The Guardian — Travel • Jan. 12, 2026, 2:34 a.m.

If meeting Santa is on your family wishlist, this trip on a festive sleeper train from Helsinki to Rovaniemi, with reindeer and huskies thrown in, is Christmas with jingle bells on Christmas was only a few days away and the Finnish capital of Helsinki was ringing with festive cheer as we explored the Tuomaan Markkinat in Senate Square, sipping from mugs of hot, spicy glögi (mulled wine), and biting into joulutorttu (jam-filled puff pastries shaped like catherine wheels). A cold front had brought abundant snow and inhaling was rather painful at -8C, but nothing could still the tremble of excitement.

Along with my husband and two young daughters, I was here to take the Santa Claus Express to the northern city of Rovaniemi, the heart of Finnish Lapland – and the “official” home of Father Christmas.

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