Ice floating in a survival suit near Rovaniemi

Floating on a frozen lake, without getting cold

Ice floating puts you on your back on the surface of a partly frozen lake or river, wearing a sealed, full-body survival suit that does all the work of keeping you afloat and warm. You don’t swim, you don’t tread water, and you’re not in the water for long — most sessions involve a few minutes actually floating, bookended by a longer briefing, suiting-up process and a warm drink afterwards. It’s one of the stranger sensations on offer around Rovaniemi, and one of the more reliably misunderstood: people arrive expecting either a swim or a stunt, and it’s neither.

The suit is the entire activity. It’s a heavy, one-piece garment sealed at the wrists, ankles and neck, with enough trapped air inside to make you float high in the water without any effort on your part. Step off the ice into a cleared opening, lie back, and the suit does the rest. A guide stays within arm’s reach the whole time, both to manage the entry point and to help anyone who tenses up once they’re actually looking at open water framed by ice on every side.

Not ice swimming, not ice fishing, not ice skating

These four activities all happen on or in the same frozen lakes, and visitors regularly mix them up when booking.

• Ice floating (this page): a longer, suited session where you float, fully clothed and dry underneath the suit, for a few minutes at a time.
• Ice swimming after sauna, or avanto: a brief dip in ordinary swimwear straight from a hot sauna, lasting seconds, relying on the contrast between hot and cold rather than any suit.
• Ice fishing: sitting beside a hole drilled with an auger, staying on top of the ice throughout, aiming to catch something rather than enter the water at all.
• Ice skating on a frozen lake: staying entirely on the surface, on blades, with no opening in the ice involved.

If a listing simply says “ice experience” without specifying which of these it is, ask before booking — the clothing, duration and physical demands are different enough that turning up prepared for the wrong one is a genuinely bad start to the day.

What actually happens, step by step

A typical session runs roughly like this:

1. Briefing. The guide explains the suit, the entry point and what to expect, including that the initial contact with the water is the coldest sensation of the whole session and it passes fast.
2. Suiting up. You keep your own warm layers on — normal indoor clothing, not swimwear — and the operator seals you into the survival suit over the top.
3. Entry. You walk to a cleared opening in the ice, prepared and checked by the operator beforehand, and lower yourself in, usually feet first, with the guide holding a line or standing close by.
4. Floating. You lie back. The suit’s trapped air keeps you high on the surface with almost no effort — this is the part people come for, and it typically lasts a few minutes.
5. Exit and warm-up. Back onto the ice, out of the suit, and into a warm space or around a fire with a hot drink, since the goal afterwards is simply to get dry and warm again quickly.

The whole booking usually takes an hour or more once you count the briefing and changing, even though the time spent actually floating is short. That mismatch — a long booking for a short float — catches some visitors off guard, so it’s worth knowing going in.

Where to do it around Rovaniemi and further afield

Ice floating is offered in Rovaniemi itself and in several of the ski resort towns further north, sometimes as a standalone activity and sometimes bundled with a northern lights evening.

Location	Distance from Rovaniemi	Typical format
Rovaniemi	—	Standalone session, often at a river or lake close to town
Ylläs	~200 km	Standalone, or combined with a northern lights outing
Levi	~170 km	Standalone, or paired with an aurora watch
Ruka / Kuusamo	~190 km	River floating, seasonal, sometimes offered in summer too

In Rovaniemi, a guided ice floating session close to town is the most straightforward way to try it without travelling further into Lapland. Further north, an ice floating experience based in Ylläs runs on the same principle in a different setting, and in Levi a combined tour pairs ice floating with a northern lights watch later the same evening, which suits anyone trying to fit two Arctic experiences into one trip north.

For a broader introduction to cold-weather skills, an Arctic survival course that includes ice floating alongside fire-building and cold-water safety goes further than a single float, and suits visitors who want the context as well as the sensation.

Kuusamo and Ruka run a related version on rivers rather than lakes, and in some seasons extend the activity into summer as ordinary river floating without the ice — worth checking the season before you book if the ice itself is the point for you.

Prices and what’s included

Expect a guided ice floating session to run roughly 60 to 120 EUR per person as a standalone activity, more when it’s bundled with a northern lights outing or a wider survival course, since those run longer and include transport out of town. The suit, safety briefing and a warm drink or light snack afterwards are normally included; check whether transport from your accommodation is included separately, since prices in Levi and Ylläs that quote a lower headline figure sometimes add transfers on top.

