Santa's Lapland Reviews 745

The experience from start to finish was completely magical. From the moment we arrived at liverpool airport. Would highly recommend for all ages.

Everything about our experience was fantastic from start to finish! Even the airport and flight was magical. The staff were so organised and couldnt have done more for us. They deserve a huge shout out, especially the elves and the coach staff. Yes it was very expensive but worth every single penny! I'd do it again tomorrow if I could. When I ask my children what they got for xmas last year they cant tell me one thing. When I ask about holidays they can tell me everything. This one they will remember forever. Thank you Santa's Lapland for the most perfect start to our Christmas. I cannot recommend more highly.

An absolutely wonderful experience which in my mind could not be faulted.For us the husky sled ride was a stand out experience along with viewing the Northern Lights. However it does need to be made more clear from the start that you drive the sleds YOURSELF!!It is physically demanding and not easy. Luckily my daughter loved it but you could see how easily accidents could happen.The dogs are powerful and keen and you need to use the brake constantly. It would never have been allowed in the UK and some people were dipping out.That said, it was magical and made the holiday for my daughter who was so proud of herself. At the end of the run the dogs are calm and friendly and can be patted by everyone including children. We didn’t see any aggression, only eagerness to run.
Thank you for a great adventure.

Everything went without a hitch. We stayed in an apartment which was spacious and had everything we needed, including a drying room, which is a bonus to dry clothes. The staff were very helpful and always around to assist. The husky ride was absolutely brilliant! Santa was magical. We made some very happy memories🎄🎅🎄

We've just returned from Santa's Holiday club in Saariselka with Santa's Lapland and had the most magical holiday. From start to finish, staff were so helpful and really made the effort to make the whole experience magical for guests.
Santa's holiday club hotel was lovely. We stayed a few years ago in a family room which was quite small, especially for a family of 4 but this time stayed in a 2 bedroom apartment which was situated directly behind the hotel, about 1 minute walk away. I had reservations about this before going as I was concerned we would have to repeatedly dress and undress the kids in out door clothes to go over to the hotel for every meal but it was actually fine. The apartment was much better than the hotel rooms, was well equipped, modern and had a sauna and drying room which was great for drying wet clothes after hours of sledging.
My only critique of the hotel was the lack of food options particularly for children. The food offered was tasty enough, but very limited for children. If they could offer a few simple options like pizza, chicken nuggets, burgers that would've been great but unfortunately they didn't. If you have an even slightly picky eater, I'd recommend you take your own supplies.

Search for Santa experience was superb! Even i could be convinced to 'believe' again! The reindeer and husky rides were great. Although not very long they were still longer than the taster sessions some other companies offer.

Saariselka is a lovely little village with a great sled run within walking distance from the hotel and a larger toboggan and ski run a short taxi ride away. We didn't bother with the larger one as our kids were having a great time at the one closer but I was told by others it was great.

If you are looking for a magical Santa experience, in a traditional snowy setting then Santa's lapland, saariselka is the perfect choice. We considered Rovaniemi but decided we didn't want the commercialised, busier experience and opted for saariselka instead. Although Santa's Lapland trip is expensive and Lapland trips can be made cheaper, I don't regret paying that bit more to go with this company and would definitely recommend.

Fantastic experience from arriving at our uk airport to departure
Would highly recommend
Staff were so helpful and friendly throughout the trip .

A bit late on this review, but needed to ensure I didn't miss the chance to say a massive thank you, to all of the team at Santa's Lapland. It was a truly magical experience, yes it was a high cost, but it was indeed value for money to see the smiles on my two daughters (and Mummy & Daddys) faces. The Reindeer ride, the skidoo ride and of course the visit to the big man himself were the highlights. The resort is very quaint and a true winter wonderland!

Stay away from the company absolute waste of time. Our trip cost us 8K and was very disappointed In many ways. We made a complaint in which each reply takes 14days and says exactly same thing!!

Amazing, Awesome, Outstanding, Spectacular - I could go on with superlatives like this when describing this experience.

My eight year old daughter had the holiday of a lifetime. It was a truly magical experience from start to finish.

Before departure information was spot on. The transfers from the airport in both direction was faultless.

The hotel was excellent, luckily with the cold weather equipment shop on-site and good food.

There were bars and restaurants close by and a supermarket less than 10 minutes walk. Lots of fun could be had outside of the organised activities in the snow. Even though it was -40c on the first day or two, the extreme cold was handled well by all the facilities and experiences, and the cold weather equipment certainly handled it too!

The Dog Sledge, Reindeer rides and Skimobile were excellent experiences.

The icing on the top of the cake was the "Search for Santa Day" which was awesome from minute one until we left. Of course meeting the "main man" was the ultimate part and that did not disappoint - great build up and then the meeting with Santa was delightful.

