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FOOD, SHOPPING, RESTAURANTS, MEALS AND SOUVENIRS IN LAPLAND

Our food experiences in Lapland, Finland

We spent one week in Rovaniemi, Lapland, Finland from 28th October to 4th November, living in an Airbnb flat. We were self-catering so had to go shopping every day, buy food and drinks for breakfast and dinner. Once a day we ate hot meals in restaurants, it was a good opportunity for us to try different restaurants each day.

Diverse and delicious

Before our travel, we were afraid of getting meals without any spices and expected a lot of fish and potato, simple and tasteless meals. Despite our expectations, we’ve got really delicious meals. We tasted not only the Lappish cuisine but also Chinese, Swedish, Russian and Mexican ones. Foods were tasty, and portions and prices were correct.

In most of the restaurants, we could find a smart and cheap solution: buffet lunch. Available in several places, the price is 10-12 EUR and you can choose from a lot of meals: soup, fresh cold salads, main courses and soft drinks, tea or coffee.

Shopping in supermarket

Almost every day we went shopping at K-supermarket, which is the most frequent food store in Rovaniemi. Selection of foods and quality is very high (I think more than in some UK supermarkets), we could find delicious foods for breakfast or dinner: cold meats, tomato, paprika, salads, fresh crusty bread, rolls, biscuits, ice cream, yoghurt, fruit tea and many more… Prices are incredibly high (3-4 times more expensive) compare with those in the UK.

In supermarkets, you can find the classical Lappish foods: smoked salmon, fresh salmon meat, reindeer, moose or bear salami, reindeer chips (dried smoked sausage), local fruit jams (blueberry, cloudberry, raspberry…), cheese and many more. Prices of reindeer, moose or bear meat products are rather high.

Fazer chocolates are the most common locally produced chocolate (from Vantaa, Helsinki), large selection on the shelves, worth to buy some bars for your loved one

Food experiences in Rovaniemi city centre

Lordi Square and shopping malls are popular spots in Rovaniemi, where in the neighbourhoods tourists and locals can find several very nice restaurants, cafés, and eateries.

We taste-tested them:

  • Freija Cat Café (Freija Kissakahvila)
  • Tsar Restaurant
  • RAX buffet
  • Xiang Long Chinese restaurant
  • Comico Restaurant

Buffet lunch after lunchtime in Inari

Inari is a nice small town in the far North, with breathtaking landscapes, reindeer, and about 50 cm thick of snow blanket at the end of October. It took about 5 hours to get there from Rovaniemi on the snowy and icy roads, driving about 370 km. Inari is the capital of Sami Land, with a nice museum and nature centre of Siida, with a lovely restaurant inside, Sarrit. There is a lunch buffet every day from 11am to 3 pm.

The road to Inari was so snowy and slippery, so we had to drive carefully unfortunately we arrived 5 minutes after 3, but the staff was very nice and served us the buffet lunch. There was a tortilla day so we could taste the “authentic” reindeer tortilla. It was very delicious and tasted like a beef.

Time-travellers’ lunch on the Finnish-Swedish border

We planned and took a day trip to Tornio (Finland) and Haparanda (Sweden) sister cities along the Finnish-Swedish border located in two different time zones, and visited the northernmost IKEA store (our favourite store) in the world. In the IKEA Restaurant, we took some time to relax and enjoyed the lunch buffet with Swedish-style dishes (salmon, meatballs), salads, drinks, and desserts for a reasonable price.

Top destinations in Santa Claus Village

Santa Claus Village is the most popular destination in Rovaniemi, a magical winter wonderland with lots of different services for visitors: accommodations, tours, activities, souvenir shops, Santa Claus home, post office and excellent restaurants. More details from our experiences are in a separate post.

7 travel tips on eating in Lapland, Finland

1. Visit Rovaniemi’s most popular restaurants (see above for more details)

2. Take trips in the surroundings of Rovaniemi, visit local restaurants and cafés (see above for more details

3. Eat and drink in the lunch buffet and save your money

4. Taste local specialities in eateries, and restaurants: salmon, reindeer, bear meat, cheese, fruit jams

5. Taste meals from different cuisines (Russian cuisine is heavenly and delicious)

6. Drink glögi when you are outside in the cold weather

7. Don’t leave Rovaniemi without taking some local souvenirs (reindeer fur, reindeer meat products, chocolates….) and postcards for your loved ones

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Location: Finnország

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