mamoon2

Anyone been to Lapland?

Looking to take my son this year but know nothing about the place.

Can anyone advise on:

Who to book with?
Where to go?
What activities do they do?
How much I should pay? ect...

Any other advice would be great as its his last Christmas as an only child so want it to be a good'un

robby

you do know Santa isn't real don't you

or is he?

Mrfastbaz

check out adverts in the interweb have seen packages for about 400/500 for flight and overnight stay with a reindeer ride and father xmas visit and boy is it cold there......have a good one

Jamz3k

my lap is no place you'd want to send your kids tbh.

zip106

We took our two kids for a 3 night stay in 2006.

Went with Canterbury Travel, cost was extortionate but very much worth it.

Flew from Manchester to Rovaniemi, then an hour or so bus ride over the Arctic Circle to a town called Salla. (don't think this resort is used now)

All I can say is it was absolutely fantastic.
We were looked after so well, the organisation was amazing and the night-time skidoo-ing was awesome.

It appears that the companies are having to go further north into Finland so as to guarantee snow!

http://santa-holidays.com/

mamoon2

I can't find anything that price unless you mean per person

mamoon2

**** me I ain't paying £2k for a one night trip. Could have a week in the Caribbean all inclusive for that

zip106

I know a few people who did the 1 day visit - it's a long way (3 hr flight iirc) and all of them them said they were quite disappointed with it.

It's going to cost at least a grand each for a decent stay, with all the activities included.

We stayed here - http://www.inghams.co.uk/ski-holiday...cabins-i8767/- in that log cabin in the picture. (the 3 room one)

DisoDisp

iTrader: (1)

Lapland is a bit vague, as it could be in Sweden, Finland and if were not being pedantic it could include bits of Norway and Russia.

However, back to the question at hand, do you really need an all in one package?

A flight to Helsinki or Tampere can be had on the cheap, connecting flights to Rovaniemi with are also cheapish, from here hop on a taxi to your chosen hotel.

Lots to choose from in the region.

zip106

Doing it yourself is all well and good, but to get the whole experience a tour operator takes some beating as you'd be hard pushed to get the things we had.

We had activities laid on everyday - from 10am to 3pm. - a short bus ride away to these little centres with mulled wine, roaring log fires in massive tee-pees and loads of stuff to keep the kids occupied.

All food (breakfast, lunch out in the middle of nowhere cooked in a tee-pee on an open fire, and then evening dinner in the hotel across from the cabin).

Kids entertainment in the hotel each night (whilst the adults had a wee drink )

All warm all-in-one romper suits and fur-lined boots were included.

Huskey sleigh rides, tobogganing, sledging, skidoo-ing, reindeer sleigh rides and the all important hour long ride through the deepest snow covered forests to meet Santa himself in a brilliant log cabin complete with elves and toy workshops.

The kids loved it.

Leslie

Chilly but I bet you really enjoy it.

Les

Wish

iTrader: (2)

We took our son about 5 yrs ago now.
It was brilliant !!! .... Its expensive ... Hell yeah, but its a memory that my son will carry with him forever, and just adds to the magic of Christmas.

Well worth the money if you ask me.

Although the landing and taking off in the snow is not something I really enjoyed

Gordo

what age is best to take them?

zip106

Before they stop believing.

Mine were four and a half and 1 years old.

The one year old (then, was 5 last week) doesn't remember (obviously) but the other one talks about it as if it was yesterday.

Ideally, I'd have liked to have gone last year when the youngest was 4 but circumstances were right at the time we went.

^Qwerty^

Took our first, and taking our 2nd child next month. We went with Cosmos last time, and are using them again. It was fantastic. Whilst there we had activities laid on for most of the time, and then a couple of free half days to choose something yourself. If you do go, don't just take a ski jacket and a wooly jumper and expect to keep warm - it dropped to -38 on one day. Nothing worse than cold crying kids, not if your spending 'that' kind of money.
Other than how much the kids enjoy it, the best bit for me was a 2.5 hour skidoo ride late in the night.

All very expensive, but you only have, IMO, about a 2 year window with each child to do it before it would loose it's magic.

Wish

iTrader: (2)

My son was 3 or 4

s70rjw

iTrader: (2)

I went 3 years ago for 4 nights over Christmas. Stayed in a log cabin in the middle of a forest in a place called Suomu.
On Christmas morning a reindeer driven sled took us to see the real Santa in a log cabin, with a roaring fire. Santa gave children presents, which we had supplied.
It was absolutely fantastic, but very costly.
We went skiing, tobogganing, reindeer sled rides, arctic safari, skidooing, sledging , more skiing, more skidooing etc.
The kids faces when they saw the real Santa were worth the cost alone.
We booked with Canterbury Travel who supplied snow suits, skis snow boots etc.
I can't recommend it enough.
And it really was the real Santa......

mamoon2

It does sound great but I don't know if I could justify the price. Plus my wife is 5 months pregnant and may not be able to do some of the activities.

Maybe next year

Wish

iTrader: (2)

Totally hear what you are saying, the way i justified the price was but factoring in the lasting memories it would leave with my son for years to come.