With Christmas a few months away, it’s time to start booking Lapland. Joanna Booth looks at what tour operators are offering this year
What better way to celebrate Christmas – or just welcome the winter – than to head for the Arctic Circle?
There is plenty to do in Lapland, including Santa-themed breaks for kids – where as well as meeting the bearded one himself you can go to elf school or ride in a reindeer-drawn sleigh.
The guaranteed snow makes it a great ski destination, with resorts such as Ylläs, Ruka and Levi proving increasingly popular. For adventurous types bewitched by the idea of the Arctic there are dog-sledding trips, snowmobiling and the famed Northern Lights.
New for 2008
Cosmos celebrated its 20th year of operation in Lapland by launching a second-edition brochure for 2008. There are day trips from Luton to Levi Fell from £449 per adult and £409 per child, plus a five-night new year itinerary in Ylläsjärvi.
Family discounts of up to £720 (based on two adults and two children) apply on selected dates and holidays.
Inghams has doubled its Santa Short Break trips this year, and added a Manchester charter flight to complement the Gatwick service. It also features Polar Star 2 – an exclusive catered chalet for 12 people in Ylläs.
Esprit offers its longest festive break this year, the five-day Santa Supreme leaving on December 9 from Stansted and Bristol. Activities include a snowmobile safari, a reindeer or husky sleigh ride, an exclusive family meeting with Santa, skiing, and a Lappish troll hunt in the forest.
New for adventure specialists, Exodus has an eight-day cross-country skiing trip based in Äkäslompolo, a village 125 miles north of the Arctic Circle in Finnish Lapland.
Terrain ranges from flat tracks near the hotel to a 700-metre climb to a point where you can see the Swedish and Russian borders. You can also see the Northern Lights. Prices lead in at £995 including flights from Gatwick.
Kuoni is offering both Ylläs and Levi in its Snow brochure, plus activity tours. There’s a three-night break to Alta, with dog-sledding, snowmobiling and a night in an igloo hotel, and a similar four-night trip in Kirkenes, Norway, with snowmobiling, dog-sledding, crab fishing and a night in a snow hotel.
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