 (19)
Twilight ride to a lake	2 hrs	Cabin, drinks, cookies	Included	4.66 (19)

As each evening listing states it on GetYourGuide; review counts sit in brackets after the rating.

Three evenings

Aurora trip, campfire safari or picnic ride

Most booked

Late aurora trip

Pickup included

Total: 3 hrs
Per snowmobile: 2 people
Best suited to: Adults

See this evening

Best rated of three

Evening safari

Guide's campfire

Total: 3 hrs
Children: Sledge, ages 4-14
At the fire: Drinks, snacks

See this evening

Levi: Northern Lights Snowmobile Safari and Campfire Picnic

No licence needed

Campfire picnic ride

Gear and clothing provided

Total: 3 hrs
At the fire: Sausages
Without a licence: Ride in the sled

See this evening

Decision helper

Which night ride is yours?

Pick the thing your evening is for

The ride most guests choose A long sit by the fire Someone without a licence A hut to warm up in Dusk rather than night

Late aurora trip

Rated 4.53 from 629 reviews, with pickup.

Evening safari

The guide's campfire with hot drinks and snacks.

Campfire picnic ride

It can be enjoyed as a sled ride behind the guide.

Ride to an aurora camp

Sausages from an open fire and hot drinks at the hut.

Twilight ride to a lake

About an hour of driving, then a cabin with hot drinks.

The best time to see auroras is between 9 p.m. - 1 a.m. local time. The best months are February - March and September - October.

Finnish Meteorological InstituteSource 1

Evenings built around a fire

For many people the fire is the part they remember. On one evening safari the guide makes a campfire while telling stories about the northern lights and life in Lapland, with hot drinks and snacks around it. It runs for 3 hours, has pickup included and is rated 4.80 from 199 reviews, from $172. Children aged 4-14 sit in a sledge behind the guide's snowmobile.

Another ride stops at a campfire where you roast sausages yourself, with hot drinks in hand, and provides winter gear and clothing before the start. Without a driving licence you can still join it as a sled ride behind the guide. It is rated 4.54 from 118 reviews and starts from $213; book it within 2 days of travel and the confirmation can take up to 48 hours.

A third trip rides to a northern lights camp and serves sausages from an open fire with hot drinks at the hut, with guides speaking English and Finnish. It is rated 4.81 from 46 reviews. Its damage terms are wider than most: the driver is liable for damage to the snowmobile and to third parties, up to a maximum set in the listing. Read that line before you book.

Checklist

Packing for an evening on the snowmobile

Wear

Wool base layer and a fleece under the overalls
Two pairs of socks and a thin hat that fits under the helmet
Hand warmers for the mittens

Bring

Your physical driving licence
A charged phone kept in an inside pocket
An early dinner before a late start

Cost calculator

Price an evening ride for your group

Choose a ride and the number of people.

Late aurora tripThree hoursfrom $165 Evening safariCampfirefrom $172 Campfire picnic rideSausagesfrom $213 Ride to an aurora campHut stopfrom $167

People 2

Total from$330

per traveler from $165

Check availabilityfree cancellation

Each total multiplies the lowest per-person price GetYourGuide shows for the ride by your head count, in your currency at the ECB reference rate; checkout gives the binding sum.

Video

A last-minute northern lights snowmobile trip in Levi

Nothing loads from YouTube until you tap play.

What the listings say about the lights

Three of the evening listings here are careful with their wording, and so should you be. The most booked trip says outright that the northern lights are a natural phenomenon and cannot be guaranteed. The camp ride calls them unpredictable, and the snack-stop ride says it cannot guarantee activity, vibrancy or colour. None of them refunds a cloudy sky.

The science gives you better odds than luck alone. The Finnish Meteorological Institute names 9 p.m. to 1 a.m. local time as the best window, and February-March and September-October as the best months.¹ Visit Finland puts Finland's aurora season from late August to early April.⁶ In summer there is no aurora to see at all, because the nights are too light.⁷

Clouds are the real opponent. Clouds, Visit Finland says, are what most often hides the lights from visitors.⁸ A guide cannot clear the sky, but a ride that leaves the village lights behind gives you the darkest possible view when the sky does open. If seeing the northern lights in Levi, Lapland, is the whole point of your trip, book the ride for an early night of your stay, so a cloudy evening still leaves you time for another try.

