Lapland holiday 2026

[TeaAndTalesMama]

Hi,

We’d love to do Lapland with our two DC (9 and 6) and so I'm looking for some advice from anyone who’s been.

• Which companies would you recommend booking with?
• Are there any must‑see / must‑do experiences? It seems very overwhelming!
• And has anyone ever done it DIY (flights + accommodation + activities separately) — was it actually cheaper or more hassle than it’s worth?

Any tips appreciated.

Thanks!

Always done DIY. Yes, significantly cheaper if you are doing like for like. Tui is one of the cheapest packages and it gives you a quick wizz round on the reindeer and huskies as a taster. Then a visit to Santa. However your itinerary changes right up to departure so you can’t book full length excursions with anyone else

For the cost of a Tui trip you can easily get a week with daily full length activities. You have control of what you do and when you do it

There’s been some good late discounting of flights too in recent years. We paid under £2k for 4 of us last year with an amazing Santa & elves experience, reindeer ride, 4 nights overall with a sleeper train each way from Helsinki and hot tub in the snow session

Thank you friedfalafels.

That sounds fab! Please can you share more info. When did you go? Where did you stay? And the companies you booked the excursions with.

Many thanks!!

We’ve just done this!! DIY with EasyJet and Ranua Resorts. Hotel have a huge range of activities it was EPIC

We did 2 nights in an Igloo and 1 in the main holiday villas.
snowmobile safari to Lapish hut
fun on frozen lake - twice as it was soooo good - ice skating, sledging, electric snow bikes, wood fired sauna and ice plunge!!! Plus campfire with marshmallows and hot sausages. It was hours and hours of fun. Can your kids skate?
husky ride
zoo visit (bit rubbish tbh but worth doing it’s so cheap compared to everything else!)

Wish we’d added the Finn Horse Safari as that looked lovely.

Oh sorry I should have said ours are just beyond Santa so we went in Feb and didn’t do Santa.

I’ve been multiple times, both over Christmas and before. We stay in Levi (village name Sirkka) and I’ve done most accommodation types - apartment in centre, log cabin further out, glass igloo. Prefer having a little kitchen to self cater as it’s just handy to cook up a big pasta dish and relax after a busy day. But the restaurants are fab too.

The tourist board Levi.fi have accommodation options as well as all the excursion choices. We visit Santa at the Northern Lights Village (book direct) and we’ll never see him elsewhere again. It gets better each year and the elves really create the magic

Just don’t go early in the season (late Nov or early Dec). Aside from snow risk, the teams are still finding their groove and fit. Give it time for suppliers (including the big man in red) to work through the start of season teething troubles

I went with Canterbury Travel. They were excellent but pricey. DIY wouldn’t work for me as a single parent, so Canterbury was great. You just turn up at the airport and once you’re at their dedicated desk for your charter flight I didn’t have to plan anything. Kids had a wonderful time. However for 3 of us I paid double what FriedFalafel did for her trip

We did DIY a few years back. Flew into Helsinki (great city in itself, with a brilliant soft play at Lekkiluola), overnight sleeper to Rovaniemi. Taxi to dump bags at apartment and then straight on to Santa Village. Reindeer rides etc. We also paid the extra for Snowman World, which we loved. Back the next day, before overnight sleeper to Helsinki.

Cannot recommend Canterbury enough - I’m usually all about DIY trips but the magic they create and the storytelling experience that runs through the trip is nit achievable on your own. It’s just wonderful beyond words. We did actual Christmas in Luosto in the wooden cabins and it’s still one of the most memorable things we did as a family. Son was in reception class and now Year 7 and still remembers it. Costs more but priceless for the magic

Thank you everyone.

Whats the experiences between staying in levi and rovaniemi? For context my DC will be 6 and 9.