Lapland On a 'Shoestring' - How to do it

[ginauk84]

These seems to have come up a few times on the board so I posted a blog on how we did it, have copied the info into this thread.

We visited Lapland before Christmas and many people have been surprised we went for a full week as it is 'so expensive isn't it?' Well yes it is if booked as a package and we did this 6 years ago but we got a last minute deal then so it was actually really cheap.

This time we wanted our own log cabin - it's so much more authentic and romantic than a hotel and also the hotel was all inclusive and we didn't think much to the food. We like to try the local food when we go on holiday.

So here is some more info on how we did it.

Accomodation in Akaslompolo which is a great central place to be:
www.yllaksenmatkailu.fi/en?siteName=ffyllas

Flights to Kittila:
www.charterflights.co.uk/

We had a 6 person log cabin for about £600 for a full week, 7 days. Flights were £300 each. The airport was about half an hour drive away.

We stopped in Yllasjarvi by the Sport Resort as we ski but I would say Akaslompolo has more activites that run from there so if you stop there you are more central but Yllasjarvi is only a 15 min drive.

Regarding activities:

Huskies were €55 each:
Http:www.ramishuskies.fi/index_en.html

Santa Village is free, you see santa for free but can't take photos and they want €40 for their photo:
www.santaclausvillage.info/

Reindeer Sleigh at €18 each:
Do this at Santa Village

Santapark is €33 adults, €27 kids - this includes seeing santa where you can take photos. Make an elf, go to elf school (the elves are fab!), watch the elf show (my daughter loved this the most!), visit the ice bar, decorate gingerbread (a couple of euros extra) and go on a ride through santas workshop. It was all set in a cavern and really really magical.
www.santapark.com/en/santapark

Pony ride through the snowy forest is lovely and is €30 for half an hour:
www.konijanka.fi/en

Kids Snowmobiles are €20 for 10 laps at Santa Village and were slightly cheaper at the same place as pony ride.

If you want to try skiing then Yllas Y1 is great for beginners and they do taster sessions.
We hired a car and it really allows you to explore the real Lapland and it wasn't tricky driving as the cars all have winter tyres.

At the Sports Ski resort around the other side from Yllas Y1 is a purpose built sledging slope which the children love.

Eating out is quite expensive but if you are in a log cabin you could stop in and cook. We did all inclusive with Thompson and didn't think much of the food so preferred the flexibility.

Alcohol is very expensive and difficult to get hold of so take it with you!

can you put this on the relevant tripadvisor forum as well OP? a lot of people would be interested to read your trip report there.

How did you get flights so cheap?

Could it be done without a car?

Sounds nice.

That was the price of flights, we booked September for the holiday on December.

Hadn't thought about Tripadvisor forum. Thanks will do.

Re car yes you could use transport there such as taxis and book the trips as a package with transport to the locations. The trips will just cost more.

Ah maybe I was looking too early. All flights I could find were at least double that!

Did you check the charter flights website mentioned above? Perhaps we were just lucky with timing then

Flights £149pp if you go the end of this month! They aren't going up to December yet.

Thank you that's really helpful, we'd been debating sun or snow holiday and the children really want a snow holiday and we'd all like to see the northern lights.

Lapland - anywhere in Lapland! - is a bloody bargain if you go in January My sister goes every year first week after New Year and has never spent more than £1500 for the week for a family of 5 self catering. Huskies, snowmobiling, skiing, etc all super-cheap and can be organised when you get there. Very good chance of seeing the Northern Lights. Only thing that is missing is Father Christmas - he has gone on his holiday.

Also it is dark - very dark. Don't go if you get SAD. I found it very surreal skiing under floodlights at only 2.30pm. But I don't mind the gloom.

Thanks for this OP.

We were there a week and didn't see the Northern Lights unfortunately, too much cloud most of the time. Last time we went we did catch them on one of the nights though 😊

Ginauk I did check that website and numerous others... limited to times we could go which doesn't help!

It is a lot cheaper to go from Gatwick, we made the long journey there instead of more local Manchester as the money saving was ridiculous and well worth the hassle.

We have been skiing in Lapland several times flying into Kittila and organising accommodation and flights independently and if you are staying in one spot you can easily do it without a car.

For flight transfers, coaches for Levi (the ski resort we have mainly been to) but also Yllasjarvi/Akaslompolo meet every flight arriving at Kittila and will also take you back to the airport in time for your return flight. You don't need to pre-book, just purchase tickets on the coach. In our experience the drivers are really flexible about stops and will drop you very close to your cabin if you tell them the address. The one time we did a two resort trip we were advised to use these coaches to travel to Levi from Yllasjarvi (via Kittila airport) as it worked out way cheaper than a taxi.

Can I ask a quick question about the thermal suits or whatever they give you on the package trips to Lapland. Were you able to hire them yourselves on arrival?

Re clothes, we ski so we had all the clothing anyway. I have been told you can hire the suits but I don't know how you go about it when you are out there?

I think you should be able to get the suits from the activity providers. We stayed at a fairly isolated Lapland hotel in Finland used by package holiday companies but we booked accommodation and some of the package activities like husky sledding and snowmobiles directly with the hotel. The hotel had a room of thermal suits boots etc which we could have used during the activity at no extra cost if we hadn't had ski gear.

If you are in a village rather than a hotel in the middle of nowhere I would imagine that you can get the gear when you go to do the activity (there should be a tourist office you can email to check). If you want to do something less organised like downhill or cross country skiing you would probably need to provide your own clothes. But speaking from experience those all in one thermal suits are rubbish for skiing in!

@backinthebox where does your sister go specifically? I have a big birthday coming up, and we have agreed we are going to lapland the first week of Jan 2018. But there are just so many options...

I hated those all in one suits. I had a pair of ski trousers, 20 quid off eBay, and my normal winter coat (admittedly a lands end job so reasonable, but not a proper ski coat) and was fine in those.

I hated the all in one suits too - nightmare when you need a wee lol! Like someone said loads of bargains on second hand or somewhere like sports direct or end of season April time if you are organised.

Yllas is great for skiing as there are two ski resorts and ski buses run regularly.