Many thanks to all the dedicated staff who makes this magic possible. Of course much kudos to those who work behind the scenes to make things work like clockwork (which is incredible in a country with so harsh weather conditions).

I cannot stress how truly magical this holiday was and cannot recommend this enough for anyone to experience it at least once!

We had the best holiday ever with Santa's Lapland! From being greeted in the airport with songs & excitement. Elves waving as we entered the village and transfers were flawless. The hotel had great facilities, warm & cosy and the Guides were really helpful & friendly. The days out were well planned and worth booking on. The Santa Day was absolute stunning, well organised and never to be forgotten for both kids & adults. The activities & meeting Santa were just amazing and it is a holiday i would recommend for families and those without kids too and we will never forget this experience as long as we live. Thank you!! The Hall Family xxxx

A Hugely Overpriced, Underwhelming Experience – Avoid at All Costs

I recently returned from what I hoped would be a magical family trip to Lapland. Unfortunately, the reality was far from magical. Despite the significant cost, the entire experience was underwhelming, disappointing, and left us with more regrets than fond memories.

Accommodation and Organization: Chaotic and Subpar

The trip began on a frustrating note when we were ushered back onto a full coach, laden with sacks of kit, despite our hotel being a mere 50 meters away. The organization was baffling and inconvenient. Speaking of the kit: not a single family member received correctly fitting equipment on the first attempt. I was even handed two different types of boots. My children’s boots, equipped only with Velcro, repeatedly came undone in the snow, leaving them with wet, cold feet—an issue that caused unnecessary upset throughout the trip.

The hotel itself was tired and dated, with a room that was far too small for a family of four. The cramped quarters added to the sense of disappointment and discomfort.

Activities: Expensive and Utterly Underwhelming

The optional activities were the biggest letdown. Despite their exorbitant cost, they delivered almost no value.
• Family Snowmobile Ride: This was, without a doubt, one of the worst activities I have ever paid for. The ride was unbearably slow, leaving us cold and bored. My children were towed behind a snowmobile in an uncomfortable wooden sleigh, slowly freezing to the point where my youngest could barely move by the time we returned. For over £200, it was nothing short of appalling.
• Northern Lights Tour: Even worse. At an eye-watering cost of over EUR 500, this tour was a complete waste of time and money. We spent 30 minutes sitting idle on snowmobiles in the freezing cold before the painfully slow ride began. The staff knew from the start that the northern lights would not be visible, but still charged us full price for what amounted to a short, uncomfortable ride into the woods, followed by sitting by a fire, and then the same uninspiring ride back.

Santa’s Village: Weird, Not Wonderful

The highly anticipated visit to Santa’s village was equally disappointing. The sleigh ride took place in a barn, and the so-called “magical igloo” was anything but magical. It was hard to understand what value was intended here—it felt bizarre and underwhelming.

Dining and Facilities: Cramped and Unpleasant

The restaurant was far too small and extremely cramped, making meals an uncomfortable experience. On the reindeer side of the village, the toilets were out of order, leaving only a pit toilet that quickly became deeply unpleasant.

Overall: Devastatingly Disappointing

This trip was supposed to create magical memories for my family, but it delivered the opposite. The activities were poorly planned, the facilities substandard, and the entire experience left an ugly taste in my mouth. For the extortionate amount I paid, I expected so much more. Instead, I feel scammed.

I cannot recommend anything about this trip. If you’re considering a visit to Lapland, do yourself a favor and look elsewhere. This was, hands down, the most disappointing and overpriced holiday we have ever experienced.

I am amazed how Santas Lapland are very keen to respond to positive reviews but much less pace is applied to those of with a different stance. The holiday is magical on the surface but when this cracks it’s ugly. On the husky ride there was a serious injury in which somebody came off and the competency to deal with this was unsettling and the dogs were viscious and they could not handle the incident. I cannot stress how dangerous or traumatising this was for the children. They have produced no risk assessments or incident reports to such an extent I have reported it to the Finnish health and safety executive as my 4 year old is still having nightmares. The incident I accept may well occur but their ability to deal with it or address how it should be dealt with is flippant at best but in truth incompetent. They have been very nonchalant which is completely not what it was at the time. Sheer panic from them. I will also escalate with abta as I believe it could easily occur again and this time a child be attacked. All the basics are good and it can be magical- but it’s a good face of makeup. The incident will no doubt escalate now as with the authorities. I would beware booking!

