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Holidays

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

Original poster

Anyone done the Lappland/Father Christmas thing?

11 replies

Hobnobfanatic · 13/01/2008 21:48

It'll be a one-off hol for my 4.5 yo daughter and I this December, so I want to choose the best, most magical Lappland/Father Christmas holiday experience.

Any recommendations? Any to steer clear of? What are your experiences? Any info v welcome.

Thanks!

OP posts:
dustystar · 14/01/2008 11:10

My friend did this with her 2 boys a year ago. They had a lovely time. I'll direct her to this thread.

strawberry · 14/01/2008 11:12

We're going with Canterbury - they seem to be the best. If you book now you may be able to get a free child place.

zilm · 14/01/2008 18:23

I took my 2 ds xmas 2006 with Canterbury and we had a wonderful time. The staff did everything to make sure we had a great time and there is plenty to do in the evenings with the kids. I was unwell while there and the staff took great care of my kids whilst I was sorted out,many of the santa helpers have been doing the job for years and are fantastic. Many of the guides are university students who all speak 2 or more languages and they make sure there is something for everyone to do.As this is usually a once in a lifetime holiday I thought stuff the cost and it was certainly worth every penny and my kids still firmly believe in Santa.

Surfermum · 14/01/2008 20:13

I'll bump this for you as we want to take dd and dsd this year for dh's 50th.

sis · 14/01/2008 20:20

Definately go with Canterbury - we went on a day trip with them a couple of years back and it was fabulous. With some of the other travel companies, you all have to queue to do the same activitiy at the same time - all go and see father Christmas, then all troop off to have reindeer ride, etc but with Canterbury, we were given a map of the 'village' and told we were free to spend the day as we wished so ds spent more time on the tobaggon rather than looking at reindeer. we spent very little time queueing for anything.

jenkel · 14/01/2008 20:35

We went this christmas with Cosmos and had a fantastic time. Cosmos operation very slick, lovely reps and couldnt fault it at all. Was very surprised that the trip was really magical (had quite a few worries about it being really tacky). Think this had a lot to do with the place that we were staying in, it really seemed like we were in the middle of nowhere, nothing comercialised about it at all.

We were put in small groups, of about 5 families so you done everything in that group, and each group done things at different times, so minimal queuing, all the children were put first. We went for 3 nights, went to a magical forest, santas post office, reindeer ride, husky ride, snowmobile ride and then we had half a day at leisure to do whatever we wanted (sledging for us) or you could pay for extra trips. And the last night a big gala meal where we met the man himself.

Kids club was on each evening and one evening they had to write a letter to Father Christmas, and then when we went to the Post Office the letters were read out.

Surfermum · 14/01/2008 20:49

Which resort did you go to jenkel?

jenkel · 14/01/2008 21:10

We went to a place called YLLASJARVI, and stayed in a log cabin which was lovely, we had an open fire and a sauna, a bit more expensive but worth it. The log cabin was in the grounds of a small hotel and we had all meals in the hotel (included), even though there was pretty good facilities in the cabin. Also, ski suits and boots were included in the price, we just had to take our own base layers and hats and gloves.

As I said we were put in a group of 5 families and done everything in this group and one rep went around with us all the time (looked like it was pretty hard work for the reps, they didnt look like they had much time off), my 2 dds loved our rep and quite often went off with her without even looking back, something that they dont really do at home and the reps really did look after the children and seemed to have a great time. So, for us as adults it was quite relaxing as crazy as it sounds.

Surfermum · 14/01/2008 21:25

Were the cabins near the restaurant? I was just looking at the Canterbury website and in their lodges it says it can be a 5-25 minute walk to the restaurant from the log cabins. I don't fancy that! Knowing our luck it'll be 25 mins.

On the other hand I'd prefer to have 2 bedrooms. Sharing an hotel room with a 5 year old and 13 year old won't be ideal.

But I do like the idea of a sauna.

Oh decisions, decisions.

Original poster
Hobnobfanatic · 14/01/2008 22:24

Thanks, everyone! Lots of food for thought!
I'm sure we'll have a fab time wherever we end up

OP posts:
jenkel · 14/01/2008 22:50

Our cabin was 5 mins walk, it was great as we just towed the kids on the sledge.

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