This time last year we were waiting for my daughter to be admitted to hospital for an operation. Although the doctors were reassuring, it was a relatively new technique, so as parents we were naturally worried. My daughter however, who was only 4 at the time, took it all in her stride and saw it all as a big adventure.
We decided that she really deserved a big reward for being so brave so we hatched up a plot to give her the biggest surprise imaginable…a trip to see the real Santa in Lapland.
So we went online, and armed with advice from a friend who had told us not to look for 'Santa Breaks' but to go for ski holidays with 'Santa Options' as they were far cheaper, we set about finding the right place at the right price. Initially we had planned to do the whole one day experience, but the more we looked the more we realised that a 7 day trip actually cost very little more and it meant we could relax and not have to rush. We found an online travel agency, which eventually turned out to be Inghams, and booked. We decided not to go the actual Christmas week as it was far more expensive and we couldn't take presents all that distance anyway, so we booked for the week before. Then we had to keep the whole thing quiet until after the op and for several weeks after. We only told her just as we were about to leave the house to drive to the airport, she was so overjoyed she had tears in her eyes, and spent the entire journey there asking 'are we really going to Lapland?'
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Flights
We flew from Birmingham on an afternoon flight with FinnAir. The flight took around 3 hours, and was extremely pleasant. Don't worry about landing in snow, these guys do it all the time. Flights are also available from other major UK airports. We flew directly into Kittila, though a number of flights now go through Helsinki and on to Kittila. The afternoon flight meant we arrived late, but the hotel laid on dinner for us and we didn't have that horrible after-effect of a 4am start. If you go, be ready for a huge cheer on landing when all the children get their first glimpse of the snow.
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Lapland
Representing around 30% of Finland's total land area, Lapland shares it's borders with Sweden, Norway, and Russia. The actual borders are a little blurred however, as the native Saami people are distributed throughout all four countries. Although they are often referred to as Laplanders from the Finnish 'lappalainen,' Saamis prefer to use their own name for themselves. Lapland plays host to over half the Saami population of Finland.
Sometimes referred to as Arctic Finland, the region sits either side of the Arctic Circle, which seems to add an extra sense of adventure to the holiday. Winter in Lapland is pretty much as you would expect from a region straddling the Arctic Circle, and definitely feels extremely cold when compared to the UK. Temperatures while we were there ranged between -1ºC and -27ºC. Average temperature in December is around -12ºC. However, we were informed that it tends to get even colder in January, when it plummets to around -35ºC. Snow falls in Lapland between October and May and it is common to find thick snow cover (average 25cm) in December. There is very limited daylight at this time of year, around 5 hours and even then, unless it's particularly clear, it's a very grey kind of twilight.
The wildlife in winter is not surprisingly quite limited, as most animals have had the sense to move further south or hibernate well before you get there. There are however, large areas of conifer forest which play home to reindeer although these are largely domesticated, and Finland's largest animal, the elk.
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The resort
Our holiday was based in a small village called Äkäslompolo, in the resort of Ylläs (pronounced oo-lass), one of Finland's oldest and most picturesque winter resorts. Ylläs is situated in the western part of Finnish Lapland, approximately 55 kilometres from Kittila Airport, and inside the Arctic Circle. Ylläs proved to be a truly beautiful location, set in the heart of the Arctic wilderness. The region consists of seven fells and two villages unspoilt by the ravages of commercialisation. Ylläs Fell itself is one of the highest fells in Lapland, and is home to the largest ski resort in Finland. The 2 villages, Äkäslompolo and Ylläsjärvi are located on the northern and southern sides of the Ylläs fell.
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Accommodation
Our accommodation was the Akäs Hotel, a 4-star hotel, log cabin and apartment complex set in a quiet, peaceful woodland location about 1/2km from the picturesque village of Äkäslompolo. The complex offers a choice of 3 types of accommodation.
Rooms in the hotel itself sleep 1 to 3 people, with twin beds, shower, WC, hairdryer, phone, kettle, minibar and TV (Pay Movie access)
Log cabins are found throughout the grounds of the hotel, often in quiet secluded areas within the woodland itself. These again sleep 1-3 people and are open plan with twin beds plus single sofa bed, shower, WC, sauna, fireplace, TV (pay movies), microwave, fridge, hob and coffee-maker. These are often the first to be taken by people looking for that totally traditional Christmas feel; an added benefit is that reindeer often wander around in the early evenings in the quieter areas.
