Of the aurora evenings on offer around Rovaniemi, the Northern Lights Tour at the Campfire is the one we get asked about most, mostly because the price looks almost too low next to everything else on the list. From €99 a head for a guided three-hour evening with a fire, snacks and a proper guide, it undercuts the hunting tours by a wide margin — which naturally makes people suspicious of what's been left out.

Nothing sinister has been left out, but the shape of the evening is genuinely different from a hunting tour, and that difference matters more than the price gap. Joona has spent enough winters around Rovaniemi's aurora guides to know exactly which evenings are built around chasing clear sky across the region and which ones are built around staying still and hoping the sky does the work near camp — this is firmly the second kind, and that's either exactly what you want or not what you're picturing at all.

What the evening is actually like

This is a stay-put tour, not a chasing one. You're taken to a fixed spot away from Rovaniemi's town lights, given winter clothing if you need it, and settled in around a fire with snacks and hot drinks while your guide talks you through how the aurora forms, what conditions help it show, and how to read the sky with your phone camera even when your eyes can't pick much up. Three hours is long enough to get properly warm by the fire, cold enough waiting outside it, and — on a good night — see genuine activity build overhead without ever getting back in a vehicle.

The trade-off is exactly what you'd expect from the price: no guide driving you to wherever the clearest sky happens to be that night. If cloud sits over your fixed spot for the whole evening, that's the evening. It's a real gamble in a way the hunting tours are built to avoid.

We know these fixed-camp evenings well from the guide side of things — Joona has spent enough nights around aurora guides in this valley to know that the fire location itself is usually picked with some care, away from the worst light pollution and with a reasonably open view north, rather than being an arbitrary spot close to town for convenience. That's a small detail, but it's the difference between a tour that's genuinely trying to give you a fair shot at the sky and one that's just selling a fire and a story.

Check dates for the campfire tour (from €99) →

What's included

Per the current listing: a tour guide working in English (other languages available on request, though limited — contact the operator after booking to confirm), winter clothing in adult and child sizes — overalls, boots, gloves and socks — and local snacks and drinks served by the campfire. You also get the same northern-lights briefing every StayLapland aurora product includes, which is genuinely useful for spotting activity on any night for the rest of your trip, tour or not.

A nearly identical evening, the Northern Lights Tour in Atmospheric Cottage, swaps the outdoor campfire for shelter in a cottage and throws in a small surprise gift for children — worth a look if you're travelling with young kids and a long stretch outdoors in the cold sounds like the hard part of the evening rather than the point of it. See the cottage version, from €1095% off · HUNGRYTRAVELFAMILY5.

Compare the cottage version →

What isn't included — and why it matters here

The most important thing missing, compared with the hunting tours, is any guarantee. The three dedicated hunting products — the bus, small-group and private tours — all carry a stated 100% refund if no aurora photographs are captured during the outing. The campfire tour doesn't carry that wording, because the whole premise is different: you're not paying a guide to chase the best sky across the region, you're paying for a fixed, comfortable spot and a guide's company while you wait where you are.

That's not a flaw, it's a different product for a different kind of evening — but it's the single biggest reason the price sits where it does, and worth knowing before you compare it directly against the hunting tours by price alone.

Also worth flagging: this isn't a photography-included product the way the hunting tours are. The guide will help you set up your own phone or camera for a long-exposure shot, but you won't come home with a set of professional aurora photographs taken on your behalf — if that's important to you specifically, one of the guided hunting tours is the better fit, since professional photography is built into those listings rather than left to you.

Timing and what to expect on arrival

The listing gives a 3-hour duration with a cutoff of 3 hours before the start time for booking, so this isn't one you can add to your evening at the last minute the way some daytime activities allow. On some dates the tour needs a minimum number of guests to run at all — check the live calendar below for your specific date, since availability reflects that in real time rather than requiring you to ask.

Dress warmer than you think you need to, even with the provided overalls — you'll be sitting still for long stretches, which is colder than walking or riding, and the fire only warms the immediate area around it.

