Planning a lapland trip

[VikingsandDragons]

I've seen this recommended so many times as the best holiday people have been on, so can you help me plan the perfect trip? Looking for a few days rather than a single day trip.

Children will be 8 and 10 (but a very young 10, still believes) and both are very easy travellers for kids with two adults.

Eagerly following as we are hoping to do this November 2023!

There are a handful of fantastic specialised companies that put together a "shelf-bought" trip if that's what you're after. Can include husky sled rides, northern lights trip, snow and ice activities, thermal clothes hire etc etc

We've booked for this year with Tui, it's more expensive than previous years, but we liked the fact everything was included, snowsuits, Santa meeting, husky and reindeer rides. If your looking for this year prices are high, but if your looking for next year, if you book on the day they come out (ask in a tui shop it's usually around October time) then prices are at their best.

Ingram's is another company that look good, but it's minimum 7 nights and we couldn't fit it in, but price was similar for 7 nights that we've paid for 4 nights with Tui.

There are packages, but I did a diy trip a few years back. It came in at just under €700 for the 3 of us and I’d highly recommend.

We flew into Helsinki, stayed overnight and had a great day there, before getting the overnight train to Rovaniemi. Straight to Santa Village and day there. Overnight Rovaniemi. Next day back to Santa and also Snow world, then the overnight back to Helsinki. Arrived in the morning and had another day in Helsinki before flying home. So this trip gave us 2 full days in Lapland, and 2 days in Helsinki.

Was a fab trip.

We used Canterbury Travel and they were faultless. Included husky ride, reindeer sleigh ride, snowmobiling, sledging and a trip to see the big man himself. The Santa bit was amazing - he had their letters and got them a gift off their list. Not at all rushed and very magical.

Avoid packages to Rovaniemi. Very busy, touristy, and several Santas (and advertised, so your children will clock on it’s not the real deal.

There’s only one Santa at Santa village … with the official Lapland post office there and everything, plus the meridian line, reindeer rides etc. For those who don’t have £££ to spare, it’s a pretty great experience. The children loved it. Snow World is wonderful, too.

We went to Rovaniemi but organised the whole thing ourselves - glad we did as we were able to avoid the peak tour group times which can be a bit of a nightmare. We went to Santa Park, used Lapland Safaris for reindeer sleigh rides and husky rides (incredible) and there's plenty of stuff you can organise while you're there. There are wilder, more remote places that offer cool packages, but we were quite happy with Rovaniemi for a few days. DD was 6 and loved it. Have fun!

Hi BookwormButNoTime I've paid a deposit for Canterbury Travel for next year but I'm now getting cold feet from some bad reviews. I'm getting worried as the reviews talk about the basic rooms, horrible food and Christmas day being a let down. Any advice?

How long do you have? What's your budget? You can put together your own trip by flying to Helsinki and taking the train or a smaller plane. Or if you have time and funds do what we did - North Pole Alaska (ok I lived in the USA, a lot closer)

We went to Rovaniemi for a week and organised it ourselves, but went in January. It was blissfully quiet and very reasonably priced too, plus Santa was still in residence.