The capital of Finnish Lapland, the only Lapland city with a real winter restaurant scene, a working airport hub and a year-round design culture.
The Arctic Circle crosses Rovaniemi at 66°33′ north. From 6 June to 7 July the sun never sets. In December it still rises: on 21 December from 11:08 to 13:22, a little over two hours of light. True polar night, kaamos in Finnish, starts further north.
Eleven slopes and five lifts on the hill facing the centre, with 140 metres of vertical on the competition slope. Around them run about 100 kilometres of cross-country track, half of it lit, part of a city network of more than 200 kilometres.
The Arctic science centre and museum holds two institutions under one roof: the Regional Museum of Lapland and the Arctic Centre of the University of Lapland. The architecture is an attraction in itself, and the glass corridor is the part people come to see.
Rovaniemi is a city before it is a resort. A room in the centre puts restaurants, shops and the bus station within walking distance, and the whole trip can be done without a car. The trade-off is light: for a dark sky you have to leave town.
Ounasvaara rises on the far bank, facing the centre. A room on that side has the slopes and the lit tracks at the door and the city one bridge away, sensible if you plan to ski every day, less so if you want to walk to dinner.
Glass igloos and aurora cabins are a room type, not a neighbourhood. They sit outside the city because that is where the sky stays dark, so settle how you will get in and out before you book: for most of them it means a drive or an arranged transfer.