Guide · Herding

Reindeer herding in Finland, seen from Levi

The reindeer you meet near Levi belong to herders who follow them through a year of calving, earmarking, rut and roundup. Here is that year, and where Levi sits in it.

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Editorial team, reindeerfarmlevi.comUpdated October 22, 2026Read time: 6 min41 sources

The tour behind this guide Levi reindeer farm visit with a short sleigh ride 4.1 (503 reviews) 1.5 hoursLocal herders explain reindeer herdingShort sleigh ride, hot juice and cookies from$130per person Check availabilityNo charge to cancel until 24 hrs before the farm visit

The essentials

01Ownership: Reindeer roam free but every one in a Finnish forest has an owner.¹
02Near Levi: Kittilä has 12,000 reindeer, nearly double its human population.² ³
03New year: Calves are born in May, which opens the herding year.⁴
04Busiest time: Roundups from late September into the new year.⁵
05Sámi Homeland: Enontekiö, Inari, Utsjoki and northern Sodankylä; Kittilä is not part of it.⁶

Free-roaming animals with an owner

Reindeer herding in Finland is unusual among livestock farming: the animals roam free over huge areas for most of the year, yet every one of them belongs to somebody. Visit Finland calls reindeer semi-domesticated, half tame and half wild, and says that every animal you see in a Finnish forest is owned by a herder.¹ A reindeer's grazing area can be over 1,000 sq km, shifting with the seasons and the weather.⁷

Ownership is written on the animal itself. Each calf receives the same earmark as its mother, cut with a sharp knife in summer, and that mark shows who owns the reindeer, as Metsähallitus explains.⁸ On this site's farm visit, the herders explain exactly this: how they know which reindeer belongs to them.

Herding is also a matter of place. Visit Finland notes that the reindeer herding region starts in Kainuu, with large yellow road signs where the official husbandry area begins.⁹ Levi lies inside it, and Visit Levi reminds dog owners that a pet must stay on a leash because of it.¹⁰

The herding year

A reindeer herder's calendar

May

Calves are born

The first around May Day; the herding year begins.⁴
Summer

Earmarking

About two weeks of marking the new calves.⁸
Late Sept to Nov

The rut

Bulls battle for access to females; keep your distance.¹¹ ¹² ¹³
Autumn to new year

Roundups

Reindeer counted, some separated for slaughter.⁵ ¹⁴
Winter

Winter pastures

Herds tended and guarded from predators.¹⁵

How many reindeer live around Levi

Drive around Kittilä in any season and you will meet reindeer on the road. Visit Levi counts 12,000 reindeer in the municipality, nearly double the number of its people, with many in the forests and on the farms near Levi.² The municipality itself has about 7,000 inhabitants spread over more than 8,000 square kilometres.³

Across Lapland as a whole the balance is closer to even. Visit Finland puts the number of reindeer in Lapland at roughly the number of people.¹⁶ In summer, Visit Levi says, the reindeer wander freely in the forests and can turn up on the fells, along the roads in Levi Centre or resting in the shade by petrol stations and hotel yards.¹⁷

Those roadside reindeer are not strays and not wild. They are part of a herd that a herder will gather again in autumn, and they should be left in peace. Visit Rovaniemi asks visitors not to feed free-roaming reindeer, describing them as semi-wild animals.¹⁸ If you are driving, slow down when you see one near the road.

Kittilä in numbers

Reindeer and people in Levi's municipality

Visit Levi counts 12,000 reindeer in Kittilä; the municipality gives about 7,000 inhabitants.² ³

Season by season

What the reindeer eat and what the herders do

Season	Reindeer eat	Herders' work
Spring	Spring grazing	Calving in May
Summer	Leaves, sedges, grass	Earmarking the calves
Autumn	Mushrooms	Rut, then roundups
Winter	Mainly lichens	Tending the winter pastures

From Metsähallitus and the Sámi Museum Siida; the exact timing varies from one herding area to another.¹⁹ ⁴ ⁸ ⁵ ¹⁵

Decision helper

How do you want to learn about herding?

