Lapland on the cheap

For this article we have a guest appearance from one of my very good pals. A lady who, from the moment we met, impressed me with her ability to always find the best travel deals and magically be able to circumnavigate the sometimes crazy pricing to be able to engage in some really exciting and fantastic travel experiences. She says it's because she's Scottish, I say it's because she's very talented. 

With the festive season over and many of us thinking how we can prolong the Christmas magic, sometimes a trip to somewhere magical can help re-energize believers. Therefore I'm delighted to share with you Kirsty's account of how she took her family of four on an amazing Lapland adventure for way below what one potentially could spend if going through traditional tour operators and booking channels. Even more impressive that these cost savings were achieved still when booking only one week in advance, normally the most expensive time to book! She really is a top travel bargain sleuth!! It's a really informative and inspiring piece, packed with loads of useful hints and tips, so sit back and enjoy.

…………..

With my 40th looming in 2025 and Lapland being high up on my bucket list, I thought I would give myself plenty of time to plan an amazing trip for the four of us (2A, 2C) and save accordingly by starting my research in November 2023, and I’m so glad I did! The package holiday prices I had quoted were extortionate for what we’d receive and I knew there had to be a cheaper way to do it.

There is a wealth of information out there and I’m not going to lie, I found it really confusing and started to tie myself in knots. The best thing I did was join a couple of groups on Facebook, “Lapland on a budget,” and, “Lapland budget diy trips,” being two of the most useful I found. They provided so much first hand knowledge from when/where to travel, to what to wear and what extras to pack.

With #Lapland covering three nations the first thing to decide was where to go. 

#Rovaniemi, #Finland was heavily mentioned as the easiest destination to get to for a first timer with direct flights available from many UK airports. With flights not yet being available for 2025, I wanted to get a general idea of costs looking at this year’s prices. I quickly learnt that the best time for booking flights is the March before you want to travel when they are first released before costs soar. With having two young children I wanted to go before Christmas so we could feature Santa as part of our trip but realised that December would be incredibly busy and we’d likely have to pay a premium price for this. However, I was made aware that plenty of people visit Jan-Mar to thank Santa for their gifts, which I thought was a lovely idea and would also be kinder to my bank balance. Snow is also pretty much guaranteed during this time, whereas it doesn’t usually appear until early December in Rov.  With 2023 flight prices looking expensive I started to research alternative ways of getting there just in case I couldn’t secure release day flights. I discovered flying into Helsinki then taking the Santa clause overnight express train to Rov was another option available that wouldn’t break the bank with #skyscanner coming in with return flights for approximately £50 each and the train approximately €60 each for the late November dates I looked at. Of course this is all dependent on which days/times you could travel and how long you wanted to go for but there are alternatives out there.

As I was casually researching these details I was made aware of some last minute 2023 flights at a low price for the following weekend, 18-20th November and that snow had come early to Rov and appeared to be staying, another bonus of being part of the Facebook groups! After checking #booking.com to ensure there was accommodation available in Rov for these dates I decided to bite the bullet and book with my minimal knowledge acquired, very much in a now or never style as the flights were so much cheaper compared to what I had been seeing for package alternatives.

Ryanair flights came in at £536 for 4 of us plus 20kg hold luggage (1) and reserved seats from Liverpool. These flights were also available for the 2-4th December at the same price but we had panto booked for then so opted for the earlier dates. Even looking today (6.1.23) for flights leaving 13-15th Jan with 10kg hand luggage only costs £74 each with reserved seats. I then used booking.com to search accommodation. 

*In hindsight we could have managed with just hand luggage which would have saved a chunk. We wore snow boots and coats on board the plane and packed everything else, which easily could have fit in rucksacks. For 2 days, one set of base layers and 2 changes of clothes was enough. With it being our first time we wanted somewhere central that wouldn’t break the bank and would be easily accessible from the airport and to Santa Claus Village and Santa Park where I decided we would find most of the activities we planned to do. We ended up booking Scandic Pohjanhovi for £365, which was a lovely clean hotel in the city center, that included an amazing buffet breakfast, bunk beds for the kids and had its own sauna and swimming pool (which we unfortunately didn’t have time to use). The bonus was that the bus stop for the airport, SCV and Santa Park was right outside the front door. There were plenty of cheaper options available a little further out if you wanted to hire a car but we opted to use public transport for our trip as we weren’t keen to drive in the snow. With only one week to plan the pressure was on to book some activities and prepare for the extreme weather.

With a little more research I decided to book our excursions when we were in Rov. SCV is free to enter but the activities all cost. I thought about doing a package but these all seemed to include really short activities for a higher price. My plan was to stake out SCV then decide what to book, with the package I viewed at home being available on our last day if I couldn’t sort anything on our first day.

