Santa's Lapland Bewertungen 745

Recently returned from an amazing few days in Lapland, finland. From arriving at the airport to coming home the experience was fantastic. The santa lapland staff where all lovely and appeared to really enjoy their jobs.

I didn’t know what to expect but I loved every minute. Great location, food, hotel and lots of snow!

Perfect experience from start to finish. All the staff were amazing. The flight out was like no other and so much fun to get every into the Christmas spirit.
The elves, staff, guides and the staff at the wilderness centre were so good with both our daughters. The made sure the trip was magical and one to remember forever.
We stayed at the Star Arctic hotel which was beautiful. The activities were so much fun and everyone had the best time. Would 100% recommend using this company. We couldn’t fault them at all. Just the experience we wanted and worth every Penny.
Thanks Santa’s Lapland. Xx

Me and my family had a brilliant time was so magical. our little boy absolutely loved it made he’s dreams come true. All the staff was amazing. We would love to come back

Absolutely fantastic service provided by all the members of staff. Nothing was too much trouble for them.
I would highly recommend. Being a single person travelling with granddaughters and having mobility problems. Every help was provided in order for us to enjoy our trip. Already looking to book for next year.

How anyone has anything bad to say about this trip is beyond me. We have recently been on the 3 day santa aurora package staying at the star arctic and I don’t even have words for how special and magical this holiday was. All Santas Lapland staff was super attentive, friendly & helped make our trip so memorable. It’s super organised and planned perfectly which took the stress away for us. The huskies,reindeers & snowmobiles was just incredible. I already can’t wait to return to this super magical place.

A huge thankyou to all the Santas Lapland staff for making our holiday so amazing and memorable.

Sam & luke xx

What an amazing holiday!!!
We didn’t have a free second, it was all packed with fun and adventure.
Staff lovely, definitely in safe hands with these tour operators.

Sad to say very commercialised, rushed and poorly organised.

We spent more time waiting and queuing than taking part in activities.

The reindeer centre is a waiting area around a campfire, three or four reindeer in a single pen you were warned not to approach and two pairs of antlers on the floor you can throw the rope at. Before heading off on the sleigh ride....keep tabs on where you are in queue or everyone jumps ahead unchecked.

The reindeer sleigh ride has one leader, then the deer and sledges are simply tied together as a train and you amble around the designated hoop akin to a train in the garden centre. Takes less than 10 minutes.

The sleigh barn was two elves and a 5 min Interactive show sitting on a huge sleigh shaking the reins singing. Or three empty 'photo op'deer stables set up. Again 10 mins.

The two course hot lunch is a bowl of spag bol and some bread.

The search for santa ...is a queue for the snow mobile and boarding up to be whizzed off to a hut. In....chat and out and whizzed back. Not a search. No stops on way, no suspense. Just oh look....here is....

The sleighs are hard for all activities. Blankets are not provided.The husky ride you go as one of 20 sleighs in a group. Again a commercialised train.

Expect to queue longer than you take part. And take your patience and older children only as younger ones struggle to keep up with the group pace for getting ready, walking around etc.

The ingredients are there. But the experience is not magical.

The hotel didn't have room service during our stay, was never resolved. There was no balcony in our room, the buffet for kids was not varied so chips every night, same frankfurters for breakfast and dinner and minimal fresh options. The seating capacity of the restaurant is also exceeded by the guest numbers, so expect some difficultly getting a table unless you can dine later with older children. No queuing system, just free for all. So go ready to pounce if you see a family begin to put jackets on.

Adult buffet was reasonable but not exceptional in variation. But the quantity available should reflect guest numbers. The mains on particular many parents had empty plates and went back for more starters and bread instead.

Ice fishing we didn't see.....mini snowmobiles were 3 machines tied to trees to go in circles.

Lastly the hotel is spread across several buildings along a street. So expect to be thrown off the bus and shown to your room with some vague directions as to which snow laden buildings you need for welcome meetings, reception, food and trip excursions. Don't worry you will find company with other people hiking around lost and after finding several representatives and hotel staff eventually someone gives you directions that make sense and reflect what is outside. A map and some signage would be ideal!

