Hi Sharon

Our family have just returned from a fantastic holiday in Finnish Lapland with Emagine from 19th to 22nd Dec. We booked the 3 night/4 day tour and the whole experience was magical from start to finish. It was not commercialised in the slightest and was very well planned throughout. The groups were very small which made it very personal and the Emagine reps were excellent with the children. Lots of very happy memories indeed.

Hope this helps

Karen

Hi, new member here,

I'm thinking of going to lapland for my hunymoon with the new wife and 3 year old in Dec 2006.

(we get married on 9th Dec 2006)

I think we'd preffer yllas as i hear its less comercialised.

The best deals i seam to get off the internet are from first choice. I know there are more specialised companies but they seam alot more expensive.

The deal i have is 14th dec from manchester, 4 nights 5 days, to Snow Princess in yllas. Full Board. 2 adults and one 3 year old child. all the usual sleigh rides and stuff.

Price is £1864.

I think that looks a good deal, well known company, flights transferes, all meals.

Can anyone offer some advice, is it a good deal?

Forgot to add, the choices of hotels in yllas are:

Snow princess
Saaga
Snow elf

Anyone been to any of these and reccomend one?

Hi OasisMark

My family and went to Snow Princess Hotel in Yllas on 18th December, for 4 nights. The scenery/weather was just how you would imagine it. The Hotel is basic, although marked at 3*, I would say 2*. Having said that it's very clean and the beds comfortable, staff friendly, resturant and bar has everything you need.
The resort is much quieter than Levi (someone said whilst we were there that Levi is the Las Vegas of Lapland). We went to Levi on a day trip and there is much more going on there. If you're happy to have the majority of your entertainment at the hotel in which you are staying and prefer a more country feel then Yllas is nicer than Levi. Of course this results in fewer facilities, then in Levi. Nevertheless, my family and I had a fantastic time - book any additional excursions with the tourist board up front, as the tour operator prices are expensive. Have fun.

Claire Z

Thanks for your reply.

I think we will definatly prefer yllas, and maybe do the daytrip to Levi on the spare 3rd day.

ANyone been to the Saaga hotel, i'm prefering that now it it says its a 4plus hotel, whateer that is but it look better quailty, and has a swimming pool in it.

( i imagine a lovely warm dip to defrost those toes after a day in the snow)

And any comments on the price i found.

£2000, for full board at Saaga, 4 nights

Sounds good doesn't it!-Anyone know the answers to these questions??

How do little kids cope with the cold-mine will be 5 and 7?

What is the food like-my daughter is a fairly fussy eater-is there kids food?

How long is the flight?

Was there many opps for shopping-do we need much spending money? (hoping the answer is NO to that question!)

Hints and tips would be great!!

many thanks
Sharon

Emagine provide the clothing required for everyone. This includes snowsuit, boots, socks, gloves and balaclava/hat. The snowsuits are really warm although I would recommend to wear at least 2/3 layers underneath. My son is 7 and didn't feel the cold much at all and he was out tobogganing every evening until about 10pm. One day it was -20 degrees and we did need to wear the balaclavas while out on the husky and snowmobile safaris.
The food was buffet style, so you could help yourself and it was good and plentiful. Breakfasts were typically cereals, porridge, fruit, cheese, meats, eggs, sausages etc with plenty bread/pastries. Lunch and dinner were soups, roast chicken, roast beef, fish, pasta, vegetables, salads and there was also a kids counter which had chips, chicken nuggets, fish fingers, burgers etc. There was generally a choice of 2 or 3 desserts as well.
We flew from Manchester to Kussamo and the flight was approx 3 hours and the kids got up to sing Xmas carols on the way which was fun.
The resort we went to was isolated and beautiful so no need to spend any extra money at all.....although on the way back to the airport the coached stopped at a market for approx 30 mins so anyone wishing souvenirs could get them there.

Hope this helps. Regards. Karen

Hi Smiler

Check out this site http://www.yllas.fi (just click on the uk flag for english version)

From here you can find answers to questions and get snow reports via the webcams. Have found it really interesting.

Enjoy your honeymoon!

This might be a stupid question but how sure are you of getting snow in December in Lapland? Wouldn't really be the same without it would it!

Hi Oasismark

Have you looked at Inghams ???

They have some good prices, and at the moment if you book you get an extra discount from their earlybird brochure.
http://www.inghams.co.uk

Good luck with your search

Hmm lookin now, prices are ok as they are for 7 days not 5.

Just called em and they say nothing extra is included, as in skisuits and excursions.

Is this a better way to do it, and book yourt own excursions when you get there.

Anyone been through inghams can you advise what was included and what you needed to pay for when you got there?

thanks

I have been twice to Lapland with Cosmos on a 4 night Santa Trip, although excellent and very, very well organised they are very, very expensive. We stayed at the hotel Yllasrinne, in Yllas, very very quiet and very beautiful. We also stayed in a log cabin and used the Hotel for our meals, perfect. However since we have done Santa twice now we have booked next year with Inghams for 7 nights for £1250 for half board staying in Yllas but the other side of the fell in an apartment. We have paid a third for the snowmobile rides, husky rides and reindeer rides compared to Cosmos. You can also book a Santa trip if required. This trip for all four costs just over a quarter of what I paid for Lapland with Cosmos for 4 nights.

