Bloody Lapland

[bifflepe]

We are thinking of Lapland next Xmas for our 5 year old..DH is a teacher so we are tied to the school hols and it's just crazy expensive.
All I have found so far is £4k for 2 nights and 3 days which is actually one full day, a morning and an evening with the flight times.
Is it actually worth it and how can we do it cheaper?
I keep seeing Instagram reels of travel blogs where they do it for 5p etc, but all these are all not in the school hols and I'd manage that myself, unfortunately can't leave DH behind and he can't take a school day off. DH also thinks she is too young anyway!

If you want her to be well travelled there's more of Finland to see than just Lapland. How about bear watching or visiting Lake Saimaa, Lakeland, Helsinki, Tampere or Turku. If you like hiking there are lots of national parks with lakes snd forests. You could get the train from Helsinki to Rovaniemi and work your way back to Helsinki.

We went DIY between Christmas and New Year many years ago. It was fabulous. The children visited Santa and thanked him for their gifts.

Way less expensive than the package we did years later when we had another child.

Are you looking at your operator packages? If so, i’d DIY it. Consider other locations in Finland- Levi (flying to Kittila) and Saariselka are both lovely, have all the activities and are far less commercialised than Rovaniemi. We went December 2023 for a full week and spent £4k- could’ve done it cheaper but some of the activities we opted for longer options/ add ons etc.

I don’t know how old your child is but I think I’d wait until at least age 4.

I found 4k on tui for 4 nights for a family of 4 right over Christmas (the 23rd to 27th).

Didn't book it though but was so tempted!!

There's a good facebook group about going Lapland on a budget!

We booked tui as well. It was great! Inc snow suits and coaches and activities. In the end it wasn’t bad value at all.

Go to Eastern Finland in summer and go white water rafting and see old fashioned logger demonstrations and go to a smoke sauna. Did that one year as a teenager and it was brilliant, though can't remember exactly where in the East it was.

I disagree. We went in February half term. The main advantage was the longer daylight hours so we could actually see the area and enjoy the snowy activities better. We enjoyed bright sunshine on a couple of the days.

That's a bit like saying there's no point in going to London if you aren't going to the Tower.

I really want to go back to Finland when it isn't winter to explore. But also love the snow. We've been once and going back soon.

There is a Facebook group called Lapland on a budget which is good when it isn't endless photos and people asking for someone to Photoshop Santa in to their picture.

Join mailing lists for flights. Some have been released already, I don't think easyJet have. If you book on release day you can get pretty cheap flights.

After that it all depends on what you want. You can get self catered places for very reasonable prices and they all have drying cupboards, saunas etc. Trick is too keep hunting around and not just use the links to the ski chalets off the websites.

Going somewhere like Saariselka will be more expensive to get to. Finnair fly to Ivalo but otherwise you are looking at packages. So maybe go for somewhere you can get to from a bigger airport. Eg cheaper airlines fly direct to Rovaniemi and then you can bus to quieter ski resorts. Always plenty of other stuff to do than ski and you'll find all the snowy trips etc. You don't need to do loads, just one or 2 things as you can have fun just walking through the forests and sledging. You don't need northern lights tours etc as if they are out then you look up and see them.

Honestly our last trip was no more expensive than any other holiday. We did a full week including 3 days of skiing for less than what a package works have cost for 3 days.

I think Norwegian fly to Oulu at certain times of year, then you can get a train or hire a car and go to Rovaniemi. Oulu is a lovely city too. I personally much prefer Finland in the summer but then I grew up there and had my fill of long, dark snowy winters and I don’t want any more 😅 and the best time for snow is early in the new year rather than December these days and Santa’s village is open year round.

Go in February half term and thank Santa for the presents instead

Fly to Helsinki (flights from stansted is cheaper but Edinburgh has direct flights), take the Santa train overnight (saves a hotel night) one night in a hotel/pod then train back. DIY means you only pick the activities you want

How old is DD!

5

Lapland on a Budget Facebook group is your friend here

We are thinking of Lapland next Xmas for our 5 year old..

How old is she op? 🙄