Lastly the journey. Our flight was scheduled for 7.40am. OK its a rough start with kids but worth it. Eat before you board take a lot of food with you. You will be able to purchase snacks only on the flight and we did not arrive at the hotel until 2 30pm uk time or 4.30pm their time. With dinner due at 5pm. All of us were starving and many didnt have enough water. And then.... queued through a merchandise shop to get thermals......literally they unload the whole coach and you line up behind the coach ahead through the shop.

It was a conveyor belt from start to finish and it felt like one.

When you asked for help or assistance the Reps on site were either not the ones to help, you needed someone else, hotel reception who say you needed your Representative or people that will get back to you but never will.

In short the Country gets the stars, the kids enjoyed most what we did off itinary. So did we.

The toboggan run we never found as we were given 3 different areas it was located and the pin on Google maps related to the ski runs.

We booked the aurora lights trip. Our kids were loaded onto a sledge and left without us in another group! They had no safety restraint in the sledge. They had only the snowski driver in front who they could not communicate with and the were scared and cold when we met with them on arrival at the campfire.

On the way back my 4 year old fell asleep and my eldest had to hold her to stop her head swaying from the sledge.

Oddly for a kids Christmas based holiday it wasn't children focused at all. It felt like a ski type holiday with the festive elements crammed into the activity day. Expect to see elves at the airport and on activity day, but that's it.

Centreparcs & Lapland UK deliver a more magical experience. Given the choice again I would return to those.

After so much detail, I surmise, take older children only who can keep up with the adult pace, don't need to stop in wonder or for a wee and take your own body weight in snacks.

We made the best of it. But it was not the once in a lifetime experience promised.

We booked our trip 2 years ago when my dad had mobility. When we arrived my dad was in a wheelchair. The staff in Finland bent over backwards to help us. We were given skis for the wheelchair, they helped us pull my dad into the hotel and helped us with our cases, staff helped us around Santa's village and helped my husband up the hills. We wouldn't have been able to do the activities without them. The rooms were standard but clean, warm and had enough space for a family of 4 to fit comfortably. My parents had a disability room with a shower seat which was brilliant. There were 4 main meal choices per night with a choice of sides, plus a kids option e.g. burger and chips plus soup, salad and dessert choices. All these were done well. My daughter and father are picky eaters and were full every night. Breakfast there was cereal, bread, a variation on a full English and pastries. Again the Christmas Dinner had plenty of choice and was done well.
The activities at Santa's village were brilliant our favourite was the huskies and Santa's grotto. We enjoyed the reindeer and had an extended trip on the previous day. The guide Simon was brilliant and helped lift my dad into the sleigh for the reindeer ride. The staff at Finland Airport were superior to Manchester Airport and had my dad on and off the plane with ease where manchester it took over 30 minutes each time.
My only complaint if I have to nit pick is the beds are a bit on the firm side and there aren't many disabled toilets and ramps but we always manage to find a spacious cubicle even if we had to use the ladies and people were always available to help lift the chair over steps (my father isn't light).
A fantastic holiday that made the unaccessable, accessible by the amazing resort staff. Les, Tomas and Jess were particularly helpful.

We had the most incredible time, it was magical from start to finish. A once in a life time trip we will never forget, I just wish we could have stayed longer.

Amazing. I would definitely recommend Santa's Lapland to anyone booking a Lapland trip. Everyone is so helpful and friendly I can't rate this holiday enough Thank you for making this trip so magical.

This company is a farce. So disorganised. We flew to Lapland from Gatwick on the 24th November. No seats for us on the plane and it took off 1.5hrs late whilst they tried to accommodate kids on the flight! Jet2 said they didn’t expect so many children on the flight!
Then when we finally got there we waited about 40 mins on the bus for the transfer, got half way to the hotel and then went all the way back as they forgot 2 families….
The Santa Holiday Club is ok….we are still there…but the buffet is very very limited especially for kids (chips, frankfurters, nuggets) and limited hot food for adults with a salad bar that is also small. My kids are currently living on over cooked chips. The pool is quite nice but doesn’t open till 2pm each day which is odd for a family hotel. Pringles and things in the shop are extortionately priced and beer etc is too.
The reps give a different story for trips and events depending on who you ask, and it all seems so disorganised. Everytime we got on a coach we were waiting around for other families to finish vaping or daudeling, there is no urgency to get people on the coaches.

