Magical Lapland

I was very lucky to spend Christmas 2014 in Lapland with my family. Flying on Christmas Eve the magic started as soon as we boarded the plane, our children received Christmas hats and we spent the flight singing along to Christmas songs.

Once we landed at Kittila airport we were greeted by Santa's Elves and taken to collect out thermal suits and boots; these were included in our Lapland package.

We then took the very scenic drive to our hotel in the stunning national park of Yllas, with snow covered trees everywhere it was just how we had imagined.

As soon as we arrived at our accommodation, the Akass Hotel, I knew we were in for a treat - a cross country ski route passing through just stunning!

We wasted no time after checking into our Superior one bedroom apartment, complete with our own sauna and under floor heating - perfect and toasty to come back to after fun in the snow.

Akass Hotel also have a handful of log cabins and the board basis varies too; we chose to stay on a full board basis including breakfast, lunch and dinner. The food was all home cooked and very delicious, while locally main meals ranged from around £10 each.

After checking in we got straight into our thermal gear and headed out sledging. Sledges were dotted about the resort for everyone to use, and we also took the short walk into the village that has several souvenir shops and restaurants.

Our Lapland package also included taster sessions for us to sample the snowmobiles, huskies and reindeer sleighs. This is set out in an itinerary for you when you arrive, but longer trips for each of the tasters can be booked at an extra cost.

Our itinerary had us picked up Christmas morning in search of Santa. We were all very excited, arriving to a candlelit woodland complete with a campfire with endless hot berry juice to keep us warm and the most amazing private meeting with the Big Man himself, truly priceless!

We were more than happy with the tasters offered, but did opt to visit the nearby ice hotel and snow village only 20 minutes from Yllas. It's hand carved every year as soon as it's cold enough, with different themed bedrooms and in the center a frozen castle with a slide, which our children had lots of fun on. We also had drinks and snacks in the ice bar and restaurant.

We spent four nights in Lapland and we could have stayed longer, I've never had such an amazing magical time with my family and our memories will last a lifetime! And to top it all off we were very lucky to witness the Northern Lights on two occasions!

Add it to your list and give me a call to plan your perfect trip on 01482 534220.