We booked our Christmas getaway with Santa’s Lapland after a lot of research into different approaches and companies who offer the “best” Lapland experience. Past reviews indicated Santas Lapland was a reputable company who could offer us the whole package with minimal effort required from us and we were not disappointed! The whole experience from start to finish was simply amazing. There were so many small touches to bring the magic alive continuously throughout our trip, such as continuous interaction with the elves (starting at the airport on our arrival!), welcome afternoon tea on the first day, magical background music playing whilst we were on our search for Santa, to name a few. Our hotel (Star Artic) was perfect for us - plenty of opportunities for sledging (including Europe’s longest toboggan), ideal location for seeing the northern lights (which we managed to see on Christmas day!) and the food was amazing (plenty of choice and, although buffet style, the quality was on par with some top tier restaurants). We were kitted out with all the snow gear and anything else required for our activities (such as helmets for snowmobiling, reindeer furs to keep warm in the sleighs, marshmallows to toast over the open fires) - it made our trip effortless knowing we were being treated as 1st class guests (as is everyone else). You do not feel like “just a number”, which can happen with many package holidays. We felt truly looked after and no request or enquiry was too big or too small. The staff really made this experience top notch. The reps, the elves, the hotel staff, the other staff in charge of activities - all of them put in 100% effort 100% of the time. The amount of enthusiasm and energy they bought everyday was astounding. Our two children (7 and 10) were just in awe the whole holiday. The were well and truly immersed in the Christmas experience and meeting the REAL Santa was just the icing on the cake for them. I could wax lyrical all day about our holiday. It is hands down the best Christmas we have ever had. Thank you so much Santa’s Lapland for making this one of our “core memories” - we will never forget this magical time.

Thank you Santa’s Lapland

We visited Lapland for Christmas this year as part of a package holiday booked through Santa’s Lapland. From the moment we arrived at Birmingham airport on Xmas eve morning at 05:00 the Jet2 staff went to every effort to make it feel incredibly festive. On arrival at Ivalo airport the company had organised Elves to greet us in baggage collection to cause mischief and entertain the children. I really couldn’t believe this was all part of the package because the elves were such brilliant performers, totally believable. We arrived at our accommodation the “Star Arctic Hotel”. The place is set in an incredible location atop a hill looking down over the valley into Sarraselka. The chalet style accomodation was perfect. Cosy, comfortable, perfect little sauna and plenty of room for two adults and two kids. The overall organisation of Star Arctic and Santa’s Lapland was seriously impressive. Nothing was too much trouble. Everything had been carefully considered and all high quality clothing and equipment was provided.

Christmas day at Santa’s Lapland's dedicated adventure resort was utterly perfect. The whole day was magical. I’m a 45 year old bloke and honestly it blew me away how magical they made it. All the elves played by convincing actors just sucked you into thinking it was all real. The kids were utterly mesmerised by it all. Then meeting the real santa. I just cant describe how convincing and magical it all was. You have to just go and experience it for yourselves. Spend the money and you will not be disappointed. The big advantage from what I gather having seen other options in Lapland is that you’re treated and feel like a VIP with Santas Lapland. The staff are so friendly and attentive. I never thought id say this but it was worth every penny we spent on the holiday.

Our experience with Santa’s Lapland has been one of the best. From booking the experience to the very end it was everything I’d hoped. We were well informed and knew what to expect and where to go with questions. It felt very relaxed and easy.
This has been an experience of a lifetime and the staff at Santa’s Lapland 100% made it!
Thank you for our magical experience and memories to last a lifetime!

We absolutely loved our trip with Santa Claus Lapland.
Staff were super friendly and so good with the children. Lots of staff on hand all the time very attentive. Couldn't have helped more.

The hotel accommodation was basic but clean with a nice sauna to relax in and a nice balcony. Nothing to complain about as only used to sleep in as you are out all day.

Food was buffet i personally enjoyed it. I think some people struggled with choice not a lot of selection. All drinks at the evening meal you have to pay for. We didn't have a problem with this but some families thought a drink for children may of been included with the evening meals.
Breakfast drinks included.

We added the husky trip as extra which cost nearly £500 for 2 adults 1 child.
I felt this trip could be improved; as it was stop start all the way, very rushed, no stories on the dogs. Hot chocolate would have been nice for the children with a story around the fire. We hardly had time to have a drink before a rush onto the coach.
We really enjoyed the taster session that was included the extra excursion wasn't worth it we didn't feel.

Once in a lifetime trip and very magical for us all.
thanks so much to the wonderful team.

Just returned from an exceptional trip with Santas Lapland to saariselka
Fantastic customer service, search for Santa day far exceeded our expectations and we had the most wonderful trip! Would highly recommend.

Absolutely amazing from start to finish. The most magical holiday experience ever. The children loved it and so did we.

We had a wonderful experience doing to Saariselka Lapland for Christmas Day. It was very well organised and a fabulous experience

Brilliant staff both in the UK and Lapland, fantastic and seamless organisation. We had the most magical Christmas in Saariselka! Couldn’t ask for more.