Inside the world’s northernmost McDonald’s where Santa buys his burgers and you can get yourself a ‘Monster Freak Shake’

11 months ago 7

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WELCOME to the world’s northernmost McDonald’s where Santa buys his burgers and thousands visit each year hoping to get a glimpse of the Northern Lights with a Big Mac in hand.

The famous fast food chain made history when it opened up a branch in Lapland in a spot where the sun never rises in the winter.

The world’s northernmost McDonald’s sits in Lapland[/caption]

The restaurant might be surrounded by snow but it proudly shows off it’s iconic status to the thousands of people who eat there each year[/caption]

The famous golden arches are in Rovaniemi, Finland – the home of Santa Claus where he gets his burgers from[/caption]

Sitting in Finland’s city of Rovaniemi, around six miles outside the Arctic Circle the restaurant can only be found after a very long icy drive or a one-hour plane ride from the capital city of Helsinki.

Rovaniemi is most well known as the home of Santa Claus where where many flock to each Christmas time to celebrate the festivities and enjoy a proper white Christmas at the local amusement park.

Visitors to the park are often left beaming with joy when they see the iconic golden arches on their travels through the snowy streets and get fascinated by what the menu looks like in the world of St Nick.

Reindeer burgers and a mince pie Mcflurry made in the snow could be on the illuminated billboards as playful elves play Santa’s little helpers and call out numbers for families to collect their scrumptious grub.

But the 24-hour McDonald’s isn’t quite this fantasy land despite what it looks like in the festive weather and under the brightest and most beautiful lights on the globe.

It’s the closest fast food chain to the North Pole and is the only McDonald’s in the world that gives you an opportunity to gaze up at the beautiful aurora borealis a few times a year.

The Northern Lights can usually only be seen in the extreme north of the Arctic Circle but Rovaniemi residents and tourists can sometimes get lucky and spot the unworldly views up above.

To celebrate their close ties to the world’s greatest sight in the skies the shop is covered in special aurora borealis posters that can only be seen in the Rovaniemi branch.

Tourists take snaps next to these one-of-a-kind posters and are even given out specially made postcards with their meals to commemorate the bucket list stop.

The menu is pretty similar to most other McDonald’s around the world and especially in Finland.

One notable difference is that after 10pm the store only sells double burgers rather than smaller, single options, according to some of the reviews online.

They also sell a Monster Freak Shake – inspired by the famous Cookie Monster from Sesame Street.

What makes the milkshake stand out from those regular shakes you see at your local McDonalds is that it’s blue.

Flavoured like cookies, the insanely calorific yet divine tasting drink also comes topped with whipped cream and crushed Oreos and is blue because of the secret Monster Freak Shake syrup.

Nonetheless, most people’s biggest complaints stem from the long queues and wait times from the restaurant – something that shows the popularity of the store.

The city of Rovaniemi itself is seen as one of the ultimate winter wonderlands in Scandinavia and that’s mainly thanks to the weather.

Average temperatures of -8 degrees in the winter and 175 of constant snowfall all year round makes the place the ideal Christmas location.

The lowest temperature ever recorded was -38.1C and the sunshine barely gets above the horizon in the colder periods.

December sees less than six minutes of sunshine each day in the city in a staggering time for bustling tourism and people wrapped up as warm as can be.

Although the title of the world’s northernmost McDonald’s hasn’t always belonged to Rovaniemi, it isn’t set to last that much longer.

Back in 2013, a Russian branch opened up in Murmansk and stole the top spot away from Lapland.

But after Russia‘s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 McDonald’s pulled out of all of their stores in the country.

This gave Rovaniemi back the prestigious title that they’ve modelled their branch on since but in just a months time Norway and looking to steal the honours away again.

Tromse is set to open up a McDonald’s in January 2024 and take the top spot back away from Finland once again.

McDonald’s is one of the most recognisable brands in the world but this doesn’t mean everywhere has thousands of the fast food kings stores in driving distance.

The world’s most remote McDonald’s sits 770 miles from the next nearest branch and has a unique and enticing menu.

While the popular chain is a restaurant that most of us take for granted this is not the case for the residents of Samoa.

Or take a peek inside the loneliest McDonald’s on earth.

Left abandoned for over 30 years, this chain is located on the same island of Netflix’s series Pirate Gold Of Adak Island and eerily stands on a deserted Alaskan naval base untouched since the 1990’s.