Trips to Lapland - anyone with good (or bad!) experiences?

nemo183

Does anyone have any experience of short trips to Lapland?

My son is desperate to go this year, with his mum, but we know nothing about the companies that do the trips.

Incidentally, my son is in a wheelchair, so any stories of trips taking children with special needs would be really helpful - especially as regards to the air travel part.

Thanks.

spender

We have travelled previously with Cosmos and indeed are doing so again this year for 4 nights. I think that should speak to the companies regarding your son and the extra assistance they could provide etc. He would indeed find it magical. I am useless with a computer but if you visit https://www.visitfinland.com which is the tourist website and click on the links to Lapland it brings up all the Companies and their websites that do trips to Lapland. Happy hunting

Rikki

I went many years ago with a company called Canterbury Travel. Expensive but worth every penny. I don't know if they can cater for your son in a wheel chair but you can only ask.
I will say it is very cold and the younger children can suffer. You might find with him being in a wheel chair a shorter visit would be better as he may struggle to keep warm. Just a thought.

Binxy

I don't know if this is too late, but I have to say I went with Canterbury travel 2 years ago, and it was beyond our wildest dreams.

Everything was taken care of beautifully, and i would go again in a second!

Anyone considering going should go - I'll never forget it as long as I live, and couldn't fault Canterbury travel on a single thing.

jay-1

My son took his daughter a couple of years ago on a day trip with Transun they supply thermal overalls plus boots.They had a great time and although it is not cheap he felt it was money well spent.
I have put a link for a quite a good site about santa claus land.At certain times you can see live pictures of people visiting santa.

http://www.santaclauslive.com/main.php?kieli=eng

kegs_2

Getting married out in Lapland in December so have done a bit of research on the place. These links may help;

Some of the hotels in the First Choice brochures are here;
http://www.laplandhotels.com/?deptid=8144

Santa Claus Post Office
http://www.posti.fi/postimerkkikeskus/english/santa/mainoffice2.htm

Rovaniemi - one of the popular tourist destinations
http://www.rovaniemi.fi/?deptid=3694

Yllas - another popular destination
http://www.yllas.fi/?deptid=8951

A lot of the English agents use the company below for organising the trips out in Lapland
http://www.arcticsafaris.com

Hope the info helps with your decision.

black-saturn

I went to Lapland with my 2 children 2 or 3 years ago. It was very very expansive but well worth every penny. I could give you a few tips though. Don't pay for extras like sleigh rides and husky dog sled rides before you go. They will charge you more than they do locally and when you get there there are plenty of people offering these activities at a cheaper price. We waited for 2 and a half hours in a queue to see Father Christmas and when we got to the front of the queue we were with him about 5 minutes and he didnt even give my children a present. They were very disappointed about that. So I think there must be quieter times of the day to queue up.

There was a lady in a wheelchair when we went and I must say she found it very difficult as there are lots of slopes and steps and to get to the part where the reindeers were you had to walk into the woods amongst the plants. Theres also steep steps up to where Father Xmas is and some of the shops. It's still worth going though and I hope I get to go there again one day.

nemo183

Many thanks to all who have made suggestions in this thread.

Rather amazingly, the most fantastic thing has since happened. Since my original post, one of my son's consultants has put my son's name forward to a "Make a Childs Wish Come True" charities, and they've just been in touch to say they will make it all happen!

Apart from this being wonderful, they have all the contacts to sort out all the wheelchair problems, etc.

In any event, thanks for all your ideas and suggestions. Have a great Christmas!

black-saturn

Congratulations.

spender

Absolutely brilliant, he will have a fantastic time. I have been checking the weather and the snow is now there.

Binxy

Not in Luosto it isn't. Not yet anyway - but you probably won't go there unless it's with Canterbury Travel.

Fab news, well done to you - and I can almost guarantee you will have the holiday of a lifetime, and memories to treasure for years to come :j

Added: my avatar is a picture of the log cabin we stayed in, when we went. How magical does it look?!?!?