Can anyone shed any light on who is good to go with? Its not something I’ve ever thought about but the MIL wants to take the kids this Christmas as her health isn’t great, I just haven’t the foggiest where to start, but guess cosmos/thomsons etc are a bit big standard. She’s talking about a trip with all the activities included, sleigh rides, meeting Santa etc!

Infact is there just one Lapland or is there loads of resort like places all called Lapland?

Roveniemi is the capital of Finnish Lappland and home of the “oficial” Santa.

We went a good few years back when the children were smaller, expensive but great. Also worth noting it was fairly full on a required quite a bit energy to get the most out of the holiday.

we stayed in Iso Syote

Iso syote

The main hotel

We stayed in a cabin like this one

We did it as a day trip, on the cheap, travelling 19th December a few years ago now. Do not try this.

It is a pretty full on day, and you and the kids will end up exhausted. And just before the winter solstice, you only get a couple of hours of half light at midday. So you and the kids will be exhausted, and a bit disoriented by the dark. And it will be cold. Minus 28 when we were there, even the Lapps were saying how cold it was.

Oh, and it helps if your kids actually like Santa. Our youngest was terrified of the poor chap, and the dark, and the cold. And the huskies,the noisy snow mobiles, pretty much the whole thing. Her brother enjoyed it though.

We have been four or five times. The first time we did the Santa thing through First Choice and stayed in Rovaniemi. I would not recommend staying there as Snow is not guaranteed. We did not have any (and it is a common thing) so one day we took a trip to Levi as there was snow there.

We fell in love with the place and have been back several times since.

A week in Levi was cheaper than 4 nights with First Choice. It is also a great place to learn to ski/snowboard and the lifts are very quiet in December.

We went over Christmas last year.

My kids are a little too old for the Santa thing now but the whole Christmassy thing is very alive for the romantic within me and a week in Levi is great.

We go self catering with Inghams.

There are many excursions that add to the experience. When the kids were younger snowmobiling out into the Arctic wilderness to find a Father Christmas’ home was amazing.

Now they are older we always do the longer husky safari – incredible.

One thing I keep meaning to do but have never got around to it is to learn how to do cross country skiing and take advantage of some of the picturesque woodland trails.

Email me if you want any further details or photos.

Hope what you find isn’t like this place was;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lapland_New_Forest

i live in Finland. Send me an email if you want some help.

Me an the wife went xc skiing to lapland a couple of years ago. We stayed one week in Saariselka which is one of the “honey pot” winter destinations before heading North into bandit country. It was easy to book good quality apartments directly, prices were similar or better than the UK then. Flights were easy to come by, and public transport or car hire easy. So not essential to go all inclusive. Once you’re there there are loads of providers of day trips and equipment hire.

Day trips were pricey for snow mobiles and dog stuff, but xc ski hire and seldging were mega cheap and brilliant fun for all ages. So we just skiied, sledged, snow shoe-ed and enjoyed the mountain huts which are all cheap / free. Oh and saunas. Lots of saunas.

+1 for Levi, if you can convince the family go after Christmas, as you can go foe longer for the same money and have a better experience. The transfer time for Levi is very quick as well and there is plenty of other things to do. Ski school for children is also very good.

Cheers guys, lots of good advice there, think we need to have a good think about what we want to get out if it. Not sure the MIL will want to do any Xc skiing with dicky legs mind you. Still not sure on the whole Santa thing though, is there just one main place or does each resort have their own?

Local shopping centre would be cheaper and easier but as I’m not paying I ain’t complaining!

I think each location has their own santa excursions. There is a main santa park type thing in rovaniemi but I would avoid that and do a more intimate local excursion.

We went with Canterbury travel as advised by local travel agents.

I have to say it was excellent and both our girls had an absolutely magical time.

It was expensive, but worth every penny… good times, good memories.

Rovaniemi is a strange place. My girlfriend was there Jan-Mar a few years ago on a uni placement. It’s only a small town with very little going on beyond tour companies fleecing tourists. The Finns are exceptional at this. Want to meet Santa Clause, it’s free. Want a picture or two, that’s €35. Want to see the Northern Lights, we’ll walk you up a nearby hill and charge you €70 with no guarantee of seeing anything. It is pretty fun being able to walk across rivers and trek through the forest in several meters of snow though.

We did a day trip to Rovaniemi 8 years ago and thought it was great. We had -26 degrees and plenty of snow but after we got back we heard that a friend’s brother had taken his family the week before us and had +4 degrees and rain. Shame our now 13 year old son remembers next to nothing of it!

We did a day trip (no idea where we went) 8 years ago. As has been said it’s a very full on day and probably a 2 day trip would be better.
Friends went for 4 days and were bored after the first 2.
We were an a frozen lake and it was pretty cool The husky/sleigh ride round over the lake was one of the best things I’ve ever done.
FC was good too and quite believable.

Rovaniemi is pretty commercialised. We went to Ruka and went to a “local” Santa who seems to be well known in Finland. it was brilliant and the kids have never forgotten it (and nor have we). Basically a skiing trip with a visit to see Santa bolted on.

Finland and Sweden are great places for kids to learn to ski as well.

Have a look at the Ruka website. Joulupukki is on there.