Christmas in Lapland
We flew directly out of Manchester and headed for a White Christmas on the 23rd December 2007. On arrival in Kittalia airport we were transferred to the resort of Phya (Poo-Ha) where we were taken to our log cabin. The cabin was everything we could have hoped for; log fire, sauna, underfloor heating, just what we needed.
We learnt to ski with English speaking instructors and were grouped with other British families, and within minutes of us all being together Alix and Chloe had made friends and were off skiing up and down the nursery slopes. Andy (hubby) and myself took until the end of the lessons but got the basics and were then able to progress nicely each day, working up from the nursery slopes onto the red runs and even a blue run at the end of the week. The slopes are quiet in Lapland and I would definitely recommend this as a fantastic place to learn to ski, it is very very cold but as long as you wrap up and make sure you have good thermal clothing you will be fine.
Nightlife wise there isn't a lot to do in Phya, there is the large Hotel Pyhatuntri where you can take meals at the top of the slopes and then a smaller restaurant at the bottom on the slopes. A lot of the British families we shared skiing lessons with went on a evening to meet up - usually ending with a drink of the local 'Menthos' a mint liqueur added to hot chocolate. A must before bracing yourself for the walk home. A few nights though we did take back to the slopes with the sledges that everyone had left and the kids loved sledging up and down the slopes, or having snowball flights and making snowangels in the snow. It truly is a excellent family experience.
We had fantastic amenities within Phya itself. There was a large supermarket, a couple of souvenir shops, ski shop and then a local skidoo hire shop which arranged all local tours. We took one of these on a evening just the 4 of us and the guide and headed into the woods. Andy and Chloe on 1 skidoo and myself and Alix on the other, we drove for about 30 mins deep into the forest and we were taken to a secret teepee where we were made hot chocolate/coffee and cooked sausages on the open fire with our guide. A experience none of us will ever forget.
So all in all one of the best holidays we have had and definitley to be repeated, well this December actually but this time at a different resort of Salla. The ski resorts do tend to be smaller but if you were wanting a larger resort with more going on in the evening then I would recommend Ruka. Snow, ice, cold temperatures, friendly people, Christmas in Lapland and even seeing Santa on Christmas Eve - it doesn't get much better than that.