Rovaniemi

Rovaniemi ( , ; ; ; ) is a city in Finland and the regional capital of Lapland. It is located near the Arctic Circle in the northern interior of the country. The population of Rovaniemi is approximately , while the sub-region has a population of approximately . It is the most populous municipality in Finland, and the 11th most populous urban area in the country. alt=Electronic departure board inside a Finnish railway station showing long-distance and overnight sleeper trains to Rovaniemi in Lapland.|thumb|320x320px|Departure board for Santa Express sleeper train to Rovaniemi Rovaniemi is the administrative capital and commercial centre of Finland's northernmost province, Lapland, and its southern part Peräpohjola. The city centre is situated about 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. It is the second-largest city of Northern Finland after Oulu, and, together with the capital city Helsinki, it is one of Finland's most significant tourist cities in terms of foreign tourism. In 2024, CNN listed Rovaniemi as "one of the best places in the world to celebrate Christmas."

The city and the surrounding (Rural municipality of Rovaniemi) were consolidated into a single entity on 1 January 2006. Rovaniemi municipality has an approximate population of . The urban area of Rovaniemi has a population of 53,361, in an area of about . Rovaniemi is a monolingual Finnish-speaking municipality, and unusually for larger Finnish towns, it is also known by its Finnish name and spelling in the Swedish language.