What to do in Levi? (first ever trip)

[incywincyspideragain]

We've booked a week in Feb half term to go to Levi - mainly to find Father Christmas (and say thank you for our Christmas presents)
We are there for 6 days - what else should we do? ds's are 7, 6 and 4.5yrs - none of us have ski'd before - obviously we will play in the snow but wondered if anyone had recommendations and knew if we had to prebook or could wait and do it with local providers once there..

[jo164]

We went to Levi last Christmas for a week and had a fantastic time. So much so we are going back at Easter!I already skied but my husband and children (4 and 5) hadn't, so we booked some lessons with the ski school before we went for them. There is a lovely children's area with a couple of easy slopes, a sledging slope, a koti hut which has an open fire where you can take sausages to cook and drink hot juice when it gets very cold outside. There is also a childcare centre which ours went to a couple of times so we could have a ski together. We went to the ice hotel for a visit which was good, did reindeer sleigh riding and did the search for santa. There are lots of trips you can do, husky sledding, horse riding, northern lights, ice fishing, snowshoeing.... there is also a lovely spa hotel with nice swimming pools. It's very easy to get around Levi, everything is about 15 mins max walk, and all the hotels/ apartments have sledges you borrow to tow the children around in. Have a look at //www.levi.fi you can book everything through the tourist ofice before you go, it was very easy. We even booked ski lessons prior to going. I defy you not to love the place!!

[incywincyspideragain]

Great link thank you - would you recommend we book everything before we go? The only thing with absolutely must do is see Father Christmas

[jo164]

We booked some before we went, I would definitely book the father Christmas trip now, and booked others as we went along. It was very quiet in December and so we had no problems at all doing anything we wanted. The tourist information centre is right in the village centre and so an easy walk from most accommodation. I did notice one other place in the village to book trips but there certainly weren't lots of other options and so the tourist information prices were similar from what I remember. If you are planning on skiing I would contact the ski school before you go and organise what you'd like to do. If none of you have skied you could book an instructor for your family for just a couple of hours, on 2 days if you fancied having a go. The ski school was really flexible and you certainly don't have to sign up for a week of lessons. You can then use the beginners slopes without having to buy lift passes. Hire of kit is easy with several places to get it from.

[incywincyspideragain]

dilemma - we can book a coach trip (3hrs each way) to the Santa Claus village now with Tourist info or see if we can book for meeting Santa in cabin locally with Inghams, but they won't let us book that until we get there...
I think we may get a car for a couple of days and drive ourselves there if all else fails