The third one was the one we opted for, namely the 'Kanerva' deluxe suites. The Kanerva suites are located close to the Äkäs Hotel main building, so that if the weather isn't too cold it's a very short walk to get to the restaurant, bar and facilities without having to get kitted out in all the snow gear. Our suite was comfortably furnished and modern, with twin beds and double sofa bed, private sauna, shower, WC, drying closet, TV, hairdryer, hoover, iron, kitchen with dishwasher, microwave, toaster, kettle, hob, coffee-maker, fridge & washing machine. Bed linen and towels were also included in the price. We found the drying closet invaluable for drying the snow gear every evening, and the kitchen very useful for making hot drinks to go with the Finnish biscuits we found at the local supermarket.
The other benefit we had with the suite was that it also gave us free unlimited use of the hotel facilities, which included a small, but very nice leisure pool and a traditional Finnish sauna. The hotel saunas are not mixed, and the Brits are easy to spot as they are the ones still wearing their swimming trunks, for the first few days anyway then they tend to keep them close by just in case anyone comes in!
Although we had everything we needed for self-catering, we instead opted to take our breakfasts and evening meals in the hotel restaurant. Apart from the fact it worked out pretty inexpensive, the hotel offered a wide range of both traditional Lappish and International meals so we thought it would be a good way of trying the local delicacies. In addition to the restaurant, there was a large well-stocked bar with dance floor, which the kids loved in the evenings as a place to play. The whole area was decked in traditional hand made Lappish Christmas decorations, which were such a refreshing change to the over the top, gaudy tinsel and sparkle we have here. It really felt like an old fashioned Christmas atmosphere. It made for a very pleasant evening to just sit at a table with a glass of Finnish beer, a mug of hot chocolate, or for the very brave a sample of the local spirit and watch the kids making friends and playing together.
As a special treat, on the last night for trips in December, Inghams organise a Christmas dinner with a surprise treat for the children, a visit from Santa Claus. The looks on the children's faces as they saw his sleigh, pulled by genuine reindeer pull up close to the restaurant windows was worth every penny we paid. He then came in and got the kids to sit on the floor while he told them all about his job, his elves and how busy he was. I've never seen so many kids so quiet in my life, and he finished by calling each one up to give them a special present which they were only allowed to open when they all had one.
Probably the best place to start on food and drink is with Christmas dinner, as that was where we saw the bulk of actual Finnish cooking. Now, I know what a certain Frenchman said about Finnish food just before we got the Olympics, but on the evidence I saw he was wrong (not for the first time either!). The Christmas dinner itself was in the form of a buffet, and featured a mix of well-known hot and cold Christmas fare together with traditional Lappish dishes such as Arctic Char, Salmon and reindeer. I know, it seems a little harsh, but even at Christmas time Rudolph, Donner, Blitzen and all the others end up on the menu. Some of the parents wouldn't go near it, and I think we all decided not to mention to the kids what that nice looking meat actually was, but reindeer is a major part of the diet so it's hardly surprising that it would form a part of the Christmas celebrations. And besides, it actually tastes very nice…well, you didn't think I'd miss out on a bit of local culture did you?
Apart from that I would describe the food as being well cooked, pleasant and very enjoyable. One place I would definitely recommend is Julli's Bar and Restaurant, which our local Inghams rep raved about. We visited there a few times for lunch, and always had a fantastic meal. As with everywhere else, it offered a wide range of dishes, from pizza to burgers to Finnish favourites for the locals and adventurous tourists. The staff were incredibly friendly, spoke great English and really seemed to enjoy having children around. I can honestly say I have never seen such enormous pizzas in my life, even my 4 year olds children's portion would have fed a family of four for a couple of days. And as for the burgers, I tried the 'Burger with Antlers' on the first visit and stayed with it every time we went there. Ok, I admit it, I tried the local culture on several occasions, and yes I felt a little guilty every time I saw a live reindeer.
As for drinks, the coffee tends to be quite strong, usually served black and had a delicious nutty taste, whilst for the kids hot berry juice was always provided and seemed to be enjoyed by all. The local beer, Lapin Kulta, is a very drinkable lager, even though I'm usually a bitter drinker. For the brave, the local spirit is a very salty, black coloured spirit with a strong flavour of liquorice. Not exactly the most appealing alcoholic drink I've ever had, but it didn't do any harm to try it just the once.
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Things to do
If you're looking at the one-day trips then you will find that much of what is mentioned here will also be covered, although it will be more of a flavour of each rather than the whole experience. The lack of daylight plays havoc with your sleep patterns, we went to bed earlier, slept in later and took naps when we got the chance. The big advantage with a 7-day trip is that we could do things at our leisure, minimising the disruption due to tiredness and also the lack of rushing added to making the trip more relaxed.
Prices for these options tend to be quite high, but the way we saw it, we would probably never get the opportunity again so it was worth the expense.
