Rovaniemi, second home of Santa Claus at the Arctic Circle
Saturday, 14 December 2013 - 01:00 pm (CET/MEZ) Berlin | Author/Destination: European Union / Europäische Union General
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Santa’s Post Office © Cédric Puisney/cc-by-2.5
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Rovaniemi is a city and municipality of Finland. It is the administrative capital and commercial centre of
Finland ‘s northernmost province,
Lapland . It is situated about 5 kilometres (3 miles) south of the
Arctic Circle and is between the hills of Ounasvaara and Korkalovaara, at the confluence of the
river Kemijoki and its tributary, the Ounasjoki. The city and the surrounding
Rovaniemen maalaiskunta (Rural municipality of Rovaniemi) were consolidated into a single entity on January 1, 2006. The new municipality has an area of 8,016.72 square kilometres (3,095.27 sq mi) and an approximate population of 61,000, which makes it the larges city in Europa by space, with only 7.2 inhabitants per squarekilometer.
Because of the unspoiled nature and numerous recreational opportunities, tourism is an important industry in Rovaniemi. The city has a number of hotels and restaurants located both in the center and on the outskirts of the town.University of Lapland but also the Rovaniemi University of Applied Sciences (formerly known as the Rovaniemi Polytechnic ), which comprises institutes of information and traditional technology, business, health and social care, culinary studies, forestry, rural studies and sports. Local newspapers include the Lapin Kansa, Uusi Rovaniemi and Lappilainen.
Lordi Square (2006 Eurovision Song Contest winner) © BishkekRocks/cc-by-sa-3.0
Rovaniemi’s most prominent landmarks include the Jätkänkynttilä bridge with its eternal flame over the Kemijoki river, the
Arktikum House , a very comprehensive museum of Finland’s and the world’s Arctic regions, which rises out of the bank of the Ounasjoki river, the Rovaniemi Town Hall, the Lappia House which serves as a theatre, concert hall and congress centre, and the library. The last three mentioned buildings are by the famous Finnish architect
Alvar Aalto . The official home town of
Santa Claus ,
Santa Claus Village and
Santapark , is located 8 km (5 mi) north of the centre. Directly across the river from the town is the Ounasvaara ski center. The top of the Ounasvaara hill bears the site of some of the earliest known human settlements in the area.
A phenomenon also attracting numerous tourists is the
Aurora Borealis or
Northern Lights . In Finnish Lapland the number of auroral displays can be as high as 200 a year whereas in southern Finland the number is usually fewer than 20.
Read more on
City of Rovaniemi ,
VisitRovaniemi.fi – Rovaniemi ,
VisitFinland.com – Meet Santa Claus at his home in Lapland ,
Wikipedia Letters to Santa ,
Santatelevision.com ,
SantaClausVillage.info , France24, 24 December 2019:
In Santa’s home town, booming tourism and Christmas stereotypes anger Sami locals and
Wikipedia Rovaniemi . Learn more about the
use of photos . To inform you about latest news most of the city, town or tourism websites offer a newsletter service and/or operate Facebook pages/Twitter accounts. In addition more and more destinations, tourist organizations and cultural institutions offer Apps for your Smart Phone or Tablet, to provide you with a mobile tourist guide (
Smart Traveler App by U.S. Department of State -
Weather report by weather.com -
Global Passport Power Rank -
Travel Risk Map -
Democracy Index -
GDP according to IMF, UN, and World Bank -
Global Competitiveness Report -
Corruption Perceptions Index -
Press Freedom Index -
World Justice Project - Rule of Law Index -
UN Human Development Index -
Global Peace Index -
Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Index ). If you have a suggestion, critique, review or comment to this blog entry, we are looking forward to receive your e-mail at
comment@wingsch.net . Please name the headline of the blog post to which your e-mail refers to in the subject line.
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