We recently managed something we didn't think would be possible - a four night trip to Lapland just before Christmas in the school holidays.
For comparison, a four night stay at a similar time for two adults and two children could easily cost between £4,000-£6,000 with a tour operator.
It's never going to be a bargain holiday, but given the destination and time of year, you can certainly make it possible as a one-off family experience.
For context, our Lapland experience as a family came in for less than than a four day Center Parcs stay in the Christmas school holiday... was over £1,000 cheaper than a family single day trip to Lapland and was just £600 more than a 3.5 hour pre-Christmas visit to Lapland UK for a family of 4.
Flights - EasyJet released direct flights from Bristol to Rovaniemi for the first time in 2022, so when we saw pre-Christmas school holiday prices at around £120 return within a few days of being released in June, we knew we had to go for it. The only direct option at present is Stansted to Rovaniemi, with return Ryanair flights at around £500, a similar price to Finnair's indirect flights from London via Helsinki. So it's one to keep an eye on.
Cost with luggage - £675
Accommodation - sharing a property was key - a rural and spacious 4-bed modern home with a hot tub and sauna was €300 per night (have a look within a one hour radius of Rovaniemi for a rural experience) - not excessive for the quality of the accommodation but even better if you can find somebody who you are happy and comfortable sharing with!
Cost per family if sharing - £500
Rental car - at first prices were a bit high for four days at around £250, but with regular checking of Skyscanner Car Hire, we were able to source an estate for £160 for four days.
Cost with insurance - £190
Total - £1365 / £340pp
Given our rural setting - the nearest shop was half an hour away - we didn't dine out and spent around £150 on food and drink.
There were a couple of things that we had to do whilst we were there:
A memorable reindeer experience
Reindeer safari at Tatuka - a wonderful experience and we were the only family there (such experiences are usually shared with others, which is never an issue but to have a private group is a bonus).
c.£125 - €40 adults and €30 for children (with hot chocolate and blueberry pancakes made on the fire). Children under the age of four go free. There's also a 3 hour safari (which is better for older children) - €75 for adults and €50 for children - around £220 for a family
of four.
Meeting the big man at Santa Park, Rovaniemi:
This was something we weren't sure about at first but it was a wonderful experience for our children. It was a bit puzzling to why you are charged for adults but we soon accepted it was part of the family experience.
Prices were €42 for adults and €36 for children, with infants 2 and under free. Take lunch and drinks to keep spending down.
At around £140 for a family of four, we managed a good few hours there with a visit to see Santa in his office, a train ride through Santa's workshop (which was repeated a few times!), gingerbread decorating and a couple of live shows.
A friend who lives in Finland shared that there is one experience that everybody visiting Finnish Lapland seems to love - dream of Joulukka. The secret forest experience is around £675 for a family of four. An exclusive experience will set you back a cool €2000 for up to a group of ten.
This made us realise that the wonderful Santa experiences we have locally in Cornwall are still special and it's possible this will be our only December visit to Lapland.
So how would we rate our Christmas-time Lapland visit?
✅ A memorable and spectacular family experience
❓Three hours of daylight per day was a bit of a shock to the system!
❌ With so much snow, there were no stars, let alone northern lights 😔
And what are the alternatives?
Consider a week from the new year onwards (and until March where flights allow) or in February half term if travelling with children - there's still plenty of snow, 8 hours of daylight, opportunity for a rural stay (perhaps in a log cabin) - accommodation is cheaper, there's no pressure to spend on festive experiences and you might just get some reasonably priced direct flights too!
Bình luận