As with most guided activities in Lapland, December prices run higher than the same tour in September or February, for the same duration and the same suit.

Who it suits, and who it doesn’t

Ice floating suits people who are curious about the sensation rather than looking for a physical challenge — the suit does the work, so fitness isn’t really a factor. It’s one of the few Lapland activities that non-swimmers can do without hesitation, precisely because you’re not swimming.

It’s less suited to anyone with a strong aversion to cold water or enclosed spaces near their face, since the moment of entry, however brief, does involve looking at open water through a gap in ice on every side. It’s also not, generally, an activity for young children: most operators set a minimum age somewhere around 12 to 15, since the suits are sized for adult and teenage bodies and the safety instructions assume the participant can follow them independently.

If you’re planning family activities with younger children, ice skating on a frozen lake or a session of ice fishing — both surface activities with no entry into the water — are the better fit; see also what tends to disappoint families in Rovaniemi more broadly before building a itinerary around water-based activities with young kids in tow.

What to wear underneath the suit

You don’t need swimwear. Most operators ask for a normal warm base layer — thermal top and bottoms or leggings, plus your own socks — since the suit is sealed and goes over everything, keeping the layers underneath essentially dry. Boots or shoes usually stay on until the last few steps to the water’s edge, where you switch to whatever the operator provides for the entry point itself. The general three-layer approach used for dressing for Lapland winters — a wicking base layer, an insulating mid layer, no cotton — works well here too, since you’ll be wearing those same layers under the suit and then straight into a warm space afterwards.

Bring a change of dry clothes and, if you have one, a small towel; while very little water reaches your skin, condensation inside the suit and the walk back to a warm room are more comfortable in something dry.

Combining it with the northern lights

Several operators, particularly in Levi and Ylläs, pair ice floating with an evening northern lights outing, floating early in the evening and then driving further out to darker sky for the aurora watch later on. It’s a sensible pairing logistically — both activities want you dressed for the cold and away from town — but it’s worth remembering that a combined ice floating and northern lights tour doesn’t improve your odds of seeing an aurora any more than a standalone aurora tour would: cloud cover on the night decides that, not which activity came first. Book the combination because you want both experiences in one evening, not because you expect the floating to somehow guarantee the lights.

Ice floating in a survival suit: frequently asked questions

What is ice floating, exactly?

You put on a sealed, full-body survival suit over your own clothes, enter a lake or river through an opening cut or cleared in the ice by the operator, and lie back on the surface. The suit traps air and keeps you afloat without any effort, so the activity is about experiencing that buoyancy rather than swimming.

Is ice floating safe?

It’s run as a guided, closed activity: the operator chooses and checks the entry point, a guide stays within reach the whole time, and the suit is what keeps you both warm and afloat. It is not a substitute for open ice swimming, and nobody should attempt anything similar without a suit and a guide present.

Will I actually get wet or feel cold?

The suit is sealed at the wrists, ankles and neck, so very little water reaches your skin, and what does is warmed quickly by your body inside the suit. Most people describe the water itself as startling for a second or two, then largely irrelevant, since the suit is doing the insulating work, not your tolerance for cold.

Do I need to know how to swim?

No. The suit provides the buoyancy, so you’re not treading water or relying on swimming technique, and this is one of the few water-adjacent activities in Lapland that non-swimmers regularly do. Tell the guide beforehand if you’re anxious about water so they can adjust how the session runs.

What’s the minimum age?

It varies by operator, but ice floating is generally sold to adults and older teenagers, not young children, since the suits are sized for adult bodies and the safety briefing assumes you can follow instructions under your own steam. Check the specific age limit when booking rather than assuming a family-friendly age range.

How long do you actually spend in the water?

The floating itself typically runs a few minutes per person, sometimes repeated once you’re comfortable; the whole booked session, including the safety briefing, suiting up and a warm-up afterwards, usually runs an hour or more. Don’t expect a long swim: the value is in the sensation, not the duration.

What should I wear underneath the suit?

Normal warm indoor clothing works: a base layer and something like a fleece, plus your own socks, since the suit goes over the top and seals at the extremities. You don’t need swimwear, and most operators ask you to keep boots or shoes on until you’re at the water’s edge.

Is this the same as ice swimming after a sauna?

No. Ice swimming, or avanto, is a brief dip in swimwear straight from a hot sauna, lasting seconds and relying on the sauna-to-cold contrast; ice floating is a longer, suited, non-sauna activity built around buoyancy rather than temperature contrast. They’re often confused because both involve a hole in lake ice.