Nowhere does festive spirit quite like Lapland – home to Santa Claus and his reindeer with scenery straight from a Christmas card: cosy cabins, snow-covered forests, the jolly holly lot. Meet the man himself in the land he calls home for a once-in-a-lifetime experience, making memories to share with your loved ones that neither kids nor grownups will forget in a hurry.
SNO offers several fun-filled festive packages to Lapland including 3 and 4 day Santa Breaks bursting with festive activities or 7-night stays with the option to add-on a visit to Santa and extra excursions. Lapland holidays are now on sale for 2024 2025 and 2024 2025! Book early for peak dates, the best choice of accommodation and flight times.
Often the fun starts as soon as you step off the plane, when you’re greeted at the airport by Santa’s helpers. After arriving at your hotel, apartment or log cabin, you’ll probably be kitted out with a thermal suit and boots. Double check with us that these are included when you’re booking; they can be a life saver when it comes to saving money and suitcase space as well as keeping out the winter chills!
Of course, the highlight of the holiday is the much-awaited meeting with the man himself – depending on the holiday you book, you’ll have a private meeting with Santa in his hidden cabin, cottage or workshop. As well as getting to know the one and only Father Christmas, littluns might learn a traditional Finnish song, play festive games and maybe do some baking with the elves. Sometimes you can go along to a dinner with Santa as well, which usually includes dancing and festive games for the ultimate Christmas party.
Often Santa will give children a keepsake like a gift or a certificate – don’t forget the camera either, there should be loads of time for a selfie with Santa...
Some packages make the whole thing even more magical with the journey to Santa coming in the form of a reindeer sleigh or snowmobile. The festive treats aren’t limited to little ones, often grownups can take the driving seat of their own sleigh or snowmobile and there’s usually a mug of mulled wine, tea or coffee waiting at various points throughout the day.
The fun doesn’t stop with meeting the big man and most Santa breaks include a day with a snowmobile safari or visits to husky farms and reindeer parks, followed by magical sleigh rides through the forest... Ask us for an up to date itinerary of what’s in store.
While the big events will be planned for you, there should be lots of free time to spend with friends or family and do your own thing - building snowmen, tobogganing and walking in your winter wonderland. You can usually book extras like snowmobile, husky and reindeer experiences, skiing or cross country lessons (with equipment hire), snowshoe walks and sometimes even a Northern Lights experience – ask us if we can arrange these for you before you set off.
Most trips last 3, 4 or 7 days with the short Santa breaks including the all-important Lapland experiences and the longer ones giving you a bit more time to do your own thing.
You can visit Santa in Yllas, Levi or Saariselkä, three wonderful resorts in Lapland. You will be able to visit Santa at his workshop and enjoy a private family meeting. Whilst at the adventure centre there are plenty of other fun activities to take part in including gingerbread biscuit making and Christmas decoration making with the elves!
If you are booked onto a Santa Break package, then the private visit is included. If you want to add it to a week-stay trip, you are looking at prices from £59 for children and £69 for adults.
Rovaniemi in Lapland has been declared the official hometown of Father Christmas. He has, however, never given an exclusive interview, although we know for sure he can be found in Lapland for a good part of the year.
Santa has houses across the world with several workshops for all his elves to build toys for good children everywhere. Santa spends a lot of his time in Finnish Lapland as this is Mrs Clause favourite place!
Santa Claus is a mixture of various historical and legendary characters, whose festive cheer and sense of ‘goodwill to all men’ has merged over quite literally thousands of years to craft the legend we all know and love today.
Santa lives in Lapland as he has many workshops in the area. He needs to be in Lapland to oversee the production in his factories. He also loves the snow and all things cold; it is a perfect place to keep his reindeer too – there have been several Rudolph sightings over the last few years.
Santa is not in Lapland all year round, like everyone he needs to take some time off. However, we do know that he is in Lapland from mid-November up until just after Christmas getting ready for the big day.
Santa can be found in Lapland usually until around New Year, so if you wanted to give him a big thank you in person, this would be your chance. In January though the big man is off on his well-deserved break and is usually not spotted in Lapland again until mid-November.
Accommodation | Resort | Price (per person) from |
---|---|---|
Design Hotel Levi | Levi | £ 1989 |
Ylläs Saaga Apartments | Yllas | £ 609 |
Gielas Hotel | Saariselka | £ 929 |
Levi Hotel Spa | Levi | £ 949 |
Ylläs Saaga Spa Hotel | Yllas | £ 1299 |
K5 Hotel | Levi | £ 1539 |
Ylläs Log Cabins | Yllas | £ 529 |
Levi Log Cabins | Levi | £ 579 |
Äkäs Alp Apartments | Yllas | £ 589 |
Holiday Club Apartments | Saariselka | £ 695 |