How we research and rank tours
Every comparison on this site is built from what the operators themselves publish. This page sets out exactly how, including the parts that do not flatter us.
Where the figures come from
Every price, duration, age limit, group size and inclusion in a comparison is read from a published page, and wherever possible from the operator's own page for that tour. We do not use figures from memory, from other review sites or from what a tour is usually like. For each figure we keep a note of the page it came from, the date we read it and the operator's exact wording.
Occasionally an operator's own page does not show a figure that a marketplace listing does, such as Visit Rovaniemi. When we use a listing like that, we treat it as a weaker source and record that alongside the figure.
The date at the top of each guide is when it last changed. Operators change prices and programmes during the season, so the figures are correct as of that date, not necessarily today. Check the operator's page before you book.
What "Not stated" means
"Not stated" means the operator does not publish that figure. It is not a guess, it is not a criticism of the tour, and we never replace it with a plausible number.
It is still worth knowing. If one operator publishes its group size or its damage excess and another does not, you can only compare them by asking, and the guides tell you what to ask.
Why the rows change from guide to guide
There is no fixed set of columns. Each guide chooses the rows that decide that activity: kilometres and who drives on a husky tour, the damage excess on a snowmobile, where a child waits on an aurora evening. A row appears only where the operators genuinely differ. A question that has to be filled in on every page gets filled in with padding, and padding is what makes guides look the same.
How the best value is marked
The highlighting in a comparison table is arithmetic, not opinion:
- On rows such as price, the lowest figure is marked. Where a cell gives a range, the lower end counts, because that is the price you are quoted.
- On yes-or-no rows, the cells that read "Yes" are marked.
- Many rows are deliberately left unmarked. A longer tour is not a better tour, and riding in a sleigh is not worse than driving, so where there is no better or worse we do not pretend there is.
The code that marks a cell does not know which operator is our supplier. If a competitor is cheaper, the competitor gets the mark.
Some rows are figures we have worked out rather than read, such as the price per minute on a husky sled or the total for a family of four. The note under the table says so.
When a competitor is better, we say so
Every guide names who should not book, and the recommendations name the operator that fits each kind of group, whoever it is. Some examples from the current guides:
- On price per minute on the sled, a competitor's long self-drive husky tour is the cheapest ride in Rovaniemi, and our supplier's is not.
- For a family aurora evening, a competitor's evenings are the same length for the same ages, cost the same or less and publish more, and the guide says our supplier loses on that.
- Where our supplier does not publish something a competitor does, such as a snowmobile damage excess, the guide says so and tells you to ask.
What we do not do
- We do not show star ratings or review counts, because we cannot source them.
- We do not invent figures to complete a table.
- We do not accept payment from operators to appear in a comparison or to be ranked higher.
If something is wrong
If a figure is out of date or a guide gets something wrong, tell us. Include the page and, if you can, where the correct figure is published, and we will check it against the operator's own page.
