One of the questions I see asked most often in Lapland Facebook groups is: "How much spending money do I need?". The honest answer is, it depends.
A family staying in a half-board package hotel in Levi will spend their money very differently from someone planning a DIY trip to Rovaniemi with a self-catering apartment. Your destination, accommodation, meals, activities and even how you plan to get around can all make a huge difference to your daily budget.
We've now visited Finnish Lapland three times, planning every trip ourselves, from family holidays to short weekend breaks. Across those trips we've stayed in apartments, eaten out, cooked some of our own meals and relied on taxis and the shuttle services included with many attractions and excursions.
In this guide, I'll break down the biggest factors that affect your spending money, so you can budget realistically based on your style of trip, rather than relying on one figure that rarely applies to everyone. Our aim is to help you avoid taking far more, or far less than you actually need.
From DIY itineraries and Northern Lights tips to budgeting advice, destination guides and honest reviews of the places we've visited, you'll find everything together in our Lapland Travel Guide Hub.
Just a quick note before we begin. Some of the links in this guide are affiliate links. This means we may earn a small commission if you make a purchase through them, at no extra cost to you. We only recommend products, services and experiences we've used ourselves or genuinely believe will help you plan your trip. Thanks for supporting Build a Break.
✔ Package holidays with half board: usually need less spending money
✔ DIY trips: spending depends on whether you're staying in a hotel or self-catering apartment
✔ Levi: easier to keep transport costs low thanks to its walkable layout
✔ Rovaniemi: you may spend more on taxis unless you use buses or included shuttle services
✔ Booking activities before you travel can dramatically reduce how much spending money you'll need during your trip
One of the biggest mistakes people make when budgeting for Lapland is assuming everyone spends the same amount each day.
In reality, your spending money will depend on where you're staying, whether you've booked a package holiday or planned a DIY trip, if your activities are already paid for and even whether you're staying in a hotel or a self-catering apartment.
The good news is that, once you've worked through these factors, budgeting becomes much easier.
| Holiday Style | Suggested Spending Money* |
|---|---|
| Package Holiday (Half Board) | €20–40 per person, per day |
| DIY Trip (Self-Catering Apartment) | €25–50 per person, per day |
| DIY Trip (Hotel) | €40–70 per person, per day |
| Luxury / Last-Minute Excursions | €100+ per person, per day |
*Please note: These figures are intended as a general guide only. They exclude flights, accommodation and any activities you've already booked before travelling. Your actual spending will depend on your destination, accommodation, transport, dining choices and whether you're travelling independently or on a package holiday.
This is probably the single biggest factor affecting how much spending money you'll need.
If you've booked a package holiday, you'll often find that quite a lot is already included. Many packages include airport transfers, accommodation, breakfast and dinner (half board), and in some cases thermal clothing or selected activities. That means your spending money is mainly for lunches, drinks, souvenirs and any optional excursions you decide to book once you're there.
A DIY trip is much more flexible, but you'll usually be paying for more as you go. Depending on how you've booked your holiday, your spending money may need to cover meals, transport and activities, although many people choose to book these in advance.
One advantage of DIY travel is that you can decide exactly where to spend your money. We've often found it cheaper to book activities before travelling and save money by staying in self-catering accommodation and preparing some of our own meals.
My tip: Before deciding how much spending money to take, make a list of everything you've already paid for. The fewer costs you have left to cover once you arrive, the less cash you'll need.
The two most popular destinations in Finnish Lapland are Rovaniemi and Levi, and in terms of food we found costs to be very similar. The biggest difference is how the two destinations are laid out.
Levi is a compact ski resort, with most hotels, apartments, restaurants and shops all within easy walking distance of the village centre. Although many activities take place outside the resort, you're never far from the surrounding wilderness. Some providers include transport, while others charge a small supplement, but because the distances are shorter, getting around is generally straightforward.
Rovaniemi feels quite different because it's a city rather than a purpose-built resort. Most visitors stay in the city centre, while many of the most popular attractions and excursions are located further away. Whether you're heading to Santa Claus Village or out into the forests for snowmobiling, husky safaris or Northern Lights tours, journeys tend to be longer, which can sometimes increase your transport costs.
If you're still deciding between the two destinations, I've compared them in much more detail in my Levi vs Rovaniemi guide, including the differences in atmosphere, accommodation, activities, transport and which we preferred.
That said, Bus 8 provides an inexpensive way to reach Santa Claus Village, and many excursion companies include hotel pick-up as part of the booking.
One thing I have noticed while searching for Lapland holidays for our Build a Break Travel Club is that accommodation in Levi often seems slightly cheaper than Rovaniemi, particularly for self-catering apartments during peak winter weeks. Whether that's because there are fewer direct flights or simply different levels of demand, it's something we've consistently seen when comparing DIY trips.
Rovaniemi does have one advantage when it comes to activities. As a larger city with more providers, there tends to be a wider range of experiences and price points to choose from. We also found there were plenty of affordable attractions that didn't involve booking expensive excursions, from exploring Santa Claus Village to visiting museums, riverside walks and other low-cost activities.
