Lapland

[LuckyAmy1986]

Yes IABU posting this hear but no one answered on Travel!
Just looking for any tips from people who have been. We are thinking of booking through Espirit/Santa's Lapland and staying at the Holiday Club Saarielska. Has anyone got any experience of this company or the hotel? Or does anyone have any good or bad experiences of other tour operators or hotels that I should look into or avoid? Thanks!

[Helipad]

We went Lapland in December 2015, our DS were 4 and 7 at the time which was a perfect age. I wouldn't take a child who's still in nappies as it's a pain with all those layers but from age 4 it's fine.

We stayed in Rovaniemi and went with Thomson. I'm from Finland myself and I was slightly worried that it'll be naff and cringey what with being bussed around with other tourists in my own home country but it really wasn't. It was organised really well and it was just amazing holiday. We stayed for four nights I think.

I was also worried that the Santa would be too "coca-cola" like but he was rather home spun, serious yet kind yet very charismatic. It was a one to one and not rushed at all.

We did husky and reindeer ride but not with Thomson (ridiculous prices). Instead, we went to the Santa Claus Village on our "day off" and they have independent husky park there as well reindeers and many other things. The husky ride is amazing fun, I could do it all day long.

I haven't been to Saariselkä yet but we are travelling there next February half term to try skiing. By the sound of it, my boys will love the toboggan ride!

Oh and one more thing, we usually book our travel independently but going to Lapland wasn't worth it. If you fly to Helsinki and then change flights to any Lapland destination, it will eat a huge chunk of your time. I would have loved the sleeper train from Helsinki but it's eye waveringly expensive. There wasn't any money to be saved.

[WreckTangled]

Has everyone planning on going factored in the cost of clothes? I just did an imaginary shopping bag on decathlon which came to £150 for the four of us. I thought that was quite reasonable. The only thing it didn't include was hats. I think I'll get the dc balaclava type hats though.

[OhHolyJesus]

Watching/place marking - let us know what you book OP!

[LuckyAmy1986]

Oh I will do. I'm 99% sure I'm going to go with Espirit and stay at the holiday club!

[MistyMeena]

Wreck you don't need to worry about buying too much, as long as you have a thermal layer under your usual clothes, plus the suits you are wearing, you will be ok. The gloves they gave us were amazing, as were the boots and socks. I guess it depends on your travel company though.

[WreckTangled]

Oh I've been reading you need base layers, mid layers, extra gloves etc. I was going to get thermal trousers and base layer tops, mid layer tops, socks, waterproof gloves and snow shoes (I've read that the ones provided are quite heavy and also you need to walk in the snow before you get the stuff they give you, dd and I have muscle weakness and ishoos with our feet so I thought we would get our own cheap ones).

[fairgame84]

I just took a base layer and used a cotton tracksuit as my mid layer. I took hats and scarves and thernal socks as well as thermal glove liners. They provide you with the outerlayer and gloves and boots.
You don't walk far in the snow before you get your gear. We literally had to walk from coach to the gear collection place then across the road to the hotel.