Cost & value at €99

At €99 per adult, the campfire tour5% off · HUNGRYTRAVELFAMILY5 sits well below the €109 Guaranteed Hunting Tour by Bus and far below the €199 small-group hunting tour — for a genuinely different evening rather than a worse version of the same one. If your main goal is simply "an aurora-themed evening out that isn't expensive," this is very hard to beat on price in Rovaniemi. If your main goal is "the best realistic chance of actually seeing the northern lights on this specific night," the guaranteed hunting tours are built for that instead, and we'd point most readers whose main priority is genuinely seeing the lights toward one of those.

For a family of four, that's roughly €396 total for the evening including snacks and gear rental, against €436 for the same four on the guaranteed bus tour — close enough in price that the guarantee is arguably the better €40 you'll spend that night, unless the fireside setting is genuinely what you're after.

See the guaranteed bus tour (from €109) →

Who should book this instead of a hunting tour

Book the campfire tour if: you want a relaxed, sociable evening with a fire and food as much as the aurora itself, you're travelling with a group who'd enjoy sitting around a fire regardless of the sky, you're on a short trip and don't want to give up a whole evening to driving, or your budget is genuinely tight and €99 is the number that makes the difference between doing an aurora evening at all or skipping it.

Book a hunting tour instead if: seeing the northern lights is the actual point of your evening and you want the guide actively working the odds in your favour, you specifically want the refund-backed guarantee in writing before you pay, or you're only in Rovaniemi for one night and can't afford to "waste" it on a fixed spot that might sit under cloud all evening. We've written more generally about how these Lapland evenings run in our Northern Lights Reindeer Safari review, which covers a third format again — reindeer-based rather than campfire or hunting — if you're still deciding what pace suits your trip. None of the three formats is objectively "the best" one; they're built around different evenings, and the honest answer to "which should we book" usually comes down to how many nights you actually have and how much the guarantee is worth to you personally.

Combining it with the rest of your trip

Because this tour doesn't need a full evening of driving, some readers pair it earlier in their trip and save a guaranteed hunting tour for a later night once they've got a feel for how clear the sky's been running that week. If pickup logistics are on your mind for either tour, our post on whether Lapland tours pick you up from specific hotels covers how that generally works across StayLapland's activities, campfire tour included.

Whichever evening or combination you land on, code HUNGRYTRAVELFAMILY5 takes 5% off at checkout, and it stacks fine across separate bookings if you end up doing more than one aurora evening on your trip.

Frequently asked questions

Is there a guarantee if we don't see the northern lights?
No — unlike the dedicated hunting tours, the campfire tour doesn't carry a refund-backed guarantee. It's a fixed-location evening rather than an active chase across the region.

How long does it run?
Three hours, with a booking cutoff of 3 hours before the start time.

What's the difference between this and the Atmospheric Cottage version?
The cottage version, from €109, moves the base from an outdoor campfire to a sheltered cottage and adds a small surprise gift for children — otherwise the format is very similar.

Is winter clothing included?
Yes, overalls, boots, gloves and socks in adult and child sizes are provided, along with local snacks and drinks by the fire.

Do we need a minimum group size?
Some dates require a minimum number of guests to run — the live booking calendar reflects real-time availability for your date, so check there rather than assuming any date will run regardless of numbers.

Should we book this or a guaranteed hunting tour?
If seeing the aurora is the actual point of your evening, book a guaranteed hunting tour instead — the campfire tour is built around a relaxed, fixed-location evening rather than actively maximising your odds.

Our final pick

For a genuinely tight budget or a group that just wants a cosy fireside evening regardless of what the sky does, the Northern Lights Tour at the Campfire5% off · HUNGRYTRAVELFAMILY5 is honestly good value at €99. But if you're choosing between this and a hunting tour purely because of the price gap, and what you actually want is the best realistic shot at seeing the lights, spend the extra €10 and book the Guaranteed Bus Tour5% off · HUNGRYTRAVELFAMILY5 instead — the refund-backed guarantee alone is worth that difference. Either way, don't forget HUNGRYTRAVELFAMILY5 at checkout.