This Christmas we visited Lapland with Santa’s Lapland and stayed at Santa’s Holiday Club, Saariselkä which you can read about here. With Santa’s Lapland everything is booked in advance for you, be that your travel, your accommodation or your activities, and whether you choose a 2 or 3 night stay, your included activities will all be the same. Although it is magical to keep some level of surprise to all of the activities which lie in store, when you’re spending money on a holiday such as this I think it’s really reassuring to see exactly what you get for your money. So if you’d like to find out more about what’s included then read on!

Search for Santa Day 

Each stay with Santa’s Lapland includes a Search for Santa day where you will be allocated a time to be collected from the hotel via luxury coach transfer and taken to the snowy woodlands for the most magical day imaginable. Here everything is included within your booking fee – including lunch – with “the big five” activities limited to one turn per family and unlimited turns of each extra activity. You can stay for as short or as long a visit as you wish with the return coaches on a rolling basis every 20 or so minutes although we stayed for 6 hours and even then the children were reluctant to leave.

The Big Five 

Husky Ride

On arriving at the Search for Santa day you will be allocated a time slot for your husky ride, this is the only activity which you must stick to your time slot and it’s important to be at the meeting point 15 minutes early to avoid any delay with your session. I have to say the husky ride was my absolute highlight of the trip, and I think the children would probably agree, and should we return we would absolutely book an extra husky adventure to extend our time with this.

Sleighs are limited to one adult and two children with one adult being in charge of steering the sleigh, something which I was extremely nervous about but actually found the most fun! The huskies are well maintained, healthy and incredibly friendly and once your sleigh ride has come to an end you can stay and pet them, take photos and get to know these beautiful animals who pulled your sleigh. The staff who care for them were lovely and friendly, telling the children the dogs names and a little bit about each dogs personality. I don’t think I have ever seen Eva as happy as she was surrounded by all of those huskies!

Reindeer Sleigh Ride

The reindeer ride was another magical experience where the reindeers pull you on traditional wooden sleighs through the woods. Seeing reindeers so close up was incredible and very much a bucket list experience. I will never forget the children snuggling up into me in the cold, my arms wrapped around their necks, completely mesmerised by how surreal that moment felt.

Elves in the Igloo

The giant igloos were another highlight especially having never seen an igloo at all before, let alone one of this size! Inside of the giant igloo you are treated to a show perfomed by Santa’s elves which is perfect for children with lots of interactive moments and Christmas magic. I can’t fault a single member of staff on the day, whether they were keeping the children warm as we waited for our turn, singing Christmas songs to get us in the festive spirit or just making sure that our day ran like clockwork.

The Reindeer Barn 

Across from the igloos you will find the reindeer barn where two more elves perform a reindeer themed show whilst the children sit in a magical sleigh. I felt this show was aimed at slightly younger children but the great thing about the Search for Santa day is that there was something for all ages and even though we each had our favourites from the activities, we enjoyed every moment of it all as a whole.

Magic Sleigh Ride

The magic sleigh ride is possibly the most magical part of the Search for Santa day, beginning with a sleigh ride through the snow towed by a snowmobile and arriving at Santa’s cabin in the woods. Inside Santa awaits, accompanied by his magic elves and he was just the most lovely, authentic Father Christmas we could have hoped for. We didn’t feel at all rushed as he spoke to the children about their wish lists for Christmas, asked them about their day and made our visit feel so personal and unique. At the end each child received a reindeer teddy to take home which they have slept with every single night ever since.

Unlimited Activities 

Kota refreshments and fire pit

Obviously the temperature is very cold outside and for younger children especially it’s a good idea to visit the Kota to warm up throughout the day. Here you will find warm blueberry juice and freshly baked pancakes with jam, both of which are included within your day. Drinking warm blueberry juice around the fire pit is pretty special and is exactly what you need to warm up in-between activities.

Tandem Skiing

The kids enjoyed trying their hand at cross country skiing which resulted in lots of falling over in the snow but ultimately so much laughter too. The queues for these activities were so short with no real times restraints as a result, something which felt like a real bonus as standing around in the cold with children is never fun!

Bob Sleighs

The stand up bob sleighs were great fun with two of us able to whizz through the snow, have races against each other and try to avoid the woodland areas at the end! I will never forget the children’s shrieks of excitement and cries of, “Go faster!!” and we must have done them twenty times over throughout the day.

Snow Play 

One of the best activities, and completely free of cost wherever you are in Lapland, is simply snow play. The kids, nor Gaz and I, had ever seen this amount of snow and whether they were rolling around in it making snow angels or building snowmen, the novelty of it didn’t wear off for the duration of our stay. I think even if all we had done during our entire trip was play in the snow, the children would still have remembered it as being the most magical trip yet and in that way, although Santa’s Lapland offers extra excursions, you really don’t need to try to fill your time with planned activities. Just let the kids loose!

I worried a lot beforehand that it would be too cold for me especially, with temperatures as low as -20 at times, and yet when you’re wearing the correct base layers, snow suits and thermal gloves and hats, I can honestly say I have been colder in the UK this winter. I think for younger children it’s important to limit your time outdoors but at 8, 9 and 10 they were happy to be outside from 7am straight from breakfast until 9pm when we made our way home to bed. There are pros and cons to doing a trip such as this for all ages but I think we really made the right choice in waiting that little bit longer for our three.

Ice Fishing

Here on the frozen river you can try your hand at ice fishing which required a lot of patience as we soon found out. Sadly for us we weren’t lucky with a catch but it was a lot of fun trying and another tick off the old bucket list.

Ice Hockey

The kids loved playing ice hockey together and it was also a really good way to keep warm! Perfectly located behind the queue for the Magic Sleigh Ride, the hockey pitch is open to all and it was lovely to see adults and kids all playing together having a great time.

Skidoos

The skidoos were another huge hit with the kids, especially for Harry who must have had at least ten goes one after another! They are perfectly sized for kids and really easy to handle so even younger children were able to enjoy them too. I would have loved to have booked onto one of the additional snowmobile excursions but the children aren’t allowed to ride them until they are older so I think that’s something we can save for next time.

Tobogganning 

Back at the resort you will find toboggans which can be used throughout your stay be that for towing your luggage, pulling little ones back and forth to the villas or hitting the slopes for a whole lot of tobogganing fun. It was definitely one of our favourite activities and we spent most of our spare time on the slopes whizzing down the hills on repeat. The toboggan area is a short walk from the hotels and is a well-controlled, safe area with flood lights, netting and various levels of slopes depending on just how fearless you are. Our kids were straight up to the highest point as I nervously followed behind!

Gala Dinner

Lastly, every package includes the Gala Dinner held at Santa’s Hotel Tunturi, located directly opposite our hotel and a night for everyone to come together to enjoy a Christmas buffet and where the children can play games. The buffet was very much like the food we had been used to at Santa’s Holiday Club although a little more choice and a larger selection of festive deserts. I loved how each place setting had a Christmas cracker and Christmas music played to get us into the festive spirit, it was a really lovely way to end our stay.

Although you can of course visit Lapland booking your travel, accommodation and activities separately, I have to say that I loved the ease of Santa’s Lapland taking care of all of that stress and co-ordinating it perfectly. It meant that at such a busy time of year there was one less thing for me to worry about and meant that as magical as the trip was for each of the children, it was equally magical for Gaz and I too.

 

** We were invited to stay with Lapland to create content. All words and opinions are our own **