Picture this. A million stars pierce the blue of the sky, and the moon is casting her glistening light on the snow-laden spruce forest below. The silence is only interrupted by the occasional creaking of branches bending under the weight of their white blanket. And then suddenly, out of the corner of your eye, appear the long beams of a train chuffing its way through the night and lighting up the wooded expanse.
At first glance, most of the train windows appear dark, but if you look carefully, in the shadows you can distinguish the twinkling of eyes wide open and some awe-struck faces looking at the magical scenery outside. And if you look even closer, you will see that all those lucky passengers are in fact inside cosy private cabins, sitting by comfy-looking beds ready to welcome them soon.
I was one of those passengers, and you could easily be one too if you are headed to Finnish Lapland. Simply book a ticket for the overnight train between Helsinki and Lapland, aptly called the Santa Claus Express. I am here to help you make it happen.
The details of my booking. Unless you have a strong dislike for train travel, there are all sorts of solid reasons to hop on the Santa Claus Express. Let me mention some very compelling ones. The thrill. Sure, there are plenty of daily flights that can deliver you to Lapland from Helsinki in less than two hours.
But no flight will ever match the sense of adventure and the romantic thrill of travelling across a country at night on one of the most evocative forms of transportation. You will see the forest getting progressively snowier right out of your window while being lulled by the rhythmic sound of the train in your warm cabin. The comfort. Also, it might be well below freezing out there, but you will never feel cold on a Finnish train in fact you may have the opposite problem , and every private compartment even has its own thermostat.
