I met the REAL Santa Claus in Finland!

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I found the REAL Santa Claus in Finland! Visitors can meet him at the Santa Claus Village in Rovaniemi. He’s the BEST Santa I’ve ever met. He looked a little different from my last visit in the North Pole, but maybe it was because (like me) he traveled across the world.

We took the taxi from downtown Rovaniemi to the village for approximately $20. When we first arrived, there is a large map for directions to the property.

There are a lot of gift shops and even a place to get your certificate for crossing the Arctic Circle. (Unfortunately, we forgot ours. 🙁 )

The first place we went was, of course, to meet Santa! Upon entering, we followed the arrows pointing the right direction.

The path to get to Santa was pretty interesting.

The world’s largest wish list to Santa is found here in the Santa Claus Village. It has 75, 954 wishes! There were many other people waiting in line including people from China, Mexico, Italy, and many other countries from around the world.

When it was our time to meet Santa we entered a room with just Chris and I so we could privately talk to Santa. He definitely was a jolly ole fella!

I asked him what HE wanted for Christmas and we talked about what people most commonly ask for.

Santa Claus from Finland seemed wise beyond his years. When we left, a staff member told us that he knows how to speak a little something in all languages. He also works every day they are open. He has worked there for MANY years; talk about commitment!

After paying for our picture with Santa with video ($40 for both, $30 for photo only), we headed to the gift store to send a postcard to my Granny.

All you have to do is pick out the postcard you want, pen in a message with address, purchase a stamp, and mail it using the mailbox in the lobby. There’s the option of sending the card now or waiting for Christmas.

There are accommodations, including a glass igloo, on the property. I had looked into staying in one of these igloos, but stayed at one with a view in Norway instead.