Today was our special trip to see Santa, you get into quite a few queues for different events, and they tell you to do other things whilst waiting but that means you loose your place in the queue…..we queued for the Santa experience and got chatting to people in the queue….we were asked if we all knew each other and the other couple said we had just met but we’re in the same hotel…..you couldn’t make this up…. they sent us in to Santa with another family!!!! So our kids were all having letter read for kids they didn’t know. Complete and utter farce. They give you lunch, it’s bolognaise or nothing. Couldn’t wait to get back on the bus back to the hotel.

We paid a £600 room occupancy charge as there were five of us (three kids 11,8,5) in a six person family suite….they were all crammed in the sofa bed double as the sofa singles were not present in the room! The beds are so uncomfortable we barely slept and we spoke to other families who barely slept too. The pillows are like a postage stamp that you sink through to the mattress.

The festive meal wasn’t at our hotel, we walked to a sister hotel where the food choice was so limited we went back to the Holiday Club to eat, except they weren’t expecting us so we had to plead with a clipboard warrior to let us eat in there that night. That festive meal is all geared up to get you spending a fortune on drinks at the sister hotel….there is nothing special about it and it’s not festive food at all.

This is where I finally got to speak to some reps and tell them in person our horror story of a holiday. The result. They filled out a form…..

This holiday was nearly £6k….it wasn’t worth £6. We couldn’t wait to go home tomorrow….Ive been emailing complaints to santas laplands ‘dedicated’ email but they don’t reply. I can’t stress highly enough, avoid these clowns!

*update. They emailed when we got back to say they received my email. But nothing more.

Booked to do Santas Aurora in December 2022.

This was possibly the best holiday we have ever had. It was incredible from start to finish.

The plain was personalised with Santas Lapland written on it, we had music and games on the plan and it was decorated with festive decorations.

The cabin itself was lovely, the snow suits and boots were fabulous and didn’t feel the cold at all.

Food was nice and the experiences were all amazing.

My daughter got an Infection whilst we were there and the staff were incredibly helpful and got her medical treatment and handled it all for us.

The location was perfect and we really couldn’t fault them. Highly recommend

Our daughter has a life shortening medical condition and this trip was to make lifetime memories. We paid nearly £8000 in total for a 3 day trip with the sole purpose of meeting Santa in Lapland. The trip was completely ruined though when the Santas Lapland team on site LOST the letters our children wrote to Santa just minutes before our Santa experience and didn't tell us. That meant the magic moment was ruined as Santa and his Elves were panicking and didn't know what to say to our children as the letters were not secretly passed to him as planned. My Wife and I could tell it had gone wrong so had to try and leave his grotto to get help instead of enjoying a magical moment. The whole experience was ruined and the company only offered us £360 and two cuddly toys as compensation despite the sole purpose of the trip being the meeting with Santa. I am now having to take them to court to try and get reasonable compensation. I'm still in shock how little this company care about my family and our experience with them. They feel the fact that they offered us another go at the end of the day is sufficient. Despite my Wife being in tears most of the day because a trip of a lifetime was ruined. I hope this doesn't happen to any other families but I fear it will. I just wish I had read these reviews before booking and used another company.

FOLLOW-UP
In response to the Santas Lapland reply. I spent three months trying to reach a sensible agreement on compensation but could not accept their best and final offer which was still well below £1000. Guest relations leadership said they could not assist me further at this point. This is why I have had to start court proceedings which I really hoped to avoid.

Overpriced & disappointing experience

Day 1 - Titan flight brilliant, the staff got everyone in a Christmas spirit. When we arrived at Ivalo we had a lengthy wait for bags. We were entertained by elves, I wasn’t impressed with them jumping on the baggage conveyor belt, incredibly dangerous and not something we’d want kids to copy. I get they’re supposed to be naughty, but keep them safe!

We were allocated to coaches to take us to the resort. The views were stunning. At the resort, before room allocation we stopped to collect thermals in heavy sacks, we were asked to take these onboard the coach and have them on our laps. So on top of kids & luggage we now have heavy sacks, completely impractical, some very stressed looking grown ups on the coach, not a good way to start a trip. I don’t understand why our sizes couldn’t be taken in advance and clothes delivered to our rooms? The icy steps on the coach are also an accident waiting to happen.

We were off the coach around 16:00. Thanks to the member of staff who helped pull our bags on a sled, we’d never have managed by ourselves. Despite not getting to our room until 16:10, we were told one adult was to attend a welcome meeting, 10 mins walk away in the pub. No time to unpack or relax. All of the info provided - and there was a lot to digest - could have been given on a letter in the room. Our room was a “3 bed apartment” but in reality it had 2-bedrooms with a sofa in the front room. It was clean and warm and the beds were comfy, we also had a lovely sauna.

