Our Trip to Lapland: Insider Tips and Inspiration for your Visit

Lapland is the ultimate bucket list winter destination for families looking to create unforgettable Christmas memories.

We were lucky enough to spend Christmas 2023 in Lapland and I can confirm that it deserves its enchanting reputation. We know booking a Lapland trip can feel daunting. Let us take you through all the options and everything we discovered to help you build your ultimate festive family trip to Lapland. 

Where exactly is Lapland?

Lapland is not actually a country but a Northern area of Scandinavia that occupies Sweden, Norway, Finland and even part of Russia. The core tourist hotspots and mainstream airports servicing Lapland pretty much all fall within the Finnish section. 

Where to Visit in Lapland

This depends on what you hope to get from your trip and the age of your party. We traveled with our two girls (aged 7 and 5) and visited Levi in Kittilia, an authentic Finnish resort that is easy to access from the UK in the peak season and is popular with winter sports enthusiasts but full of traditional festive wonder. It is ideal for family groups, especially those with older children and teenagers who have more in mind than just a visit to Santa. You can access all the traditional snow-based activities you might expect to partake in whilst in Lapland in and around Kittilia.

We also love to book trips to the Rovaniemi, a fabulous Finnish town that is well regarded as the ‘capital of Lapland’ and is also known as the official hometown of Santa Claus. It has a cosmopolitan vibe with all the facilities of a modern Scandinavian town but is still snowcapped and surrounded by Arctic woodland making it perfect for younger families wanting a whistle stop tour in search of Santa. It is also a fantastic place to consider for a year-round city break destination with great shopping and dining options.

If you want to experience an authentic Lappish alpine resort and dream of watching the Northern Lights dancing from your cosy igloo then we recommend a trip to Saariselkä in the most Northern part of Lapland… where the temperatures plumett, but the snow and scenery is guaranteed.

When is the best time to travel to Lapland?

Lapland is a wondrous destination anytime, but the core reason for families to visit is for the Christmas magic. Festive activity runs from mid-November through to the new year. Be prepared for it to be busy at Christmas - particularly during December weekends. We advise booking at least 9 to 12 months in advance to secure the dates you want. We have already taken Lapland bookings for Christmas 2025! 

The ultimate Christmas memory is to incorporate Christmas Day into your trip. See your children beam with excitement as they wave Santa off on his travels on Christmas Eve and enjoy all of the Lappish Christmas holiday traditions.

If meeting Santa is not your main motivation, then you have much more flexibility with dates and you can secure some great bargains away from the peak Christmas months. If you want to ski, the season extends much later in Lapland, and you will find some of the very Northern resorts blanketed in snow until May. If you want to maximise your chance of seeing the Northern Lights then travelling between September and April when the evenings get darker is advised.

What are the Must-Do Lapland Experiences?

There are so many activities to consider in Lapland and we would be delighted to talk you through them and help you plan the perfect itinerary.

Here are our Lapland Top Tips…

If traveling with children, a visit to Santa is key.  Wherever you meet Santa in Lapland, he truly is the real deal. It's worth every penny and the experience will keep the magic alive for your children for years to come.

Santa Claus village in Rovaniemi offers lots of extra festive activities from meeting the toymakers to watching the elves sort the post and a reindeer sleigh ride to get to Santa’s house in the woods is a must. In Levi there is a Santa hideaway offering similar options.
Most larger family hotels will also throw Christmas parties with the elves in the peak season. 

Being so far North almost guarantees snow so be sure to reserve time for snowman building, tobogganing, and the pure and simple joy of a family snowball fight. We can also schedule a sledgeing trip as part of your itinerary.

No trip to Lapland would be complete without a husky ride through the Lappish wilderness and if you are traveling with older children or are on a grownups mini break then snow shoe-ing is a fantastic way to immerse yourself in the stunning scenery and breathe in the crisp air. Ice Karting is an exhilarating experience and will have even the grumpiest teenager having the time of their life! All these activities are readily available in Kittilia and most other resorts.

The Ice Hotel is another bucket list destination in the Swedish quadrant of Lapland. We can arrange a day trip to this incredible place or book you an overnight stay in a Snow Suite, (this is very popular with honeymooners). If you want to go all out… there is an Ice Chapel and nothing would bring us greater joy than helping to arrange your wedding or a vow renewal in Lapland! Rovaniemi also has an ice restaurant and bar for a slightly easier to access experience.

Can We See the Northern Lights in Lapland? 

No trip to the Artic Circle would be complete without viewing the Aurora Borealis - the Northern Lights. You could strike lucky as the conditions are often right to see them in the main resorts but for unparalleled viewing, venturing out in the wilderness away from the city lights is advised. There are so many options… from taking a night snowmobile safari complete with campfire stop off, to an ice floating trip to view the phenomenon from the middle of a frozen lake through to a picnic under the stars. We can book all these options as part of your holiday package.

How to Create the Perfect Lapland Itinerary

A package trip, booked with a specialist like Edston Luxury Holidays is highly advisable. You will have the protection that a package brings if flights get delayed through adverse weather and we can link up your flights, accommodation, trips, and experiences. With so much to cram into a short time there is nothing like leaving it to the experts to just hand over your itinerary. If budget and holiday allocation allow then a week is the perfect length for a Lapland break. This gives you plenty of time to acclimatise to the cold, enjoy the resort facilities, offer some flexibility to fit everything in, and allow time for rest and relaxation between each activity (which can often be exhausting!).

Within your week we could book you a duel stay split across a main resort then a night or two in the Ice Hotel or an igloo experience. Four days is the minimum we would advise. it is quite possible to do it in less, but you need to plan meticulously to cram everything in.

We are often asked about day trips to Lapland. This is feasible if you just want to meet Santa and partake in some festive fun but there are a few things to consider… Lapland is a 4 hour flight which will require a very early start. It can take time to get used to the cold and wearing snow suits and we often get reports it can feel rushed with lots of queuing and the cost often isn’t vastly different to a short break.

Final Top Tips for a Lapland Trip

Remember that you are traveling to the Arctic Circle which is incredibly cold! We traveled in December when temperatures ranged from -3°C to -26°C!!  We had frozen hair at one point!  If you are not used to the cold, it can
be an enormous shock.  We can arrange
winter suits as part of your package but consider additional items when planning your Lapland trip – merino wool socks were our lifesaver and kept our toes cosy.
We also used rechargeable hand and foot warmers. Invest in an excellent set of mittens so you don’t need to continually take your gloves off to take a photo or use your phone.

If you visit Lapland in December, remember that it will be darker so head torches can come in handy when you are
out and about.

We recommend that the perfect age for traveling to Lapland with children is between 5-9 years old. Children of pre-school age will be too young to remember their magical trip, and younger children will struggle in the cold temperatures which can cause lots of stress for families when comforting with cold, cranky babies.

We all had the trip of a lifetime and the precious memories of dashing through the Arctic snow with the husky dogs, witnessing the Aurora Borealis in all its glory, and my beautiful girls in complete awe at meeting the real Santa will stay with us forever. We would love for you to experience the same magic.

Get in touch today so we can help you to create your bucket list Lapland adventure.