Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Holidays

Use our Travel forum for recommendations on everything from day trips to the best family-friendly holiday destinations.

Anyone been to Lapland?

6 replies

janpa · 11/01/2012 13:13

We want to take DD (who will be 6) to Lapland before she stops believing and would like to book soonish. Has anyone been or know anyone who has been? We don't want the sports side of thing, it will be solely about her having a magical time so want to know a good resort and package to do. Thank you.

OP posts:
sailorsgal · 11/01/2012 17:44

there has been a couple of other thread recently if you have a look but we went to Yllas with Thomson. It is close to the ski resort and was fantastic. I know other people on mumsnet booked with Esprit and also had a great time. I think all the packages are along the same line but we wanted ds to have ski lessons and I had cross country lessons too, though he was quite happy to go tobogganing all day. Grin

youarekidding · 11/01/2012 17:52

We went last Christmas when DS was 6 and he loved it. We went on a day package. Early start, flight there and get thermal/ snow suits. Coachto Santa park. We did story, Santa, husky ride, reindeer ride, sledging and had our meal and then got taken to the shopping centre place with the post office, artic circle and parks etc.

It was fab Grin

boris18 · 11/01/2012 17:59

Went just before Christmas with Espirit. It was magical. Espirit use a small village called Saariselka which is well within the Arctic circle. The trip was expensive but extremely well organised with a lovely atmosphere and Saariselka is beautiful. The Espirit website gives a very fair representation of what you get. We booked additional activities before we went as it is more expensive to book when you get there. We absolutely loved the husky ride and the extra reindeer safari was much better than the one on the activity day.
Hope that helps

Lucy88 · 14/01/2012 20:38

We went just before Christmas with First Choice.

It all depends on what you want as there are lots of different options. Thre are day trips, whcih are obviously cheaper than staying a few days, but I chose not to do that as we would have had to get up at 3am and have a long day ahead of us.

We wanted to try and get something really authentic. There were lots of choices of staying in the busier towns, but I wasn't interested in bars, souvenir shops or skiing, so we opted for a hotel/resort in the middle of a national park and stayed at the Snowy Wilderness Lodge. It was all-inclusive, which was needed due to the location. Food was lovely and it was great to be abel to get drinks when we wanted, as Lapland/Finland is really expensive.

Our first day was spent sledging with the elves, toasting marshmallows and drinking hot berry juice at the ice-bar. After a huge buffet meal, there was then a disco for the kids - First Choice entertainers and the local Elves were really good.

The next day we did all the taster sessions - arctic circle ceremony, huskie and reindeer sledge rides, snowmobiles etc. Back at the hotel for lunch and thenin the afternoon we did more sledging, went to film club and disco again in the evening. The next day was Elf Academy - directly outside the hotel. Hre you could try snow football, sledging, skiing, ski-doo's, reindeer lassooing and indoors there were Christmas stories, cookie decorating, making Christmas decorations and generally lots of fooling around wihth the elves. Mrs Clause made an appearance aswell. After lunch there was another disco and more entertainment for the kids. Following another lazy hour watching a DVD by the fire, we then got ready for the Gala dinner.

This is where this hotel is slightly different than others, as Father Christmas comes directly to the hotel, instead of us all having to get dressed up again in our our snow gear and trekking off to some plastic, commercial snow village. My mates has an experience of this elsewhere and sid it was very tacky.

Anyway - all in all a well worth trip, but very expensive - personally I would have preferred a few nights in a 5* hotel in Abu Dhabi or Dubai - but my 6 year old DS loved it and wants to go back this year. A family we met had been to the Snowy Wilderness Lodge for 5 years running. The reps who worked there, said they all wanted to come back to Lapland this year, but only if they got the same hotel. It gets great reviews.

The bits I didn't like - the Gala dinner was a bit crap - can't expect to get a really good British Christmas dinner cooked in Finland. I am used to staying in 5* hotels and I had to get my head round the fact that I had paid a fortune for a traditional Lappish hotel - all pine and very 1970'S.

Anyway - def well worth going, but beware the price. I paid £1600 for myself and my son for 3 nights.

janpa · 31/01/2012 20:44

Hi Boris, we've gone with Esprit based on your recommendation. Can anyone give any advice on whether we need to buy our own thermals or if those previded will keep us going?

OP posts:
sailorsgal · 02/02/2012 11:43

Take all your own thermals. They provide suits, boots, and gloves in most resorts but we took our own aswell as we wanted to go skiing too.

New posts on this thread. Refresh page