Santa Claus Village, Rovaniemi
The Arctic Circle runs through this village square, and Santa keeps office hours all year on a live webcam.
About this view
Santa Claus Village sits 8 km north of Rovaniemi, exactly where the Arctic Circle crosses Lapland: a white line is painted across the square, and stepping over it is the point of the visit for many of the half a million or so visitors a year. This live webcam, run by the city, has watched the square since 2020.
Santa's office is open every day of the year, and the post office next door handles hundreds of thousands of letters from children worldwide. In frame you see the arrivals: coach groups in summer, sledges and reindeer in winter, and a square that fills for Christmas and empties to a few figures in the snow by January.
Finland runs on UTC+2, UTC+3 in summer. From late November the polar night keeps the lights on all day; in June and July the midnight sun never sets. The camera runs 24/7 either way, and the square is busiest between noon and 4 pm.
