Lapland - advice on children's ages please

[BalletBob]

If you've been to Lapland with young kids, can I please ask your opinion? Really interested to hear from people who have actually done this trip with similarly aged children.

We are limited to either Dec 2024 or Dec 2025 for a once-in-a-lifetime trip to Lapland. We won't be going again so I really need to get the most out of it. Due to the age range of the kids, I'm struggling to pick which year would be best. I want the youngest to be old enough to enjoy it and participate in most of the activities, but want it to still be magical for the oldest. I'm aware that Father Christmas is likely to lose his magic sooner than I'd like.

We want to see Father Christmas, visit a husky farm, reindeer sleigh rides, maybe some snow mobiles etc. Lots of playing in the snow hopefully. Nothing too thrill-seeking. We'll probably go for 4 nights/5 days.

Dec 2024 - youngest will be just turned 3, oldest will be 8.5.

Dec 2025 - youngest will be just turned 4, oldest will be 9.5.

My youngest is a pretty tough cookie (probably tougher than their older siblings!) so I don't anticipate major issues with the physical demands of the environment but maybe I'm being naïve.

Which year would you choose to visit?

We went in a Feb half term, it was brilliant. We didn't see Santa as the children were 7 and 10 but it was really really cold. Too cold for the 7 year old but we did do activities like snow shoeing. We also went to a reindeer farm and did a husky ride but the highlight was actually the children sledding next to the accommodation with the other children that were there. I understand wanting to see Santa but it's a great holiday with children up to 14 or so.

We booked via Responsible Travel https://www.responsibletravel.com/holidays/finland/family

We've been to Finland loads of times now, it's such a magical place. ( We also said we'd only be going once...) We usually go skiing there in February but the first time we went a few days before Christmas (for the full Santa experience) DS2 was almost 4 and DS1 was 7.5.

I think if DS2 had been three it would have been much less enjoyable for us all. The temperatures got down to almost -30 degrees in that December trip. With the right clothes it's bearable but I think a three year old would struggle. And there is honestly nothing worse that a cold miserable child when you have paid a small fortune to all have fun together.

With regai to keeping it magical for your older child, we planned our trip more than a year in advance. It is tradition in our house on Christmas Eve to leave Santa two bottles of drink and the bottle opener. The Christmas before we did our trip, Father Christmas took the bottle opener with him... I then took the bottle opener with us to Lapland and asked the rep to give it to Father Christmas and he returned it to the boys with an apology for having taken it by mistake. Incontrovertible proof that he really was Father Christmas!

We went with Magic of Lapland who were a bit more expensive but it was a much more personalised experience and utterly perfect from start to finish.

I think a 9.5 year old will still have a magical time, even if they don’t still fully believe. You never know, it might keep their belief going that little bit longer.

I normally say wait until they are over 5 due to extreme cold and very long days. Though long days is easier on the longer trip, we did 4 days and was perfect. Being older is definitely not an issue. Its a wonderful magical place but you do get 3 years old screaming as they are cold / tired etc. If you do go when youngest is 3 or even 4 I would research temperatures on that week normally as some weeks are much colder than others - we did over Christmas Day which was brilliant but -27C. The daylight hours are quite short. We stayed in a hotel with pool and children's playpark which was useful. Avoid activities where you are outside long periods of time with nowhere to warm up. The huskies, reindeer rides are amazing and they have a restaurant you can go in and those trips are around 2 hours which is fine. I would go every year if I could.

Go age 4 min. Younger is too young. Older one will get activity to do even if "too old" either way.

It's not the physical stuff that is really the big deal - it's emotional stuff and at 4 they have a bigger chance of remembering.

We're going this year and DD is 10, she is so excited for it.
I would go with 2025 so your youngest is a little bit older, I'm sure they don't recommend it for under 5s because of the temperatures. Don't underestimate what -30 feels like, it burns your lungs to breathe in it, your eyelashes freeze over.

Thanks all for the great insight. I think we'd be looking at early December so hopefully -30 would be unlikely but I suppose you never know. I don't think I'd cope with that, nevermind the children!

It sounds like I need to prioritise the little one being a bit older, over the eldest still believing in Santa. I'm not really worried about the younger ones remembering it or not, but it does sound like I've forgotten how intense the cold is. I went to Lapland as a teenager but that was a long time ago now.

@TwigTheWonderKid we are looking at Magic of Lapland too. It's good to hear that you recommend them. I'd love an experience that just feels magical and timeless, rather than theme park-ish. Would you say that's what you got?

We didnt do a Santa Santa package. We went with Crystal Ski to Ruka. We did a package with reindeer sledge, husky trip, snow mobile trip and a trip to see Santa (that was the standard package). It's a ski resort rather than OTT Santa though. So you can also do skiing. We only did a day with lessons (they did a special one to one for four year old DS as lessons don't start properly until age 5) whilst we did a lesson at the same time.

We had a cabin (with sauna). Five day trip so one half day activity each day which was actually fairly chilled. But we could have done a lot more skiing if we'd chosen to.

Rovaniemi is THE Santa place but we felt it'd be a bit overkill tbh. Hence why we did Ruka instead. It's a smallish resort but definitely enough.

Honestly it was enough for us. We got to do all the Lapland things.

Just a warning that eating out is very expensive. It's worth going self catering just from this point of view.

We went when my eldest was 9.2 and youngest 4.7. Absolutely perfect. Eldest still believed, was really magical.
We went a few days before Xmas. It was obviously cold but totally manageable with layers and appropriate clothing.

We did Rovaniemi. Not as part of a package, booked it all separately. Perfectly easy enough.

If you go on a package then you are given a snowsuit, gloves, boots etc which really helps but it does vary what temp you get, some people seem to get like minus 10 and others minus 30. Earlier in December I think it is milder than later so should help.

We were based at Rovaniemi and did a package and there wasn't that much extra food we needed, and we took some in our suitcase, like squash, crisps, biscuits as it is pricey out there in winter time. We had breakfast included then 2 meals with activities and a third three course meal with fireworks and santa and reindeer which was really magical. The husky sledging and reindeer sledging are great, also have snowmobiles but some restrictions on these and don't feel theme park like. There is a place in Rovaniemi where you go and that's a bit more theme park like with gingerbread baking, elves, santa, reindeer rides, post office and crossing into artic circle but its still lovely. I have been to Ruka in summer.

I actually recommend getting your own gear especially for the kids. The stuff they give as part of packages isn't great. I know the people we were with complained about being cold whilst we were warm. Decathlon is your friend.

The one exception I would make for this is under no circumstances take your own stuff for the dog sled or you will be stuck with kit that sticks if dog shit for the rest of your trip!

(Learnt this from bitter experience on an earlier trip!)

I’d also do the older ages. We went when mine were 3,6 and 8. The three year old got very, very cold. They boys loved it though and still talk about it.
may eldest still believed until end of primary, so I think you could get away with the extra year.

@BalletBob yes, absolutely. It definitely felt very special, personal and the staff were incredibly attentive. At no point did we feel like we were in a theme park or on a conveyor belt.

Which accommodation are you looking at?

Id go for 2025. There is a helpful Lapland holiday group on Facebook and general sense is that is really is quite hard going for little ones. 2024 would probably be better for your oldest but a grumpy 3yo edges greater chance of not believing for me and to be honest the older one probably has doubts already even if they don’t tell you that- my 6yo has been told at school but desperately wants to believe.