I did an extreme Lapland day trip with my kids with husky sledging and Santa meets… and was home for bedtime
TAKING your kids to see Santa in Lapland is a dream for many parents wanting a truly magical Christmas experience as a family – but can be very expensive.
So I’ve I found a holiday hack that saved me thousands on a trip to the Christmas village in Finland, as long as you don’t mind an early start.
The Finnish Lapland is a popular holiday destination for a festive holiday, and for my kids Finn, 6, and Isobel, 4, it was seeing Santa.
However, these trips to Finland, especially near to Christmas, can cost as much as £10,000 a week when booking a holiday package for a family of four with hotels, flights and all the activities.
That’s when I discovered that you can go to Lapland for the day.
Canterbury Travel offers day trips to Enontekio in Finland, flying out of the UK in the morning and getting home that very same evening – and it includes a meet with Father Christmas.
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We wanted to be as close to Christmas as possible, so we booked for December 22, but the lead up is just as exciting.
The holiday provider not only arranges everything, but sends you a special package in the post with a letter from Father Christmas, inviting the children to come and visit him at his house in Lapland.
Of course, the big day requires a very early start, having to wake the kids up at 4am, although thankfully we live just a short drive from London Stansted Airport to make our 7am flight.
The fun started as soon as we got to check-in. All the staff were wearing Christmas jumpers and tinsel and festive songs were playing.
What I loved most was the effort that had gone into making it enchanting for families.
The staff were calling it ‘Santa’s magical plane’ and even the information boards had been set up to tell the story, with the board listing the destination as Lapland rather than Enontekio.
Even onboard, we had coffee and breakfast, with kids given activity packs while Christmas songs and games were played over the tannoy.
While the flight was only 3hr30, the sun was already starting to set as the Arctic Circle only has around six hours of daylight this time of year.
It was still magical though – we landed on the snow-covered runway with a magical backdrop pink sky that looked like a Christmas card.
With this package, everything is covered. This includes all meals and drinks and rental of your snowsuit, socks and boots.
Ready for our six-hour day in Finland, we were shown into a barn and sized up for our kit, leaving our own clothes and shoes there until home time before dressing in everything from thermal leggings and tops to the full suits.
The weather in Lapland was -13C during our visit, but we were the perfect temperature and despite concerns, both my kids were warm enough with all of the layers.
Then it was on to the good bit. We were whisked off to Santa’s village on a sleigh and it was thrilling.
The location is stunning, set in a forest, next to a frozen lake that is like a winter wonderland.
Once at the village, everything is included and activities include learning to drive a snowmobile, toboggans, a snow igloo with stunning ice sculptures and tables made of ice, husky sledging and reindeer sleigh rides.
When you have little children, meeting Father Christmas is of the utmost importance.
Meeting the big guy was about as stress-free as you can imagine. When we arrived, we were given a time slot to go up to Santa’s cottage and everyone will get the chance to meet him.
There are no lines or jostling to get in so it perfectly executed.
When it’s your time to go up to the cottage, which is nestled on a hill in the woods, you’re invited to wait in a log cabin with a roaring fire.
Then, a cheerful Elf came in to talk to the children, ask them what they want for Christmas and whether they wanted to ask Santa anything specific.
My kids were fully immersed in the magic and it was so heart-warming.
The elf explained what would happen next and then we were shown to a snowmobile sleigh that would whisk us up the hill to Santa’s house.
Father Christmas was waiting inside the beautiful cabin, which was decorated with fairy lights and a huge Christmas tree.
The experience was so relaxed and we never felt rushed or like we were being hurried along.
Santa talked to the kids for ages and even did a magic trick, which they loved. Then he gave them a little gift, which was a reindeer teddy bear with ‘love from Santa’ sewn into the foot.
It was one of the loveliest experiences I have ever had with my children and I will remember it for a lifetime.
With the main ‘attraction’ ticked off, it was time to have an adventure in the alpine village and we had such a great day.
Lunch is available in the main cabin throughout the day, so you can eat when you want and as many times as you want to.
The buffet is a choice of soup, baked potatoes with either a meat or vegetarian filling or pasta, as well as pancakes with jam for desert, alongside drinks of mulled wine, or tea, coffee, hot chocolate and soft drinks.
By this time, the sun had set in Enontekio but the village was completely lit up with fairy lights to keep the magic in the darkness.
Despite the holiday package only being around six hours, I was still amazed by how much else we managed to fit into the day.
We went on a slow cruise through the forest on a reindeer sleigh, which allowed some quiet time as a family.
A quick pit stop for a hot chocolate was enough to recharge our batteries and then we headed to the husky dog sledge ride, the ice castle and the snow mobile driving school.
There are full size adult snowmobiles and mini children one for kids under a certain height.
I really liked the fact that everyone has the chance to do everything and no one is left out.
Our last stop of the day was the snow sledging hill. We had so much fun going up and down and racing each other to the bottom.
It was even more special as just before we were about to say goodbye to Lapland and head back to the airport, the Northern Lights appeared in the sky above the village.
There is a coach transfer back to the airport and after dinner on the plane, we all fell asleep, landing in London at back to our car by 11pm.
I’d been worried that an extreme day trip from London to the arctic circle would be a lot for Isobel, who was only four.
And while she was certainly flagging by the end of the day, there was enough to distract her to keep her occupied.
The village also isn’t suitable for buggies so if you think you may have to carry younger ones, I recommend bringing a baby carrier or sling if you have one.
I was sceptical that we wouldn’t be able to do and see everything but it is so well organised that we didn’t miss anything and the whole day was very relaxed.
We saved money not staying overnight and got to do everything we wanted on the extreme day trip.
It does cost a bit extra to do a package trip like this than a DIY one, but we would never have been able to Lapland in a day if we hadn’t have booked this with a specialist company.
It’s a slick operation and very well executed with happy staff.
As parents we could thoroughly enjoy it too, without worrying about finding our way around, working out what to do and finding places to eat and drink in the show with two kids in tow.
Since we don’t often go on cold-weather holidays, I also liked that we didn’t have to buy snow suits and weather-proof outfits for the whole family. This saved us a few hundred quid it itself.
Usually, I love planning holidays and I’m someone who books everything separately myself to save money and create the exact itinerary that I want, but this was a great way to save money and do it right to make it magical for kids.
Canterbury Travel still has some availability for the Enchanting Lapland day trips for 2025 with departures from Bristol, Manchester, Leeds Bradford, Liverpool, and Gatwick.
Prices start from £629 per person but includes return flights, in-flight meals and all activities, including transfers from the airport to the designated Christmas village by sleigh.