Dinner was pretty awful. There is nobody to meet & greet at the door, so you play hunt for a table. The place was dirty, food dropped on the floor was still there when we left an hour later. There was a lack of food labelling & very little choice, what we had was bland & not very hot. There was a cash bar for drinks, no table service. Chips, sausage & nuggets for kids.

Day 2 - Breakfast was better than dinner but not great, it was busy so you have to hunt for a table again. There was a pretty good selection but lots of queues.

Today was search for Santa day. On the coach you’re told to not stand around in the cold. Then the first thing they do, is ask you to get off the coach apart from one adult per group … and make all of the kids stand in the cold!

We were given a map listing 5 main activities; we were given no opportunities to feed reindeer despite it being listed on the website activities, we also didn’t see any reindeer lasso activities. Of the activities:
1. The reindeer barn was poor & misleading, there were no reindeers! There were “actors” putting on a “show”.
2. There was an igloo which was again a couple of “actors”. There were rows to sit but nobody made sure kids were at the front, so they couldn’t see over adults when sat (as we were), at the back.
3. Reindeer ride, best activity in my opinion but only lasted a few minutes, I expected a longer ride.
4. Santa visit, waited in a queue. The elves were fun, entertaining. It was a fun surprise to have Santa pull the list out his pocket, it was nice to have photos on our phone rather than be charged extra.
5. Husky ride, standing around again in the cold, kids separated from parents for health and safety briefing as you ride yourself. Put my kid on the sled and we were off, on the first corner, at significant speed the huskies moved off the track and up the bank tipping us both straight out. I screamed help several times, no help came. My parents had to come and help my kid out the snow because as soon as I got up and let go the dogs were off & would have dragged him along. This meant none of our group got a husky ride, given how dangerous it was, probably not a bad thing. I cannot believe there were no members of staff to help in an emergency, we then had to walk back down the path and the staff looked shocked to see us. I asked to speak to a manager and guess what… none available. This experience was unsafe and unsupervised. It was very lucky we were not injured. The children aren’t secured on the sled and are expected not to move the entire time whilst sat on their own. This is incredibly dangerous anyway, but more so with a company that don’t even ensure they have staff monitoring the activity, you are literally left alone with a pack of wild dogs. We were left in shock & just wanted to get a coach back.

The Gala dinner was a joke. We were made to wait 10 mins, then walked to a restaurant. We had to check in coats/snowsuits at a cloakroom as these are a “fire hazard in the restaurant”. I’ve never heard such nonsense, totally impractical and caused a queue of people waiting outside in the cold. When you see the restaurant it becomes obvious, no room to swing a cat. To pull your chair out you need to coordinate with the table behind as crammed in. The buffet is bland, cheap food again, chips & nuggets (again) for kids. We had to call someone over to order drinks. Nothing gala about this.

Pontins at best

First the good-The country and location are stunning and SOME staff amazing

The bad- It cost £12k for a family of 6 for 3 nights. The room was tiny- think Holiday Express standard, at a push.

The ugly- See attached photo a
The two (not three ) bedrooms are so small you cannot close the door. Bare wires, single beds and stark grubby walls complete the ambiance

My husband and I slept on the floor as the sofa bed provided (which was a surprise in itself ) was broken and resulted in our heads being either inside the sofa or on the floor if we turned around. Not ideal really.

The included (buffet) food is inedible. When told staff that the kids’ food was cold , they shrugged and when eventually someone appeared, they attempted to slowly reheat the cooling meat. (Also not ideal)

And don’t assume that being a ‘hotel’ that there will be any amenities within the room. Not even shampoo, soaps or tea bags.

Towels are cheap thin and threadbare. Sheets crackle with static and there’s some suspicious mattress stains to boot.

We were able to buy what we needed locally and ended up eating yoghurt or cereal in the mornings and paying to dine out at lunch and dinner. However, not everyone is able to do so when paying this amount for a holiday

The search for Santa day was quite fun but the activities such as husky driving were very dangerous in places. The staff were cruel and disdainful when presented with any distress or concern.

The included activities are pretty dire really and felt very much like ‘filler’, but again sledging was the big hit.

