Levi vs Rovaniemi - Which Finland City is Best For You?

We traveled to Levi and Rovaniemi in Lapland, Finland and loved both places. Here's what we learned about each city and wanted to share any advice we could so you could decide which one would be your favorite.
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We are Jacob and Jenny Warren! We are passionate about traveling the world. We started vlogging our travels in May, 2021 with a goal in mind to travel the world. After visiting Costa Rica and French Polynesia, we realized the time was right to quit our jobs and travel full time. In late 2021, we left everything to become full time travel vloggers and we've loved every minute of it. Our goal is to make it to all seven continents and visit many countries as possible. We hope you will follow along on our journey and that we can inspire you to travel in your own country or around the world!
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[@nickolay6277]

Rovaniemi has its peak tourist season in December-January while Levi gets really crowded during February and March (even April). These two locations are the most visited in Lapland (or Northern Finland in general). If you are looking for quieter visit, Inari Region is a good option. Basically all the same attractions and things to do, but no tourist masses or the 'commercialized' feeling. Also really snowsecure and heaven for aurora borealis sighting. Popular in summertime too, due to various hiking routes, cultural sights and of course the mignight sun. Kuusamo Region, just south of Lapland, recommended too.

[@JacobandJennyTravel]

Those are som great tips!! Thanks so much for all that information and thank you for watching :)

[@TheAlex29494]

Kinda generous to call Levi a city. It's just a small town built around a ski resort. It's not even an independent municipality but an area of Kittilä

[@JacobandJennyTravel]

Hahaha yes you are right! Thanks for your comment :)

[@timoterava7108]

Levi is not even a town. It is a resort in the village of Sirkka. I wouldn't call Rovaniemi (pop. 64,000) a city either, but I suppose that's a matter of taste. In Finland there is no official definition for a city - or for a town either any more. By EU official definition Finland has 9 cities, Oulu (pop. 210,000) being the only one in the Northern half of the country.

[@christianheikkonen]

@@timoterava7108Ainoastaan helsinkiläinen ei määrittele Rovaniemeä kaupungiksi

[@timoterava7108]

@@christianheikkonen Olen pohjoisesta enkä ole koskaan asunut E-Suomessa. Nyt oli puhetta citystä ja townista, jotka molemmat tarkoittavat kaupunkia. RVN on toki town, mutta tuskin city - eikä ainakaan EU:n määritelmän mukaan.

[@nottwo6492]

Rovaniemi to Levi is like Denver to Aspen, both at smaller scale. For the Northern Lights, the odds are a bit higher at Levi. Cloud cover is normally limiting and there is no difference in cloud occurrence between the two, but Levi is further North. Actually, the real reason to choose Levi is everything around it. Ylläs, Pallas, nearby Sweden and actually even Kilpisjärvi/Saana/Norway being a few hours away. Rovaniemi has nothing like those places nearby. And the skiing is better, agreed.

[@JacobandJennyTravel]

Thanks for all that information! That is super helpful! And thank you for watching :)

[@stephenmarqq]

Love the video!!! We visited Rovaniemi during our trip to Finland and took the overnight train from Helsinki to Rovaniemi. We were actually impressed with our experience on the train! Even though the train was only a bit cheaper, we decided the train made sense for us as we didn't have to book a hotel for the night. Hotels in Rovaniemi are relatively expensive and we were traveling on a budget so not having that additional expense made it cheaper all around. Happy to share more about our experience on the train if it's helpful!!

[@JacobandJennyTravel]

That is such great information!! Thanks for writing it out for everyone :) and thank you so much for watching! We are glad to hear you had a good experience on the train!

[@oh2mp]

I liked a lot of your Lapland series and will be waiting what you are going to do next! One good option would be also Saariselkä in Inari municipality. It is the northernmost outdoor resort of Finland and about 250 kilometers north from Rovaniemi. I have been there only quickly in summer and autumn time, but I could see that it was a nice place. On both times I just stopped there for a while and continued driving further north.