Twilight rides and the darkest weeks

Not every evening ride is a night ride. One small-group safari of up to 8 people rides at twilight to the lake Rautusjärvi, covering about 25-30 km in roughly an hour of driving, then warms up with hot drinks and cookies in a Finnish cabin. It hands out overalls, a helmet, gloves and goggles, and in extreme weather offers a new date or a full refund.

How dark an evening ride is depends on the month. In mid-December the sun does not rise at all at Kittilä, and in mid-January the sun manages just 3.2 hrs.⁵ Levi's own calendar has the polar night starting in December and ending in early January.⁹ In those weeks even an afternoon ride runs in darkness, which suits aurora hunters and frustrates photographers who want snow in daylight.

By March the balance has flipped: the sun is up for 11.5 hrs at mid-month, so an evening ride starts in a long blue dusk.⁵ March is also one of the months FMI rates best for auroras.¹ For a first-timer that is a sweet spot: enough light to learn the machine on the way out, enough darkness to search the sky on the way back.

Dressing for a night on the trail

Night rides are colder than day rides, not only because the air cools but because you stand still for long stretches looking up. Visit Finland warns that standing outside for an hour in inadequate clothing ends the experience quickly, whatever is happening overhead.¹⁰ The overalls the operators lend are a shell; what keeps you warm is what you wear under them.

January averages a daily low of -17 °C at the Kittilä station, and Levi's own seasonal guide describes Arctic wind that makes frost of up to minus 30 feel even colder.⁵ ¹¹ Wear wool next to the skin, a fleece over it, two pairs of socks and a hat thin enough to fit under the helmet. Keep a neck tube ready to pull over your nose when the snowmobile is moving.

Batteries drain fast in the cold. Carry the phone against your body inside the jacket, and bring it out only when the sky gives you a reason. A small tripod is welcome on the snack-stop ride, which invites you to bring one for night photography. Hand warmers in the mittens are the cheapest comfort you can buy for the evening.

Choosing your evening ride

If you want the ride most people book, with pickup and a long time out, the late northern lights trip is the default. If the fire matters more than the distance, pick one of the campfire evenings. If you travel with someone who does not drive, the campfire ride that accepts guests without a licence in the sled is the easy choice.

Remember that the snack-stop ride recommends an early dinner before departure and runs two legs of about 80 minutes each. It is rated 4.51 from 19 reviews, a thinner record than the others. The camp ride and the campfire evening both have stronger scores, at 4.81 and 4.80.

Whichever you pick, keep one daylight ride in the plan too. Our main safari is a daytime ride through forest and over frozen lakes, and it shows you the landscape you will be crossing in the dark. Riders who have seen the trail by day tend to relax more at night, and a relaxed passenger looks up more often.

Pick a date

The trail starts at the edge of the village.

Two hours in all, clothing provided, and nothing to pay if you cancel a day ahead.

Check datesfrom $146 · free cancellation 4.7 · 636 checked reviews

You ask,we answer.

Will I see the northern lights on an evening ride?

Possibly, never certainly. The most booked trip states that the lights cannot be guaranteed, and the camp ride and the snack-stop ride say the same.

When are auroras most likely?

Late evening, in the equinox months. FMI names 9 p.m. to 1 a.m. and the months February-March and September-October.¹

Does the trip go ahead in bad weather?

On the most booked one, yes. Its operator does not cancel for weather; changes are possible more than 24 hours before.

Can children come on a night ride?

Yes, in a sledge. On the most booked trip children ride on a sledge under warm blankets, though it is best suited to adults.

Is there food on the evening rides?

Snacks or sausages by a fire. One ride roasts sausages over a campfire; another serves hot drinks and snacks around the guide's fire.

Can I join without a driving licence?

On some rides, in the sled. The campfire picnic ride can be enjoyed as a sled ride behind the guide.

Is pickup included?

On several evening rides. The most booked trip and the campfire evenings include pickup.