Rovaniemi · With kids

Free to enter, on the Arctic Circle, with a post office, reindeer and paid extras that add up fast. Bus 8 runs there year-round.

A museum under a long glass tube covering Lapland, the Sámi and the Arctic, with an aurora projection room. Best from about six, and warm.

An hour south, an open-air zoo of Arctic species including polar bears and wolverines, with boardwalks that take pushchairs. Dress for standing still.

Short sled rides suit children from about three or four; longer safaris where they drive their own team start around eight. Book directly with the farms.

Snowsuits and boots rent by the day, sledges work where pushchairs do not, and December gives only a few hours of low blue light.