All in all it comes down to what you want for the trip. If it is Santa, Santa and more Santa ie Santa's village, Arctic crossing ceremony, Santa coming to the hotel and dishing out very good presents, and taster rides of husky and reindeer and a fairly long snowmobile, then an organised trip may be best especially if you want extra company in the evening with other guests. Be warned when booking one of these Santa trips to see whether the word "taster" is mentioned, this means a very brief trip (about 1-2 minutes) and then if you want to do more you have to pay a great deal of money.

If you want to go DIY you can equip yourself very cheaply with clothing by using a combination of Ebay (ebay shops for thermal undies, brand new and a quarter of the cost), TK Maxx for jackets and salopettes, or the internet ski shops online around September for ski wear (they sell of last seasons dirt cheap before the new "season" wear comes in). I also ordered my kids proper ski boots (apres ski) from America, especially made for snow etc and with the dollar conversion worked out to be £20.00 a pair. These I will now subsequently sell on ebay to make money back.

Whatever you decide one thing will be for sure is that you will fall in love with Lapland, it is totally magical.

Hi again oasismark,

we like the idea of doing it a bit more independantly, and don't want the whole santa experience 24/7 etc. Hence why inghams for price and what they offer is good for us.

Regarding skisuits etc, we have a shop near us that hire them out in the Uk. £18 for kids for a week and £25 for adults so not too bad.
Maybe have a look into doing the same, or get some bargains off the internet.

I'm going with Inghams to Yllas a week on Sunday (15th). Whilst we have hired thermal suits and boots, they'll be pretty useless for the stuff we want to do as we've booked the snowboard school etc so we've bought a load of gear too - but as I'm sure you've realised it's not a cheap way of doing it. My view was that I don't really want to be messing about in such low temperatures having inadequate equipment, so we bought proper ski jackets / pants / thermals and fleece mid layers. At least they'll be usable next time and the time after. The reason I've still decided to keep on with the hire of the Inghams stuff is that we'll always have something dry and warm to change into should we want to do multiple activities in a day. Another way of sourcing clothing is Ebay - it's chock-a-block with barely used ski stuff at a massive saving.

I'll let you know how we get on there - I really can't wait. We're staying at the Polar Star catered chalets.

Phil.

Just booked our hol.

Booked 4 nights at saaga hotal in yllas, FB.

Booked with first choice, maybe abit more expensive than some others but were happy with it.

heard saaga is a really nice hotel, anyone been the the saaga hotel in yllas? comments please if you have

thanks for everyones help

Hi

I've requested this hotel be added to the reviews section. Hotel website HERE.

Pippy

If anyone would like to post a review for the Yllas Saaga, please do so HERE.

Many Thanks.

Pippy

We have just come back from yllasjarvi. Booked cabins via ylassafarit who arrange all sorts of activities aswell. The cabin was 100 euros per night which sleeps 4-5 people, so a bargain. We also stayed at the snowvillage. The icehotel had only us staying there! Was fantastic experience. Highly recommend yllassafarit who did everything possible to make the trip wonderful, including a free tour around the area and offering their services any time of day or night!

We have just got back from Yllasjarvi, Finnish Lapland, after having a wonderful time. We booked flights with Finnair and cabins etc with Yllassafarit. Yllasjarvi has a population of 200 and a quiet peaceful location. It has a souveneir shop, supermarket, pub, burger bar and resturant. Lovely location.

The cabin was wonderful and fully equipped... sauna, fireplace, cooking facilities etc. It was located on its own amongst the wood, a short distance from the road where the bus can be flagged down. It was also walking distance from supermarket. It was 100 euros for the cabin per night that sleeps 4-5 people, bargain!

The snow village (www. snowvillage.fi) was 100 euros each to sleep in ice hotel. Not bad as we had the ice hotel to ourselves and had the honeymoon suite! The snowvillage must be less well known compared to the Ice Hotel in sweden, which is understandable as its almost impossible to google the website! They are working on this though so it should get busier! There are snow slides for the kids and adults, a resturant and excellent warm facilities including a warm bed if you chicken out of the snow room! The bar in the hotel is the biggest ice bar in Europe and there are 25 rooms all together. Its nice and cosy there.

Yllassafarit (INVALID URL are a family company who own cabins, the snow village and offer excursions. They can also offer transfers, warm outer clothing and probably pretty much anything you ask them for! They were brilliant. We had a free tour with them when we got there and they offered help any time of day or night. They even ran us to the supermarket when we got there to get supplies in. They helped with getting us numbers for resturants, taxis, whatever and gave us info on everything to do. We had a great introduction to the area. They were so frendly. Highly recommended. We arranged transfers with them and a reindeer safari which was great. One thing is they are great help on the phone but a bit slow replying to emails, but don't let that put you off! These guys are definately the ones to book with for an amazing holiday.

Ali :-)