Pick the experience that suits your trip

Talk to working herders A Sámi perspective History, at your own pace Feed the animals by hand

Herders' visit

Local herders and farmers explain the traditions, with a short ride.

Rautusjärvi ride

An 800 m ride guided by a Sámi reindeer herder.

Samiland exhibition

An overview of the past and present of herding at Levi Summit.²⁰

Samiland paddock

Lichen bags on sale at Cafe Spiella, November to April.²¹ ²⁰

Using a sharp knife, they mark the calves born in May and June with the same marks as their mothers. The earmark shows who owns the reindeer.

Metsähallitus, Parks & Wildlife Finland (Luontoon.fi)Source 8

Spring and summer: calves and earmarks

The herding year begins with new life. Siida, the Sámi Museum in Inari, writes that calves are born in May, the first around May Day, and that in North Sámi May is miessemánnu, the calf month, whose births mark the start of a new herding year.⁴ A newborn calf weighs on average 6 kg.²²

After 45 days the calves can graze, though they keep suckling until the following autumn.²³ In summer the herd eats green leaves, sedges, hay and grass, and the herders turn to earmarking.¹⁹ Metsähallitus says earmarking keeps herders busy for about two weeks each summer, marking the calves born in May and June with their mothers' marks.⁸

Siida adds a detail visitors rarely picture: the insect season helps herders round up their reindeer for earmarking, and where herders once walked out with pack reindeer, today they use ATVs.²⁴ Earmarking falls in the weeks when the sun hardly sets: in Levi, mid-June has 24 hours of daylight.²⁵

Map

Levi, its reindeer farms and the Sámi Homeland to the north

Where Levi sits in Finnish Lapland, the camps and farms its reindeer rides drive to, and the meeting points in the village.

Map of Finnish Lapland from Rovaniemi north to Levi, Kolari, Sodankylä, Raattama, Enontekiö, Inari and Utsjoki — Levi in Finnish Lapland

Map of the area east and north of Levi with the reindeer camps at Rautusjärvi, Sokkaporantie and Muoniontie — Reindeer camps near Levi

Street map of Levi village with Levi Summit, Hissitie and the Burger King parking place — Levi village

1
Rovaniemi
About 170 km from Levi's centre, with numerous reindeer farms in and around the town.²⁶ ²⁷
In Google Maps ↗
2
Levi
Levi's home village is Sirkka in Kittilä, some 170 km above the Arctic Circle; the municipality keeps 12,000 reindeer.²⁸ ²
In Google Maps ↗
3
Kolari
The nearest railway station, about 80 km from Levi.²⁶
In Google Maps ↗
4
Sodankylä
Its northern part around Vuotso belongs to the Sámi Homeland; the polar night here lasts four days.⁶ ²⁹
In Google Maps ↗
5
Raattama
The wilderness village of the 5.5-hour farm visit with a snowmobile sleigh ride, snowshoes and a soup lunch.
In Google Maps ↗
6
Enontekiö
One of the municipalities of the Sámi Homeland; Kittilä, where Levi lies, is not among them.⁶
In Google Maps ↗
7
Inari
Home of the Sámi Museum Siida, whose pages trace the herding year from the calf month of May.⁴ ⁶
In Google Maps ↗
8
Utsjoki
On the northern border, inside the Sámi Homeland; its polar night lasts almost two months.⁶ ²⁹
In Google Maps ↗
9
Rautusjärvi
The camp of the 800 m sleigh rides with a Sámi herder, 10 to 15 minutes by van from Levi.
In Google Maps ↗
10
Sokkaporantie
The farm of the 1.5-hour reindeer safari with lichen feeding, 15 minutes by car.
In Google Maps ↗
11
Muoniontie
The camp of the 3-in-1 day with reindeer, huskies and a snowmobile-towed sleigh.
In Google Maps ↗
12
Samiland
The exhibition at Levi Summit, whose paddock reindeer stay from November to April.²⁰ ³⁰
In Google Maps ↗
13
Hissitie 11
The Levi Center meeting point of the Polar Lights Tours rides, next to Kotipizza.
In Google Maps ↗
14
Burger King Levi
Where the black minivan to the Rautusjärvi camp waits.
In Google Maps ↗