[@JacobandJennyTravel]

Yay we are so glad you enjoyed it! Next week we will start posting our Norway series and then Thailand :) We are so jealous you got there in the summer, that is our goal for this year! Thanks for watching :)

[@oh2mp]

@@JacobandJennyTravel I'm waiting for that Norway series. I am totally Norway-crazy. I would like to travel there every year if that was possible. Actually I have driven quite much around that country but haven't got enough of it and perhaps will never get. It's so gorgeous.

[@JustPeach]

Ylläs is the biggest ski resort in Finnland. Levi has only 38,5 kilometers of slopes, Ylläs has 53 km

[@Vetyhhhh]

Yeah for a tourist levi is better, more stuff to do and services are all located nearby

[@JacobandJennyTravel]

Yes we heard that! Thank you for your comment! :)

[@950227kelvin]

Great video!!! This is the most useful video after searching for a travel guide to Finland on KZbin for an hour. Very informative, thanks a lot!!!

[@JacobandJennyTravel]

We are so glad it was helpful!! We have another video we filmed as a guide for Finland kzbin.info/www/bejne/pXmWkpulfdl1o7M and of course lots of other Finland videos if you want to check any of them out! Thanks so much for watching :)

[@TheWrightLifeTravelChannel]

Great video! I don't think I'd be able to make up my mind about where to go, I'd probably like to visit both!

[@JacobandJennyTravel]

You should for sure visit both if you can! They are both amazing. Thanks for watching :)

[@simonsandvik7367]

Ylläs is way bigger for skiing and is fairly close to Levi.

[@JacobandJennyTravel]

We have heard that! Thanks for your comment :)

[@WITYTRAVELS]

Great comparison between the two! Train sounds fun. If it was light enough to see the landscape during the journey.

[@JacobandJennyTravel]

The train would be awesome if you could see the journey for sure! Thanks guys :)

[@harrikaijansinkko8387]

Levi is a guite new artificial ski turist "town" built next to Sirkka Village and "mount" Levi, which are part of Kittilä municipality. About 40 years ago there was only one hotel, three ski lifts and some dozens of log cabins and cottages. Alpine style houses are mostly built during 2000's. Many Finnish architects don't like the alpine buildind style of Levi because it is far away of Finnish building heritage. -Downhill ski resort at Ounasvaara in Rovaniemi is guite small, but there are lot of cross-country ski tracks around Rovaniemi. Most Finnish cities and municipalities have their own xc ski track networks. Even here in Helsinki, when we get enough snow, there is almost 300 kilometres of prepared ski tracks. Cross-country skiing is one of the most popular sport hobbies here.

[@JacobandJennyTravel]

Wow thanks for all that great information!! And thanks for watching :)

[@sonjahancock5726]

Very informative!!

[@JacobandJennyTravel]

Thanks for watching Sonja :)

[@ampeteri]

Train should be cheaper if you're able to reserve your tickets way, way in advance. The earlier the better.

[@JacobandJennyTravel]

Thanks for that information :)

[@sudiptaroy5063]

Just loved your video.jenny and jacob.much informative and precise.

[@JacobandJennyTravel]

We are glad you enjoyed it!! And thank you so much for watching :)

[@squidcaps4308]

