Lapland - who to book with

[billandtedsexcellentadventure]

Want to price up and book a trip to Lapland next year. Who is best to book with?

I did it "DIY"

Booked flights with easy jet
Booked accomadation at santa claus village, which came with free transfers and allowed me to add on food, and snow suits, and car hire, with a bus stop outside, and staying in the centre of all the activites.
I could also book for real santa (santa clause village is his actual home) to have a personal 20 min visit to my us in our lodge, with his elf to photo it all for us too. (and got their letters to them in advance so santa had them with us when he arrived)

We did ALL the activites (at "full length", not taster session that you often get with the packages), and ate amazing food.

My 3 night, 4 full day holiday cost less than a 1 night lapland holiday with TUI

What do you mean by best? Cheapest? Best quality?
There are all sorts. I mostly book Transun or Santa's Lapland for my clients if it's a Santa trip, but there are many other options - it depends on what their priorities are.

Canterbury Travel are specialists. Not the cheapest but flawless

We did Canterbury travel about 6 years ago, they were great

@nannylwow!! Will defo look into that

Completely depends on what you want but DIY is cheaper and more flexible. Ryanair fly from lots of regional airports to Rovamieni, you can get flights for around £130 return at the moment per person. From there if you want the Santa stuff you can stay locally and go to the Santa clause village and do all the activities (huskies etc) and see father Christmas. There is other stuff to do around there too. Or you can get a bus to one of the other ski resorts such as Pyha, Luosto, saariselka (furthest north but longer bus trip) and stay there. All of them have lots of operators offering reindeer, huskies, snowmobiles and so on. Just book an Airbnb. We've got trip number 4 booked for Feb half term. Just remember that while booking in Dec if you want to do father Christmas seems like a good idea it is also very risky for snow. Feb or March has more daylight and lots of deep snow.

I think the first time we did it we went to saariselka and a full week including skiing and other bits was less than a 48hr tour thing. That time we flew Finnair to Ivalo but flights are so much more expensive now so it's Ryanair all the way now and we tend to go to Pyha.

Completely depends on what you want but DIY is cheaper and more flexible. Ryanair fly from lots of regional airports to Rovamieni, you can get flights for around £130 return at the moment per person. From there if you want the Santa stuff you can stay locally and go to the Santa clause village and do all the activities (huskies etc) and see father Christmas. There is other stuff to do around there too. Or you can get a bus to one of the other ski resorts such as Pyha, Luosto, saariselka (furthest north but longer bus trip) and stay there. All of them have lots of operators offering reindeer, huskies, snowmobiles and so on. Just book an Airbnb. We've got trip number 4 booked for Feb half term. Just remember that while booking in Dec if you want to do father Christmas seems like a good idea it is also very risky for snow. Feb or March has more daylight and lots of deep snow.

I think the first time we did it we went to saariselka and a full week including skiing and other bits was less than a 48hr tour thing. That time we flew Finnair to Ivalo but flights are so much more expensive now so it's Ryanair all the way now and we tend to go to Pyha.

Completely depends on what you want but DIY is cheaper and more flexible. Ryanair fly from lots of regional airports to Rovamieni, you can get flights for around £130 return at the moment per person. From there if you want the Santa stuff you can stay locally and go to the Santa clause village and do all the activities (huskies etc) and see father Christmas. There is other stuff to do around there too. Or you can get a bus to one of the other ski resorts such as Pyha, Luosto, saariselka (furthest north but longer bus trip) and stay there. All of them have lots of operators offering reindeer, huskies, snowmobiles and so on. Just book an Airbnb. We've got trip number 4 booked for Feb half term. Just remember that while booking in Dec if you want to do father Christmas seems like a good idea it is also very risky for snow. Feb or March has more daylight and lots of deep snow.

I think the first time we did it we went to saariselka and a full week including skiing and other bits was less than a 48hr tour thing. That time we flew Finnair to Ivalo but flights are so much more expensive now so it's Ryanair all the way now and we tend to go to Pyha.

Apologies for multiple posts. I'm in a field with very poor signal and apparently MN doesn't like that!

We went in 2022 with TUI to Ruka and I honestly couldn’t fault it for the price.
The first day we were taken to a frozen lake where we had a husky ride plus tasters of snowmobiling, reindeer sleighs etc. There was also lots of tobogganing and snow play for the kids. Tents were dotted around where you could help yourself to hot berry juice and soup/bread/cookies.
We then booked a full husky sledding experience for our second day plus a northern lights sleigh ride privately. The Santa visit wasn’t particularly personal as it was done as a large group with family photos after. My kids were 7 and 10 so they weren’t overly bothered by Santa anyway.
It was way cheaper than Canterbury travel/santas Lapland, however those companies usually include full length excursions so it probably evens out if you’re going to pay extra for them.

@OakleyStreetisnotinChelseathank you. That’s helpful

I did a DIY trip, flying into Helsinki, which is a fab city in itself. We then took the overnight sleeper to Rovaniemi, had a taxi waiting to take us to Santa Village (we dumped bags off en-route at our apartment). Whole day at Santa Village. Bus back to Rovaniemi. Back again next day, including Snow World. Reindeer ride etc. We could have booked more activities at Rovaniemi but didn't bother. Evening sleeper train back to Helsinki.

In all it was a 4 night trip, 2 of which were on the sleeper, and we had two full days in Helsinki. So magical leaving Helsinki and waking up with the snow. We didn't hire any kit; we ski, so our ski stuff was enough.

Came in at under €1k for the 3 of us excluding meals etc.

If you choose DIY then join the Lapland on a budget FB group. They know all the tricks. We did a DIY trip last December. 5 nights came in about 2.5k. My kids say it was the best holiday we've ever done. We were very lucky with the weather. The week before it has been -30!

Ideally I just want a day trip there. But can’t justify nearly 3k! DIY seems a much better option.

We went with Transun and it was one of the most memorable holidays we have ever had - for all the right reasons. It was £££ but absolutely brilliant.

We went with Canterbury Travel in 2016 & they were flawless! Amazing holiday & they make it very magical.

We have been with Canterbury travel twice, absolutely flawless, just the best experience both times!

Recommend Lapland Experiences who book all the big Lapland tour operators at the best price plus 10 years of experiences to recommend the best trips
www.laplandexperiences.co.uk

TUI is an easy starting point if you want simple packages with transfers and activities already lined up. They handle most of the planning so you do not need to piece everything together.
If you want something a bit more tailored, look at companies like Discover the World. They let you adjust the itinerary and add things like husky rides or overnight stays in quieter areas. Both options keep the process straightforward, it just depends how much control you want over the trip.