Lunch on the excursion is one option only (spag Bol when we went) and no accommodations made for children with disabilities or conditions.

The actual search for Santa is (spoiler) a 2 minute drive in the snow. Santa himself is decent enough but you get similar at the local garden centre. You then have a return trip back to where you started. It probably destroyed any magic left.

The ice fantasia is simply two grown women dressed as elves throwing boxes to each other making strange noises. Magical it isn’t.

If at any point during the trip we tried to seek help, they simply shrugged , or told us they can fill the hotel with coaches again tomorrow so don’t need you to come back.

If you are considering this hotel or your operator I strongly suggest you think again.

This was meant to be a once in a lifetime trip and frankly we feel we have been made fools of. It is essentially a Santa tax on a Pontins venue.

To summarise; Location great. Hotel diabolical.

You genuinely couldn’t pay me to come back to this resort.

I’ve attached pics of the sleeping arrangements so that you’re in no doubt about what £4k a night for a 3 bed ‘suite’ gets you. They will claim this is sold as a ‘3 BED’ room but there are 4 single beds and then the floor. So it neither has three beds nor 3 bedrooms.

It’s a huge shame, but I think they rely entirely on pretty instagram pics of the snow. However, you can get those in many places and feel significantly less ripped off while you’re at it.

We met families who were in tears, having saved for years for this absolute travesty of a trip. It is unacceptable. They cannot be allowed to do this any longer.

Avoid avoid AVOID!

I am not fussy by any means! But this trip is a waste of money. Nothing magical about it. No entertainment on the plane as some would suggest with other operators.
Hrs waiting on the coach to gear up in snowsuits. You get 3hrs at the village which is very small. No restaurant just a cafe serving spag Bol. No where to keep warm. Children crying due to not able to shelter from the cold. Rushed activities. Roughly 1 minute for each of the 4 activities. You just go around a tree basically.

Go with a different operator. Poor quality and service with Transun-santa Claus trips

Avoid at all costs!
We went for a family moon after our Xmas themed wedding and it was tbe worst holiday we have ever had. The room was unlike the pictures and was the same as a cheap pontins holiday room, with holes in doors, mould on pipes, a heating system that didn't work properly and a substandard double bed that had huge dips in it. The food was cold, overcooked and with limited choice and wasn't replenished often enough. I even obtained food poisoning from it on one occasion. But because I didn't report this on our short break the tour operator has brushed this off, along with everything else.
The reps were no where to be found and didn't explain most of the resort so we didn't have a clue about restaurant options or even where the reception was. Walking around in the snow freezing trying to find the restaurant on the first night. Rude staff in the fancy gielas building who treated us like riff raff when we went in to ask where the reception was. Submitted a complaint as this was the worst holiday we have ever been on, the company just said sorry but, sorry but not owning the issues in the complaint. Overpriced holiday using santa as an excuse to charge ridiculous amounts and provide poor service and mislead people with inaccurate descriptions and pictures. Please avoid this once on a lifetime trip, it's because you don't want to go back. Even our young children where disappointed and I think that says it all as children see the magic in everything. Do not book with santas lapland! They boast there customers are most important but we have found this to be anything but the truth! Book with someone else!

This was the best trip ever.
Staff always on hand to help out and answer any questions. We thought it was very well organised and ran smoothly considering the amount of people there. The best bit for the children was seeing santa of course. They couldn't beleive he had there wish list. Hotel was very clean, food was nice and bareable for a few days.
Gala dinner was ok. Make sure you take medicines as the nearest place to buy some is near the airport.

What an amazing holiday, I cannot recommend this company enough. We have travelled with this company twice (8 years apart) the experience was the same on both occasions. Rangers and reps are amazing, lovely, helpful and lots of fun. The Arctic Circle Centre is amazing, rangers keep the children busy with songs and dancing between activities, plenty to do and food was amazing and plentiful. We stayed at the hotel Tun Turi, room was stunning sleeping a family of six. Staff were brilliant and very helpful with my sons food allergies. The staff went the extra mile, accommodating my dads disabilities, Elves, Rangers and Drivers all helped him in and out of sleighs, buses etc. helping him make the best of his trip and helped him do it with dignity. I cannot praise this company and the staff teams they have enough. We had such an amazing and memorable experience, and would highly recommend this company if looking for that special Santa adventure.