Open the map in Google Maps

Checklist

Good manners around herding

On the road

Slow down when you see reindeer near the road
Never chase or call a reindeer for a photo
Keep dogs on a leash in Levi

At a farm

Meet the reindeer with the owner's guidance
Ask before photographing people or their homes
Stay out of fenced yards unless invited

Video

Sámi reindeer herders of Lapland: culture, survival and the climate crisis

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Autumn and winter: the rut and the roundups

Autumn is the rut. Siida calls October golggotmánnu in North Sámi, the rut month, and reindeer mate from late September to early November.³¹ ¹¹ Visit Finland warns that during the autumn rut male reindeer may act in unpredictable ways, a good reason to keep your distance from a bull by the road.¹³ In autumn the reindeer also feed on mushrooms before winter.¹⁹

Then comes the busiest season. Metsähallitus describes the roundups starting at the end of September or beginning of October and continuing until the early part of the new year, through the coldest and darkest time of the year.⁵ In a roundup all reindeer are counted, those destined for slaughter are separated, and the rest go back to their winter pastures.¹⁴

Through the winter the herders keep watch. Siida writes that after the roundup season the reindeer are tended on their winter pastures to make sure they find food under the snow, and guarded from predators such as the wolf, the wolverine, the lynx and the eagle.¹⁵ Lichens are then the mainstay of their diet.³²

Where tourism fits in

What is the purpose of a reindeer farm that takes visitors? For the herders, the reindeer come first. Visit Rovaniemi notes that local herders in Lapland live with their reindeer through the year, and for most the reindeer provide their livelihood.³³ Visits and sleigh rides sit alongside that herding work, not in place of it.

The seasons shape the visits too. Samiland, the exhibition at Levi Summit, receives its paddock reindeer in November after the first snow and shows them until April.²⁰ Sleigh reindeer are a small, trained group: Visit Finland says their training takes 2 to 4 years, starting from bold, calm and curious calves picked from the herd.³⁴

Visiting a farm is the right way to meet herding up close. The Sámi Parliament's visitor guidance says to get to know reindeer only with the guidance of the owner, and that domestic privacy includes the reindeer fences near houses.³⁵ ³⁶ A booked visit gives you that invitation; a fence by the road does not.

Sámi herding and the Sámi Homeland

Reindeer herding is central to Sámi culture. The Sámi Parliament lists reindeer herding first among the traditional Sámi livelihoods, alongside fishing, hunting, gathering, handicrafts and small-scale farming.³⁷ The Sámi are the only indigenous people within the European Union.³⁸

Geography matters here. In Finland the Sámi Homeland covers the municipalities of Enontekiö, Inari and Utsjoki and the northern part of Sodankylä around Vuotso.⁶ Levi lies in Kittilä, which is not among them.²⁸ ⁶ Herding near Levi is part of Finland's reindeer husbandry as a whole; a farm here counts as a Sámi reindeer farm in Lapland only when its own people say so.

Some Levi listings do name Sámi herders. Keo Wilderness lists an 800 m ride guided by a Sámi reindeer herder at Rautusjärvi, and its combo includes stories from a Sámi herder. The Sámi Parliament defines Sámi tourism as services whose providers come from within the Sámi community, and that is the test worth applying when a listing uses the word.³⁹

Learning more near Levi

The quickest way into the subject is a farm visit with the herders themselves. This site's tour puts local herders and farmers at its centre, explaining the traditions of herding and answering questions about life in Lapland, for 1.5 hours with a short sleigh ride.

For the history, Samiland at Levi Summit has an indoor exhibition that gives a comprehensive overview of the past and present of reindeer herding, and an outdoor area with a reindeer paddock where you can buy lichen and feed the animals by hand.²⁰ ²¹ Its indoor exhibition covers 500 m2 and its outdoor area 10,000 m2.⁴⁰

If your trip takes you further north, Siida in Inari presents the Sámi Homeland's year in eight seasons, the frame this page borrows for the herding calendar.⁴ Reading it before a visit makes the herders' stories easier to follow, and gives you better questions to ask by the fire.

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