Lapland - Anybody been, what did you think?

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We are thinking of taking our three children to Lapland. The ages will be 7 , 5 and 2.6.

What did you think of it? Has anyone been for a daytrip was it ok? If I went for a daytrip I would be tempted to leave 2.6year at home, is this mean. If we went longer then I would take her.

Experiences welcome. OR would it be better to go the one of the Canary Islands between Christmas and New Year instead.

I've been wondering about the daytrips for a couple of years now. One company says they've stopped doing them because of the lengthy airport palaver now. I'd like to know what people think too!

We were supposed to go to Lapland for the day with Canterbury Travel last 23 December.

The company cancelled the whole trip - we arrived at Luton airport to find that the plane was stuck at Gatwick and couldn't get a slot to fly out. That was the story we were told anyway! You can imagine the disappointment on all the children's faces. My three were stunned and couldn't believe they would do this, many others were crying.

Anyway the company offered nothing as compensation at all. They wouldn't even refund our parking fees!

As my mother in law booked and paid for this she has decided she still wants to do it and has rebooked for this year. Have to say I'm dreading going this time!

Have a feeling your youngest might be too young. I think they have to be at least 3 because of the cold. Check with the relevant company first. I know a friend of mine wanted to do a similar trip, but her youngest didn't qualify as would be younger than 3 at the time of the trip.

pesto, i was thinking dd might be too young because of the cold. I have just read the temperatures and am already feeling as though eurodisney would also be magical at christmas and not as far or as cold.

We went when youngest ds was just 3. He was fine but whingebag dd at just 4 was constantly cold/whiney. Could just be her. Now we have baby no 4 we're thinking of it again - she's 4 in Jan - but having been through it may wait till next year so she remembers it more.

PS I think Eurodisney will be overcrowded and naff at Christmas, but I'm not a fan of queues and Disney!

swedishmum, I am definately going to give lapland a miss, dont think I could stand the cold. I have two sets of friend who went to Eurodisney before the kids broke up from school and they said it was fantastic.

But, each to their own.

I've got a good friend who also used to go to Disneyland Paris in the last week before the schools break up for Christmas. She liked it so much at that time of year, really magical apparently, that they went for three years running before they tired of it. So that's quite a recommendation I thought.

pesto, both my friends said it was really magical.

EuroDisney is magical at Xmas. We went last year when dd was 2.9 and we all had a great time.

Not been, my mum wants to take us and i'm a bit wary. It's very expensive and a long flight (4 hours?) in potentially bad weather. Also my DC walked into disneyland and said 'oh the characters are just people dressed up' so not sure they'd be convinced by santa.
Sorry to hear about Canterbury - they are the company i have been recommended.

I stumbled across it by accident on an interrail around scandinavia far too many years ago to admit...
It was July and the scenery wasn't up to much. Santa sweating a bit. Gift shops etc. I saw it on a travel prog, if you go in Dec its permenant night so not much to see, but plenty of snow
Personally i think its a lot of money to go and visit somewhere in the dark - and in the arctic circle, brrrrrrrr.

WE went for Christmas last year....dont bother. Its only light for 4 hours each day and although we knew this it really suprised us what a negative affect it has on you.

It was eyewateringly expensive ........£4k for 4 days and just above Butlins in the quality stakes and we stayed in the flagship hotel in the resort...........Levitunturi in Levi.

Santa arrived at his workshop in a volvo and strode across the car park.............tbh my husband and I just had a fit of the giggles at this and then consoled our self with alcohol!

kids enjoyed it ( 7and 5 ) but if I had known I wouldnt have gone. felt very sorry for some people on the trip who had saved and saved for the trip of a lifetme and were really pissed off!

then to top it all the flight back had no entertainment. FGS half the people on it were kids who needed to be kept busy!

I would do Euro disney instaed. Have never done it at Christmas myself but can see it would be very magical dna darn sight cheaper!

We went to Eurodisney last Xmas and were shocked at how cold it was! It was probably a fluke, a sudden cold snap, but despite having gone with usual winter duffle coats and jumoers, we ended up buying DD2 (3 at the time) a full ski all-in-one from the nearest sports shop as she was so cold she wanted to go home. Even then we didn't want to stay out long.

have resurrected this thread due to the competition. Has anyone been? What do you think is the best age to go - if we do go it will be once only!

Iposted similar a couple of days ago, very little reply ...we are still toying with the idea, i did a search back to 2003 and found loads of old threads - mixed between loved it and hated it , which hasn't helped my descision.

thanks! let me know if you go.

We went last year with Canterbury Travel to Luosto and stayed in the most fantastic log cabin. We had a fabulous time (dd was 7 and ds was 5) and would recommend it to anyone. We did 3 nights/4 days and it was fab, fab fab - not too cold snowsuits they provided were excellent, activities brill no waiting around in the cold at all. It was a lot of money but we did think it was worth it. Would like to do something similar again but without the Santa bit as we feel if you did it twice it would ruin it - so if anyone has any ideas?.......