If you're trying to keep costs down, I've put together a guide to 15 Things to Do in Rovaniemi for €40 or Less, which includes many of our favourite budget-friendly experiences.
Our experience: After three DIY trips split between Levi and Rovaniemi, I don't think we spent significantly more in one destination than the other. Levi was often a little cheaper for accommodation, while Rovaniemi offered more choice when it came to activities and budget-friendly things to do. Overall, your accommodation, meals and excursions are likely to have a much bigger impact on your spending money than which destination you choose.
Still deciding which destination is right for you? Read my detailed comparison of Levi vs Rovaniemi, or if you're still planning your trip, my guide to finding cheap flights to Lapland from the UK explains the airports, airlines and routes we use.
One of the biggest factors affecting your spending money is where you're staying.
If you've booked a hotel with breakfast or half board included, your daily spending will usually be much lower. Breakfast is already covered and, if you've chosen half board, you'll only need to budget for lunch, drinks and any snacks throughout the day.
However, if you're staying in a self-catering apartment, you'll have much more control over your food budget. Across all three of our DIY Lapland trips, we've chosen apartments with kitchen facilities, allowing us to prepare breakfasts, some evening meals and hot drinks ourselves. It not only saved money but also meant we weren't relying on restaurants after long days out in the snow.
Supermarkets in both Levi and Rovaniemi are well stocked, and we found prices surprisingly similar to those in the UK for many everyday items. Buying ingredients for breakfast, sandwiches or a simple pasta dinner worked out significantly cheaper than eating every meal in a restaurant.
That said, we still enjoy eating out while we're away. Rather than dining out every evening, we usually mix supermarket meals with a few restaurant visits, which helps keep our overall spending under control without feeling like we're missing out.
Our experience: If you're planning a DIY Lapland trip, I'd definitely recommend choosing an apartment with cooking facilities. It gives you much more flexibility and is one of the easiest ways to reduce the amount of spending money you'll need.
During both our Levi and Rovaniemi trips, we've stayed in self-catering apartments and, honestly, it saved us far more money than we expected.
On our 5-day Levi trip, we did a supermarket shop shortly after arriving, buying cereal, milk, yoghurts, baguettes, fruit, crisps, popcorn, fizzy drinks and ingredients for simple evening meals. Before travelling, I'd expected supermarket prices to be much higher than the UK, but I was genuinely surprised. For everyday essentials, we found prices remarkably similar. Finnish supermarkets such as S-Market and K-Market are well stocked, making it easy to prepare your own breakfasts, lunches and evening meals.
Most days we spent around £15–30 on groceries for one adult and three children, depending on what we needed to top up. Across four full days in Levi, our total food bill came to £122 for four people, which honestly wasn't much different to what we'd spend at home.
We'd fully intended to eat out more often, but after spending the day outside in freezing temperatures, the last thing we wanted to do was put three layers of clothing back on just to head out for dinner. Eating in the apartment turned out to be the easier and cheaper option.
If you're looking for a self-catering apartment, I've shared the places we've stayed, along with other recommended hotels and apartments, in my guides to Where to Stay in Levi and Where to Stay in Rovaniemi.
If you don't want to cook every meal, there are still plenty of affordable places to eat.
• McDonald's
• Subway
• Shell service stations (very different from those in the UK, with full restaurants inside). You'll find one across from Santa Claus Village.
• Santa's Pizza & Burger at Santa Claus Village
A large pizza at the Shell restaurant cost us around £12–15, while at Santa's Pizza & Burger we spent around £47 for three people. Looking back, we'd massively over-ordered, and what we bought would easily have fed another adult or two younger children.
If you're looking for more affordable ways to enjoy the city, don't forget to check out my guide to 15 Things to Do in Rovaniemi for €40 or Less, which includes plenty of budget-friendly attractions alongside cheap places to eat.
Levi has fewer restaurants than Rovaniemi, but there are still some good-value options.
• Burger King
• Subway
• Kotipizza
• Hesburger
During our stay, we ordered takeaway pizzas on two evenings, paying around £12 per pizza. They were large enough that we only needed two pizzas between four of us, making the cost very similar to ordering a takeaway back home.
You'll also find familiar options such as Burger King and Subway, alongside local cafés and restaurants if you fancy treating yourself to a sit-down meal.
As a rough guide, we'd budget around:
• Pizza or burger: €15–20
• Main course in a mid-range restaurant: €20–35
• Soft drink: €3–5
• Coffee or hot chocolate: €4–6
• Three-course meal: €40–60+ per person
Of course, prices vary depending on where you eat, but these figures should help when budgeting your spending money.
A few small things made a surprisingly big difference to our budget.
We always pack hot chocolate sachets, concentrated squash pods and a few snacks from home. On our Levi trip, we even packed a couple of instant noodle pots for our first evening because we knew we'd be arriving around 10pm after the supermarkets had closed. We'd already eaten on the plane, but it was reassuring to know we had something quick if we needed it.
One thing I can't personally comment on is alcohol, as we haven't bought any on our Lapland trips. However, alcohol is noticeably more expensive in Finland, and drinks over 5.5% ABV are only sold through Alko stores rather than standard supermarkets. If you're planning to enjoy a few drinks during your holiday, it's worth considering buying them at duty free before you arrive.
