Has anyone been on a Lapland Christmas trip? Was it worth the money?

richardw

Thomas Cook are doing more flights http://www.routesonline.com/news/38/airlineroute/270886/thomas-cook-airlines-uk-expands-rovaniemi-service-in-dec-2017/

Browntoa

Im with a few of the above posters, went on a package 2 years ago but we have worked out its MUCH cheaper if you get your own flights and book the hotel direct especially if you are flexible on dates


downside is there is always some child whose parents have no control over they kids and create havoc on the plane.


I actually heard one parent say "I'm so proud of you" after their child had put their coat on ..........

ripplyuk

Browntoa wrote: »

downside is there is always some child whose parents have no control over they kids and create havoc on the plane.


I actually heard one parent say "I'm so proud of you" after their child had put their coat on ..........

:eek:

That does seem like a downside. Its beginning to occur to me that these trips obviously appeal mostly to children, and there might be loads of them! :rotfl:

ripplyuk

I really appreciate all the replies. Lots to think about, but at the minute I'm definitely thinking its best to avoid going at Christmas. It's a shame to miss seeing Santa but if it's only a brief experience anyway, then we'll go at a cheaper time.

I'm also hoping it'll be a quieter time as I'm sure most families with kids will choose Christmas. (We do like children, just perhaps not hoards of them ).

The summer trips seeing bears etc, sound lovely but we really want snow, and reindeer. Also, I love the dark.

Rovaniemi seems to be a popular base but I'm wondering if it's very busy? We'd like somewhere quiet but have to balance that with being somewhere easy to arrange tours, if we book direct.

barbarawright

Santa lives at Rovaniemi all year round so don't worry about missing him You can go to the village and it would be easy to combine that with a husky ride. I don't think it's ever that busy - we were there in March for a sporting event and it wasn't that crowded. Later in the season might be better as you would miss the skiers but there would still be snow which is kind of the point. There's loads to do and it's really safe so lovely just to walk around the town at night in the snow. The town itself is fairly small though it has enough restaurants and bars

The river freezes over and you can book a snowmobile trip up the river about 6 miles to the point where you cross the Arctic circle

There's a museum of Arctic history which is absolutely brilliant too.

richardw

New finnair flights http://www.routesonline.com/news/38/airlineroute/270939/finnair-expands-w17-lapland-operation/

DonnySaver

We took our kids a few years ago now. We went with Transun and stayed at the Majatalo hotel in Hetta (?) I think, in Finland.

Yes, it was expensive, but every penny was well worth it. It is a memory we still treasure today (Huskie Rides, Northern Lights, Carol Service, Sledging, Skidoo rides and of course seeing Santa himself). All totally magical - made me & the wife feel like kids again!

We reckon it also bought us a couple of years extra "Santa magic" at home too. It was bloomin' cold though at -35 degrees celsius some days.

Rambosmum

We went for the day. It was great.

Started with a story in a traditional finnish hut by an old finnish lady, then went on a reindeer sleigh ride, then had lunch then went on a husky dog ride then had hot squash round a fire before getting on a snowmobile through the forest on a hunt for santa. Saw santa (he was soooo much better than UK ones), looked like a Hollywood santa. then had some time to play in the snow before the coach back to the airport.

It was great. I can't say we wanted to stay longer, but we did go Christmas eve! It was long day, I think we arrived back in the UK about 10pm.

EconomicsGirl

Lapland never really gets busy. Santa is definately there all year, you could even see him in August if you want to get in early.

Reindeer also there all year, when we went in summer there were more reindeer on the roads than cars and some beautiful white ones.

Snow I think lasts until about April.

One thing to check is flights when we went for our Christmas 3 day trip (23 to 26) we flew direct from our local airport with Thomson, which was brilliant. In summer had to get Finnair flights from Heathrow and then connecting flights up to Oulu. Quite a lot longer and 1300 for all 4 of us. We couldn't beat Thomson on price on our winter trip but I got a late deal. There were lots of children on Christmas trips and less in summer. Only children we found having problems were under 5s screaming as it was too cold for them but older than 5 absolutely loved it.

I would look up excursions too and work out best location from that. Santa Village wasn't anything like as good as the husky, reindeer, snowmobile etc place took us too, have no idea where that was but we stayed at Santa Sport in Rovaniemi which had a beautiful pool and spa, kids play centre and bowling. Food was terrible but was everywhere in that area but amazing in the area in summer we went to strangely around Ruka though not a big food person. Rooms clean but nothing special but lovely and warm. Stayed in hotels with swimming poolswaterparks in summer around Oulu and Ruka and at Arola Bears.

It's an amazing place and I'm sure you will have a great time.