1. Obviously the first thing any parent would want to do is visit Santa, and there are a few alternative 'real' Santas available. Santa has one such house in Äkäslompolo, together with a charming little shop selling traditional Lappish decorations and gifts. Rudolph also puts in an appearance, questions about his brown nose being dispelled by a guide who informs the children this only happens on Christmas Eve. The house also has kennels outside for the huskies, there were also some extremely cute and playful puppies while we were there.
However, this isn't the only one and we signed up early into the holiday for the coach trip to take us to 'Santa's Secret Home'. It took about an hour for us to get there, but it was so worthwhile when we eventually arrived. The site has many parts, horse rides, a short reindeer sleigh ride, shops, huge igloos, a trip through the woods on a sleigh pulled by a snowmobile and last, but certainly not least, Santa's house. We decided to let the crowds rush there first and save Santa till last, my daughters excitement distracted by the chance of a horse ride. Santa's house is split into several sections, so we did the obvious thing first and queued to meet the great man. After about 20 minutes it was our turn, and my daughter nervously sat on his lap, and her customary shyness kicked in so we had to do all the talking. She came out really happy, because she knew this must be the real Santa, and we came out with a lovely framed photo to keep forever. Following that we went upstairs to help the elves make cookies for Christmas. I have to say, it was really well organised, all the children get to cut cookies out of the dough, then they go in the oven and we all wait a short while till they're ready. After that, cookies in hand, we headed back down to the coffee and gift shop where we sat drinking hot chocolate and eating cakes whilst writing out postcards. In the next room was Santa's post office where the children get to write to Santa, and where we could post the cards with the authentic Santa's Post Office stamp. All in all a great day out, and well worth the cost (Around £25 for adults and £20 for children at that time), on the way back the children entertained us with Christmas carols via the coach microphone, where suddenly my normally shy daughter decided she was born for the stage!
2. A trip to Lapland just wouldn't be complete without a ride on a reindeer sleigh. We took another coach trip, this time out to a traditional Saami reindeer farm, where we were introduced to the entire family and enjoyed the hospitality of our hosts. Before anything else we were treated to a coffee and some traditional Saami cakes and biscuits whilst sitting around a huge log fire in the open air. Following this we were allowed to wander around whilst groups were taken off for the sleigh rides. We were shown how to lasso a reindeer, or not as the case may be, as well as look around the small art and gift shop.
Finally it was our turn so we got into the sleigh and waited. I should say that a Lappish sleigh isn't the big ornate thing you seen in Hollywood movies, but a large wooden sled padded with reindeer pelts which sits directly on the snow. It's sort of like being towed in a big, furry, wooden bath. Anyway we got started, and headed along the path through the woodlands, the reindeer stopping occasionally followed by bursts of speed. I have to say that the view wasn't the greatest, approximately 15 minutes staring at a reindeers bum isn't the most appealing of things, but the experience itself made it worthwhile. And with the wonder of modern camcorders I was able to film with my arm outside the sleigh so I could at least see the front end of the animal that was pulling us. However, the best part was yet to come.
Once everyone had finished on the sleighs, our hosts took us into the corral where all the reindeer were kept, then produced large bags of food and allowed us to feed them. Reindeer are gentle creatures and even when shown a pile of their favourite food, a type of lichen, were never anything but docile. Whilst feeding them we were given loads of interesting facts, such as male reindeer drop their antlers at the beginning of winter whilst the females keep them until after the young are born. It didn't take a 4 year old long to realise this meant all Santa's reindeer must be female, though I think they were different because they were special. On leaving, the entire family came back out to wave us off, all in all another very special day. (Price was around £20 per adult, children around £12)
3. We'd decided that we should experience everything, as I think did everyone else in the hotel, so when we got the chance of a husky ride we jumped at it. As with most of the rides, there were two options, a short ride of around 15 minutes, or a much longer ride of around an hour. As my daughter was young we decided the 15 minutes would be enough. When we got to the Husky station, we were again given a coffee in a traditional Saami hut and then taken out to the sleds. There I was all ready to jump into the sled when I was informed that my wife and daughter were the only ones to get in the sled, and I was driving!
There followed a very brief lesson, which involved 'bend your knees, hold on, and stamp on the big metal thing when you need to slow down or stop' and then we were off. After the first minute of hanging on with white knuckles I settled down when I realised it was actually very enjoyable. Of all the things we did, this was probably the most memorable experience for me. There was something almost magical about being on the back of that sled, gliding almost silently through the snow with the wind in my face. The dogs of course were the ones really in charge, they knew the way and steered themselves around, but it was such a thrill to be I that position for a short while. (Price I believe was around £20 per adult, children around £15)
4. Later in the holiday I developed a need for speed, and the sight of the snowmobiles outside the hire shop was just too much. We booked another trip, this time a short safari lasting about 2-3 hours. We hired one snowmobile for us and my daughter got to ride with some of her new friends in a sled pulled by one of the instructors. Now my experience with bikes was limited to my youth and therefore nothing over 125cc, so when the instructor told me the snowmobile was around 1000cc I was a little surprised.