Did you know that Santa Claus Village is actually a bomb shelter? It can house 3600 people in a nuclear bomb proof bunkers.. These things are all over Finland, i live on top of a smaller one. But since those caves are otherwise empty, they have been rented to companies. They have to be able to transform it to a shelter in 72h. There is aim filtration systems, electric generators, water... In Helsinki there is room for 600 000 people in such caves, it has its own artificial lake even (total shelter space is 900 000 in the capital region)... There is room for 80% of Finnish population in bomb shelters, which covers all the urbanized areas. Helsinki is like an underground fortress, the only city in the world with underground zoning. The reason for those caves being dug.. well, eastern neighbor is the reason but also, most of Finland sit on top of Baltic Shield. It is a craton, oldest continental curst formations, 3-4 billion year old. The bedrock is closer to surface because of Ice age, and it is solid granite or gneiss. There are no earthquakes, no volcanic activity: you dig a tunnel and it will be there million years from now. No supports are needed, just dig. There are hundreds of miles and thousands of spaces in our bedrock. That is because of our Total Defense doctrine, but that is another topic but in short: government has the responsibility for the wellbeing of the citizens but constitution does not say "except during a crisis". So, EVERYTHING is thought about and EVERY part of infrastructure, private or public is part of defense against crisis. National stockpiles have food, water, fuel and medicine for half a year. They are also dug underground... We have prepared for the worst case scenario for 70 years. And yes, i am very grateful about all of that. Makes me sleep much better at nights.

[@nickolay6277]

You are talking about Santa Park now... Santa Claus Village is a different place...

[@JacobandJennyTravel]

That is so interesting! We did read before we got to Finland that there are tons of bomb shelters there! That is so cool. Thanks for all that information :)

[@cantdecide2023]

That is so fascinating @squidcaps4308 thanks for sharing. @JacobandJennyTravel this video is so informative for any novis trying to figure out where to visit in Finland. Great information and great work guys. Thanks so much 😊

[@harrikuusjarvi3795]

Levi is not for place to go extreme skiers. That front slope is less than half of Levi hole altitude. U can go around this around 5km wide mountain and find also black ski troutes. I i really want to go place in Finland what is most beautiful and best downhill ski is Yllas. It is much bigger than Levi as i said before. But Levi can not give u much of ski routes. Yllas has a lot of them. So Yllas is place to ski in Finland if u have some kind of skils. Levi is more chill out routes. Pyha is also great. Glad u have fun. Its always snowy in Lapland but this year it has not that snow up there. Usually there is much more snow this time of year.

[@JacobandJennyTravel]

Yes we have heard Yllas is amazing for skiing! Thanks for all your great tips! And thank you for watching :)

[@harrikuusjarvi3795]

@@JacobandJennyTravel Yllas has also better nature. There are 7 mountains tight together 2 villages and sorry u were in Levi outseason. I personally love outseason because no traffic. Like week 8 stars the real season when Finns starts they winter holidays. At this time of year mostly older people are there around an they truly can ski no matter how cold or snowy it gets. And season continue atleast 1.5.2023. U can also ski in summer with +25 degrees Celsius. Have a nice trip and ask anything sometimes if u come back agan i😁

[@moonliteX]

rovaniemi is an actual city which has formed without tourism originally. just a town. levi has been synthetically made ONLY for tourists. kinda like what you have at a cruise. so i would argue /real/ lapland would be more like rovaniemi and the surroundings

[@JacobandJennyTravel]

That is very good to know!! Thanks for letting us know :)

[@punkkumies1283]

was that husky ride very fast, little scary perhaps? looked fun :)

[@JacobandJennyTravel]

It was so fun!! It did feel pretty fast! We crashed at one point haha! Thanks for watching :)

[@citizenkane4831]

And if you plan another trip to sweden or norway. You can vissit Kiruna in Sweden, you can fly there. And while you are in Kiruna yuo can wisit the national park Abisko known for big chanse to see the northern lights (if the weather alows it). Kiruna is known as the town they had to move due to the expansion of the iron ore they mining there. Ore if you choose Norway you can wisit Lofoten, Tromsö or northe cape. The most northern place you can come to in Europe.

[@JacobandJennyTravel]

We are hoping to get to Sweden this summer and spoiler alert after these next two Finland videos we will be in Tromso!! :) We will have to check out Kiruna! Thanks for the tip :)

[@citizenkane4831]

@@JacobandJennyTravel You can´t see the northern light in the middle of the summer in Kiruna. That´s when the midnight sun is there. Do some research!