Our experience: Don't assume you'll spend a fortune on food in Lapland. By mixing supermarket meals with the occasional takeaway or restaurant, we found our food bill was much closer to what we'd spend at home than we'd expected.
I've shared a full breakdown of what we spent on food, activities and transport in our 2-Day Rovaniemi Itinerary, 3-Day Rovaniemi Itinerary and 5-Day Levi Itinerary, so you can see exactly how much our DIY Lapland trips cost.
Another factor that can make a huge difference to your spending money is whether you've already booked your activities before you arrive.
Across all three of our DIY Lapland trips, we'd booked every excursion before we flew to Finland. That meant the spending money we took with us was almost entirely for food, transport and the occasional souvenir rather than expensive activities.
One of the biggest advantages of booking your activities before you travel is that you have time to compare prices, read reviews and decide which experiences are actually worth your money.
If, however, you're planning to book activities once you arrive, you'll need to budget significantly more. Popular experiences such as Snowman World, the Arctic SnowHotel, the Snow Sauna, Lapland Winter Park Sauna World, Ice Karting and the Arctic SnowHotel Ice Restaurant, can quickly add several hundred euros to your holiday budget.
If you're heading to Levi, our guide to 25 Things to Do in Levi covers everything from family-friendly attractions to unforgettable winter experiences, making it easier to decide where to spend your budget.
If you're planning to book through GetYourGuide, don't forget you can also save 5% on all eligible Lapland activities using our exclusive code BUILDABREAK5, helping your spending money go that little bit further.
Our experience: Booking activities before we travelled meant we could spread the cost over several months, compare different providers and arrive in Lapland knowing that the biggest expenses were already taken care of. That left our spending money almost entirely for food, transport and the occasional souvenir, making it much easier to stick to our budget.
These are the prices we've either paid ourselves or would typically budget for when planning a DIY Lapland trip.
🔹 Airport taxi (Rovaniemi Airport → City Centre): Around €35
🔹 Airport taxi (Rovaniemi Airport → Santa Claus Village): Around €25
🔹 Bus 8 (City Centre ↔ Santa Claus Village): €3.60 adult | €1.80 child
🔹 Large takeaway pizza: Around €12–15
🔹 Mid-range restaurant main course: €20–35
🔹 Coffee or hot chocolate: €4–6
🔹 Husky safari: From around €150+
🔹 Snowmobile safari: From around €120+
🔹 Reindeer ride: From around €40+
🔹 Snowman World: From around €30+
🔹 Arctic SnowHotel: From around €35+
🔹 Lapland Winter Park: From around €30+
Remember, if you've already booked your activities before travelling, many of these larger costs won't come out of your spending money at all.
It depends on the type of holiday you're planning. If you've already booked your accommodation and activities, you'll mainly need money for food, transport and souvenirs. Across our three DIY Lapland trips, that's exactly how we budgeted.
Not necessarily. If you book and pay for your activities before travelling, they won't need to come out of the spending money you take with you.
That's what we've done on all three of our DIY Lapland trips. We booked our main activities in advance, which meant our spending money once we arrived was mostly for food, local transport and the occasional souvenir
We'd recommend taking a bank card rather than large amounts of cash. During our trips, we paid by card everywhere. We have never used cash.
Restaurants are generally more expensive than in the UK, but supermarket prices surprised us and were much closer to home than we'd expected. Self-catering is one of the easiest ways to reduce your spending money.
Because we'd already paid for our accommodation and activities before travelling, the spending money we took was almost entirely for food, transport and the occasional souvenir. We found this made it much easier to stick to our budget and enjoy the trip without worrying about unexpected costs.
For many travellers, yes. Across our 5-day DIY trip to Levi, we didn't spend anywhere near €500 for one adult and three children, as we'd already paid for our accommodation, activities and flights before travelling. Our spending money mainly covered food, transport and the occasional souvenir. If you're staying in a hotel, eating every meal out or booking excursions once you arrive, you'll naturally need a larger budget.
One of the biggest misconceptions about Lapland is that you'll need hundreds of pounds in spending money once you arrive.
In our experience, that simply hasn't been the case.
Across our three DIY Lapland trips, we'd already booked our accommodation and activities before travelling, so the only things we really needed to budget for were food, transport and the occasional souvenir. By staying in self-catering apartments, mixing supermarket meals with the odd restaurant or takeaway and making use of included shuttle services, we found our daily spending was much lower than we'd expected.
Of course, everyone's budget will be different. If you're staying in a hotel, eating every meal out and booking excursions once you arrive, you'll naturally spend much more than someone travelling on a DIY itinerary with a self-catering apartment.
My recommendation: Before deciding how much spending money to take, work out what's already included in your holiday. Once you've accounted for your accommodation, meals, transport and activities, you'll probably find you need far less than you first thought. Planning ahead was the biggest reason we managed to enjoy three DIY Lapland trips without overspending.
Whenever I spot great-value DIY Lapland flights and accommodation from UK airports, I share them with members of the Build a Break Travel Club. If you'd like to experience Lapland without paying package holiday prices, it's a great place to start.
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