Getting used to the snowmobile was surprisingly easy, although remembering which way to lean on a slope took a while to get used to. We were taken out through tracks into the wilderness, where after around an hour we stopped and had coffee and biscuits whilst admiring the scenery. After a break of about 30 minutes we were back on the snowmobiles, only this time we were getting used to them so the bends were taken faster and the fun was really starting. We reached a point where the instructor waved us to stop. He looked at us, pointed to the huge area of open ground to our right and said 'Does anyone feel like going fast?' He'd pointed out earlier that the snowmobiles could reach 100km/h in around 3 seconds so we were all up for it, and soon we were all flying over the snow at a great rate of knots. I thought I'd hit about 70 when I decided the trees looked a bit close so slowed and turned, when I mentioned it later, one of the other guys looked at me and laughed. He told me he'd got up to 75 and I was leaving him standing! I'll never know how fast I was actually travelling; I was too intent on holding onto the thing. After that the trip back seemed nice and easy, although I would happily have gone back and done it all again (Price I think was around £30 per adult and £15 per child)
5. There are lots of other things to do such as snowball fights, making snowmen, making snow angels, tobogganing and kick sledding (basically a chair with runners that one person sits on and the other pushes and stands on the runners when it gets going), which are both great fun and totally free. Being in a ski resort there is always the option of going skiing or snowboarding. The ski school there appeared very well run, and many of the hotel guests said they learnt a great deal.
6. One thing we didn't get to see was that other great natural feature of the Arctic, the Northern Lights or 'Aurora Borealis'. The northern lights can sometimes be seen during dark hours in the northern hemisphere particularly in the far North. The light is caused by charged particles emitted by the Sun being guided by the earth's magnetic field into the atmosphere near the magnetic poles. When these particles collide with atmospheric molecules some of the energy in collisions transforms into visible light and appears as coloured patterns high in the night sky. Unfortunately while we were there, a combination of clouds on some nights and lack of northern lights on others meant this was the one thing we missed.
7. Shopping: In Äkäslompolo, there are a number of gift shops as well as craft shops where you can buy beautiful handmade gifts. Once a week there is also a tiny market outside Julli's which sells small handmade items of jewellery, gifts and Christmas candles at really good prices.
Lapland's dry type of cold is relatively comfortable provided good protective winter clothing is worn including: a warm ski suit, several light layers of under garments, long thermal underwear, warm socks and boots, hat, gloves, ski goggles or sunglasses. Snow gear can be hired from local outlets such as Destination Lapland in Äkäslompolo.
The only grumble we had was that we had to walk to Destination Lapland to pick up our hired snow gear. This coincided with the coldest day of the entire holiday at -27ºC, but thankfully we had taken enough warm clothing to get us there. Other families hadn't, and they found the journey very difficult, particularly the children. If you hire gear, remember to take sufficient warm clothing just in case, or check with the agency first that you need to collect.
English is spoken by most Laplanders, although some Sami may not understand you. A few words to help you on your way are: Hej (pronounced Hi) which means Hello, Hej Hej means Goodbye, Tak means Thank you!
Cold dries out skin, so it is advisable to take an oil-based moisturiser and lip balm to avoid chapping. Don't use water-based moisturisers, as they will freeze in the cold.
Finland's unit of currency is the Euro. Bank of England issued sterling notes are recommended for exchange, and may also be accepted in some shops.
You will need to show your UK driving license in order to drive a snowmobile.
Intense cold will drain camera batteries much faster so don't forget to take lots of spares. Also due to low light levels, best results will be obtained using the fastest speed film that you can.
I would strongly recommend visiting Lapland and in particular Äkäslompolo if you ever get the opportunity. I would also recommend using a travel agent such as Inghams if you intend going for an extended break. The one-day trips are great, but having sat at the airport waiting to come home, the kids from these trips were totally exhausted. This is partly due to the wealth of activities, but also due to the very early start they'd had to get to the airport. The total cost for the holiday, including excursions, hotel meals and hire of snow gear was around £1800, which seems expensive but we would have paid around £1200 for a one-day trip, so in many ways it was a very good deal.
Who would I recommend this to? I would have to say is that I wouldn't recommend parents to take children under the age of 3, simply because of the excess cold and the fact that they're just too young to take it all in and enjoy it. But for anyone else it's one of the truly great experiences.
This is a holiday not just for parents with young children; this is a place for anyone who wants a truly old-fashioned, traditional Christmas. The place feels like a real Christmas should, and really evokes the true festive spirit. If you want a truly special Christmas, I truly can't think of anywhere better than this
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