Airport parking was easily sorted for £22.50 through Holiday Extras - car parking at Liverpool airport - imagine outdoor, which was a short 5 minute walk from the terminals. 

Mountain warehouse was my saviour for clothing. With it being November there were deals galore and the kids were sorted for £80 each in new ski jackets, salopettes, ski boots and thermal base layers. Gloves, hats and neck gaiters were £4.99 from Aldi. This seems like a lot but they’re wearing their jackets as their winter coats now and I sized up for the boots so they’ll do next winter too. Obviously if you have time ebay/Vinted and market place would be my normal go to options to save money. Luckily Dan and I already had winter gear available from adventures pre-kids.

With a loose plan in place we were off on our adventure 6 sleeps from booking. We departed at 2pm and landed 3 hours later. Rov airport is very small and from stepping off the plane to being landslide with luggage took less than 20 minutes. There were plenty of taxis waiting and we were taken straight to our hotel for a cost of €26 and a 10/15 minute drive - this is usually cheaper than pre-booking. The local number 8 bus and the Santa Claus bus also operate between the airport and the city centre as well as to SCV and Santa Park which are the two main destinations for seeing the big man but with hungry kids we wanted to get straight to the hotel to find food. Bus prices were: adult €4, child €2 one way and adult €7, child €3 round trip and we would use these easily throughout the weekend for our days out. Timings are posted near the stops and were also available at our hotel desk. 

Check-in was quick and easy then we were straight out in the city Center to find food. There were plenty of dine in options available (again the facebook groups were amazing for this) and a McDonald’s at the top of the high street (this has since moved so you’ll need to check the new destination before going) but we eventually opted for take away pizza to take back to our room, €30 for 2 large pizzas and 4 drinks. There was also a grocery store nearby if you needed anything but we didn’t use this in the end. Once back at the hotel panic set in about not having anything booked. With a husky ride being the number one thing I wanted to do whilst here I did a quick online search for Arctic circle huskies which are situated in SCV, knowing this is where we would visit on our first day. I ended up booking their visiting package where you are given a tour of the husky park, get to meet all the huskies and then take part in a 2km ride. Their website was also offering a 10% discount code which I used to book us the 2pm slot for the following day for approximately £154. I am glad I did this in the end as we saw people being turned away the next day as they were fully booked so I would definitely recommend pre booking for huskies if you can.

The next morning, after having our fill of a well stocked buffet breakfast, we checked the bus times In reception then stepped outside to board the bus for our 10/15 minute drive to SCV, passing Santa Park first which was only 5/10mins away. We bought return tickets costing €17 for us all (Emily wasn’t charged with being 3 years old). As mentioned previously, SCV is free to enter and open all year round with lots of activities to do once there. First we headed to the reindeer, knowing huskies were booked for 2pm. There was a 400m and 1km option available. We opted for the 1km forest path to gain the most from our experience which cost approximately £107 for the 4 of us. We felt the 400m would be over too quickly as it didn’t include a trip through the forest. There is also a 3km option but this wasn’t available in November. Whilst Dan queued, no pre-booking here, we roasted marshmallows on the open fire next to the payment hut. This is something I took note to do from following the facebook groups. 

There are lots of little fires dotted around SCV to keep warm. I had packed metal fold down skewers, marshmallows, a thermal flask and hot chocolate powder at home to take with us alongside plenty of mini brioche and chocolate bars to keep our energy up whilst out and about. This really helped fill the time we were queuing, keeping the kids full and entertained and didn’t cost us megabucks. I know plenty of people buy sausages from the local supermarket mentioned before to take out with them too to save on food costs - this wasn’t something I fancied doing though. The forest trip was a lovely and relaxing way to take in the beautiful snowy surroundings, so much so that Emily fell asleep. There were plenty of photo opportunities after with the reindeer too. 

After this we had a bit of time to just play in the snow. This was the kid’s favourite part of the whole weekend! There is a small free play area as well as an ice slide area you can choose to pay for which I think was approximately €10 each (we didn’t do this due to time restrictions). Snowman village is also situated here but doesn’t open until December. I’m not sure if the prices because of this. Our kids were quite happy playing in the snow between buildings in the village. The village is a lovely, very atmospheric place to walk through and we also used this time to wave on the live webcam back to our families at home. We then opted to head indoors to a cafe for hot drinks to rest our legs. We were €50 for 4 doughnuts, 2 kids hot chocolates and 2 Irish coffees. 

