Accept my greetings all the readers. I am Chloe from USA and I visited Finland with my girl friend in the month of march 2024 but i am here to write about my experience of Kirkenes crab safari tour from Rovaniemi organised by finlandtour.fi. We planned our Rovaniemi Igloo stay and activities from USA only but we were un aware of Crab safari. When we heard about it in Rovaniemi, we decided to go for it.

Our Experience of Kirkenes tour from Rovaniemi

Well, when we got to know about Crab Safari in Kirkenes, Micheal and me straight away decided to go for it. We had 1 free day for us in the itinerary but we were not sure if it feasible. We had planned Kemi Ice Breaker cruise on 17th March, 18th was free for us and on 19th we had a flight in the evening.

We started looking for the options. Micheal went to hotel reception and asked for recommendation. They had some contacts but the offer was very high. We started our research online and landed on the finlandtour.fi's Kirkens tour page. They had an available slot for 18th morning. The package they were offering consists of private cab transfers from Rovaniemi to Kirkenes Snow hotel, 1 night stay in the hotel and crab Safari tour on 18th afternoon. It was the best offer we were getting and so we decided to book it. Paid online, and our tummies had already started craving for crabs. 🙂

Journey from Rovaniemi to Kirkenes

We were picked up in the morning around 6 am from the Rovaniemi hotel in the dark. It took us around 7 hours to reach Kirkenes in car. We crossed over from Sodankylä, Saariselkä, Inari, Tana River and then finally to Kirkenes. Our Crab Safari was aligned to happen around 15:00. We were at Kirkenes snow hotel around 13:00. I must tell you, Finland and Norway in winters and especially if you are in Lapland is the most beautiful place to be. This journey made us see small villages, towns and scenic beauty of these countries. Just loved it.

Our Crab Safari experience in Kirkenes

Ready to catch some crabs?" guide asked with a thick Norwegian accent. We responded eagerly "yes", and then boarded sturdy 4x4 vehicle to the edge of the fjord, it was the start of real adventure.

The fjord was frozen solid, a vast expanse of glistening ice stretching as far as the eye could see. Lars handed us thick, insulated suits and boots to ensure we stayed warm. "Safety first," he said, helping Micheal with her gloves. They we hopped onto a snowmobile. The ride was exhilarating, the cold wind whipping against their faces, the pristine Arctic scenery rushing by.

Guess what, we participated in Crab hunting and it was amazing experience. I cannot express my feeling, it was totally a new experience. The crab we hunted were on our plate a few hours later. Every one should at-least try it once in life.

Our Stay in Snow Hotel Kirkenes

Well, snow hotel Kirkenes it self is a destination. Built it acers, it has a park, reindeer farm, husky farm and much more. You get entry to the park if you stay in the hotel. Though we were tired but it was not an excuse, we tried to roam around and explore the hotel even in dark.

The room was warm and quite comfortable. It was overall a nice cozy stay in hotel. On 19th early morning we checked out and started our Journey back to Rovaniemi. We were dropped to hotel around15:00 and our flight was around 18:00. Perfect on time.

At the end, i would like to say special thanks to finlandtour.fi for arranging an amazing crab safari in Kirkenes for us. It was well planned and perfect. We just loved this tour and it became the highlight of our Finland trip.