The Ski Train to Lapland

Every winter, Finns do something wonderfully sensible: instead of driving two days north or flying, they take the night train to the snow. The overnight sleeper from Helsinki to Kolari — the northernmost railway station in the country — carries skiers the length of Finland while they sleep, and sets them down in the morning at the foot of the Lapland fells, ready for the slopes by lunchtime.

Kolari is the railhead for Finland's finest fell country. Just beyond it rises Ylläs, the biggest ski area in the land — seven rounded Arctic fells above the village of Äkäslompolo, with the longest downhill runs and a vast web of cross-country trails through the forest. An hour further by connecting bus is Levi, Finland's largest and liveliest resort, with its gondola, floodlit pistes and a World Cup slalom hill.

The train is the same comfortable double-decker sleeper that runs to Rovaniemi — a proper cabin with berths, the upper-deck rooms with their own shower — and it will carry your skis, and even your car, north overnight. You wake to a white world of low light and open fells, where the days are short and floodlit in December, long and dazzling in March, and the northern lights are a regular companion on the last lift of the day. It is the most civilised way imaginable to go skiing.

The trip begins at Helsinki Central in the evening — often on a Friday, with the platform full of ski bags and families heading north for the weekend. You settle into your cabin, the skis go in the racks (and cars onto the carrier wagons), and the train pulls out into the dark of a southern Finnish winter.

Through the night the sleeper runs the whole length of the country: past Tampere, up the Gulf of Bothnia through Oulu, and on toward the border town of Tornio, where the line turns north into Lapland proper. You sleep through most of it, and wake to a transformed landscape — snow to the horizon, stunted birch, the low blue Arctic light — as the train works its way up to Kolari, the end of the line and the northernmost station in Finland, by late morning.

From Kolari a connecting bus meets the train for the short run to Äkäslompolo and Ylläs, or the hour or so to Levi — and you are on the slopes the same day, having spent no daylight travelling at all.

A few things worth knowing about the run:

• It is a VR double-decker night train, Helsinki to Kolari, about 1,000 km, roughly 14 hours overnight.
• Kolari is the railhead for Ylläs and Levi; a bus meets the train for the resorts (about 1 h 15 to Levi).
• The train carries skis, bikes and cars, and you sleep in a cabin as on the Santa Claus Express.
• ⚠️ Track works in 2026: major engineering on the northern lines is expected to change night-train schedules in May–June 2026 — check the current routing and times with VR before you book.

Come for the ski season (roughly December to April), or in late September for the ruska, when the Lapland tundra blazes red and gold — either way, the train is the best seat in the house on the way up.

The train to Kolari is an overnight service, running nightly through the ski season (and year-round, less often) — north in the evening, south the following night.

Real times (2026 — confirm before travelling):

The run is about 1,000 km and takes roughly 14 hours, calling at Riihimäki, Tampere, Oulu and Tornio. At Kolari — Finland's northernmost station — a connecting bus meets the train for Äkäslompolo/Ylläs and for Levi (about 1 h 15). In the busiest ski weeks, up to two night trains a night run to Kolari (and three more to Rovaniemi).

Good to know:

• ⚠️ 2026 track works. Major engineering on the northern network is expected to alter night-train schedules in May–June 2026 — always check the current routing and times with VR, and don't assume the standard timetable in that window.
• Book far ahead. The ski-season sleepers — especially the upper-deck cabins with a shower — sell out weeks in advance for Christmas, the February–March school holidays and Easter.
• Bring your kit. Skis and bikes travel with you; the car-carrier takes cars and motorcycles.
• Return timing. Plan the southbound night train so you get a full last day on the slopes before boarding.

Times as of the 2026 timetable. Confirm current schedules with the operator — see the Tickets section below.

The train is run by VR, the Finnish state railway, and it is booked exactly like the other Lapland night trains:

• Online, at vr.fi (opens in a new tab), with a full English site; you pick your cabin and date and get an e-ticket.
• At the station, at Helsinki Central and the main stops.

The accommodation is the same double-deck sleeper fleet as the Santa Claus Express:

• Lower-deck cabin — two berths and a washbasin.
• Upper-deck cabin — two berths with a private shower and WC; the most comfortable, and the first to sell out.
• Three-berth compartment — the older-style cabin, good value for families.
• Seats — the cheapest option, but a berth is worth it on a 14-hour night.

Add the car-carrier if you want your car in Lapland without the drive, and note that skis and bikes travel with you.

Two practical points: book early — ski-season sleepers vanish weeks ahead — and, because of the 2026 track works (see Timetables), confirm the current routing before you pay, as the schedule may change in May–June 2026. Fares vary with demand and season, so check current prices on VR's site above.

This journey is really about the fell country at the top of the line — some of the finest winter terrain in Europe, and lovely in summer and autumn too.

Ylläs, just beyond Kolari, is the biggest ski area in Lapland after Levi, and the one with the most terrain: a chain of seven fells (tunturi) rising above the forest, with 61 slopes, 330 km of cross-country trails — the largest such network in the country — and two low-key resort villages — Äkäslompolo on the north side and Ylläsjärvi on the south. It is prized for its quiet, its long season and its cross-country skiing; the whole area sits inside Pallas–Yllästunturi National Park, Finland's most popular.

Levi, about an hour by bus from Kolari, is the opposite in mood — Finland's biggest and busiest resort, a full ski village with a gondola, floodlit pistes, a hotel-lined centre, an annual Alpine Ski World Cup slalom, and the liveliest après-ski in the country. Its neighbour Sirkka and the surrounding fells are among the best places anywhere to watch the aurora.

Beyond the slopes, this is deep Lapland — Sámi land and reindeer country. There are husky and reindeer safaris, snowmobiling, snowshoeing and ice-fishing in winter; in summer the midnight sun and superb fell hiking; and in late September the ruska, when the tundra turns to fire. The Pallas fells to the north, with their famous clean air and long trails, are an easy add-on for walkers.

One night of this trip is spent on the train, in a sleeper cabin rolling north — so the choice is really where to stay once you reach the fells.

At Ylläs, the two villages have different characters. Äkäslompolo, on the north side, is the prettier and quieter, strung along its lake beneath the fells, with cabins, small hotels and ski-in lodges; Ylläsjärvi, on the south side, is a little more developed. Both are built for cross-country and family skiing, and a self-catering log cabin — sauna included, as always in Finland — is the classic way to stay.

At Levi, the resort village itself is the base: a compact centre of hotels, apartments and chalets around the gondola and the pistes, with restaurants, spas and nightlife on the doorstep. It is the easy, everything-in-one-place choice, and the busiest — book well ahead for the peak weeks.

For the aurora, the area is full of glass-roofed igloos and aurora cabins, where you can watch the northern lights from your bed away from the village lights — a memorable splurge on a clear winter night.

As with all our journeys, we keep this to the shape of the trip rather than specific bookings: choose the quiet cross-country charm of Äkäslompolo, the full-resort convenience of Levi, or a glass igloo under the Lapland sky — and let the night train carry you and your skis there while you sleep.