My husband then realised why I packed a thermos flask and snacks! Then it was time for the huskies. We spent a good 2 hours here, 1 learning all about and meeting the dogs before our ride then another half hour roasting marshmallows again just before the exit. The ride was amazing! Definitely opt for a longer ride as anything less that 2km, you’d spend more time getting in and out of the sledge than on it, they are fast movers. Snow mobiles were also available for €22 for 10 minutes but my kids weren’t bothered and opted for more snow play. Afterwards we visited the post office where you could buy and postcards with a Lapland stamp, handy for grandparents Christmas cards then we went to the Three Elves for food. This is a beautiful restaurant inside a hotel on the edge of the village. We spent approximately €110 here on steak, reindeer and two kids meals of meatballs and chicken strips plus soft drinks. This may seem expensive but the food was beautiful and seeing as we’d packed snacks for lunch it was the one paid for separately meal of the day. If we thought about it we could have bought sandwiches from the local supermarket to make costs even cheaper but we wanted to experience one proper meal out. It was then time for the bus out front to drop us off back at our hotel approximately 15 minutes later. SCV also has a Santa you can visit for free but a photo will cost you €30 and your not allowed to take your own. We decided to save our Santa visit for our last day at Santa Park.

Once back at the hotel we just relaxed in our room as the children were exhausted so we had some downtime with their tablets whilst I planned our next day.

It was time to book Santa Park. This is an indoor venue where you can do all activities Santa related for 2 days from your first day of entry but it closes early January. You can buy a VIE package or buy each part separately. I opted to purchase separately 4 entrance tickets, 2 Santa gift tickets, 2 cookie decorating tickets and 4 meal tickets which cost approximately £227. You could spend as much or as little time as you like here but with temperatures dropping to -20c we were thinking of making this a whole day event.

The next morning started the same with a lovely breakfast. We then checked out as we knew we wouldn’t be coming back after our day out. We were able to store our luggage in the hotel behind reception with the plan of just Dan popping back on the bus for it before heading to the airport together (the bus is so easy to hop on and off).

We then boarded the bus outside the hotel and were at Santa Park in under 10 mins. We wandered down into the cavern through the northern light filled tunnel and queued to collect our tokens for Santa, lunch and cookie making then we’re off to explore. We left out outerwear in the open cloak rooms provided then headed to the indoor train ride first (think it’s a small world but arctic edition). Then we queued for 5 mins to see Santa. He was lovely! Just like the Santa you’d expect from the front of a Christmas card. My two were in awe. We were allowed to take as many photos as we wanted for free and after our 5/10 minute chat we left with our gifts (beautiful teddy bears). We did opt to buy the official photo which cost around €20 from memory (I can’t actually remember as Emily decided to have a strop at this moment). We then visited elf school which was a 15-20 experience before heading to Mrs Claus’ kitchen to pick up some large cookies to decorate with pre-made bags of icing. We then headed to the centre of the cave to use our food tokens. 

Food choices were limited but there were options for adults and children. Whilst we ate we watched the elves acrobatics show. Then we headed to the VR sleigh ride, the ice bar/cave where we met the ice princess and finally to the post office to write and post our Christmas cards. Here the elves really interacted with the kids and I’ve got a lovely video of them dancing together. It was a lovely day out and I’d highly recommend it. By now it was 3pm and we needed to head to the airport for 5pm. We boarded the bus directly outside and 5 minutes later the kids and I departed at SCV to have our last play in the snow. Dan stayed on the bus to go collect our case from the hotel. He managed to depart at the top of the high street , get to our hotel and then board the same bus directly outside before heading back to meet us inside at SCV. We were able to buy a few souvenirs inside SCV during this time and had a final play at the small indoor area where we finished the flask of hot chocolate before boarding the bus again. *There is luggage storage in SCV but not Santa Park for future reference. In 10 minutes we were at the airport and checking in. As I mentioned earlier the airport is small so we were queuing for a little bit to get through security. We spotted quite a few families eating McDonald’s at this point, they obviously brought with them from town. We ended up buying pizza in the airport which was around €40. It would have been cheaper to grab sandwiches at the shop but again we went with ease. The rest of the journey home went with ease and we were back in our beds for midnight.

I know I’ve waffled a fair bit but in summary for 2A and 2C our trip to Lapland for 2 nights and 2 days cost approximately £1600 (approximately £400pp) and included:

Return flights, luggage and reserved seats, Hotel, meals and snacks, all transport by taxi and bus, including airport parking. Entrance to Santa Park with all activities included, a husky tour and ride and a reindeer ride.

Don’t get me wrong there are cheaper and more expensive ways of doing all of this but it’s all dependent on your individual budget and what you’re willing to pay less/more for. For booking this only a week in advance I don’t think I did too bad price wise but there are definitely things I’d change next time to make things more budget friendly. The facebook groups were amazing at helping me figure this out. Next time I’d definitely spend more time in the snow as that was the kid’s favourite part and what they miss most. I’m already planning to head back next year but possibly Levi or Ruka with a cabin so we can enjoy the snow more and maybe see the Northern Lights.

………….

So, as we start to create our travel plans and dreams for the forthcoming year and beyond, we hope you have found Kirsty’s article helpful in realising that the dreams may not be too far beyond reach :-)