[@moonliteX]

fog is not the default mode but it comes and goes depending on weather

[@JacobandJennyTravel]

Good to know! Thanks for your comment :)

[@ratyjoona]

Come visit other regions of Finland too :). Also in other seasons.

[@JacobandJennyTravel]

We are hoping to do just that this summer! Thanks for your comment :)

[@mynewyork165]

4:14 You take trains because you want to see the sights.

[@JacobandJennyTravel]

That makes sense :) Thanks for watching!

[@123greenland]

Is it worth staying in the glass igloo? As you mentioned it was quite expensive.

[@JacobandJennyTravel]

I think it would be worth it for one night, but it wasn't the absolute best thing ever! Thanks for watching :)

[@123greenland]

@@JacobandJennyTravel Thank you for the update👍

[@ravenfin1916]

Fun fact. Rovaniemi is the largest city in Europe. Its area is 8017 km².

[@timoterava7108]

Fun fact: Rovaniemi is not a city by EU standards.

[@ravenfin1916]

@@timoterava7108 Even Tampere or Oulu are not cities in the EU because they are so wide. There are enough residents in all of them, but not dense enough.

[@timoterava7108]

@@ravenfin1916 Incorrect. By the EU official(!) standards these are the 9 cities of Finland: Helsinki Espoo Tampere Vantaa Oulu Turku Jyväskylä Kuopio Lahti However by the British (various) traditional and unofficial standards Espoo and Vantaa are not cities, perhaps not even Lahti. On the other hand e.g. Pori, Hämeenlinna, Vaasa, Porvoo and Savonlinna most likely are.

[@ravenfin1916]

@@timoterava7108 The population density of Oulu is 70.63 people/km² (30.6.2022) and the requirement is 500. It means that Kuopio doesn't meet the definition either. According to the EU definition, there are only seven cities in Finland: Helsinki, Jyväskylä, Vantaa, Lahti, Turku, Espoo and Joensuu. There may have been changes, because the information is from 2004. In municipal unions, the areas usually grow, but the population not so much.

[@timoterava7108]

@@ravenfin1916 Indeed it seems, that your information/definition is outdated/incorrect. What matters is, that there is dense enough integral urban area with large enough population. Every square km within the municipal borders doesn't have to be urban - i.e. it is not about the average density of the municipality. According to those official standards the 9 Finnish cities are as I listed.

[@benibf]

Reasons to take the train instead of flying: 1. Climate change / minimising your carbon footprint. This should really be the obvious one, but I realise not everyone really cares about this (which is a shame), so a few more "practical" reasons: 2. No baggage size limitation on the train (if you're flying and you have large items that cannot go in the cabin, you often have to pay extra for check in luggage) 3. Flying may take only one hour in the air, but the total experience (including travel to/from each airport and time spent waiting inside airports) will likely be 3-4 hours, all of which is "wasted" time. On the sleeper train, you go to sleep in one city, and wake up in the next one. Bam. No wasted time whatsoever. Also, the train has internet, so before or after going to sleep, you can even get work done. Not to mention sleeping on horizontal beds, having an entire restaurant car at your disposal for dinner and breakfast, etc. 4. You save money by not having to arrange accommodation for the night you spend on the train. 5. The views from the train. When you fly, all you see is the place you took off from and the place you landed at. With the train, you get to see the entire scenery along the way, truly taking in the landscape.

[@JacobandJennyTravel]

Those are some good reasons!! Thanks for commenting :)

[@kassup9588]

Ylläs better

[@JacobandJennyTravel]

We heard it is great there :)

[@ttkk6099]

Ruka is better than Levi imo ;)

[@JacobandJennyTravel]

Hahaha we will have to go there someoday!! :)

[@k.kaaleppi5614]

its pronounced as LEEVi not liivi

[@JacobandJennyTravel]

Thanks for letting us know :)

[@Jantzku]

Like the English word 'levee'. Sounds just like Levi