World Traveller April/May 2020

Don’t go too early
Lapland without the white stuff is snow
joke, and winters up here are starting
later these days, so go from the second
or third weekend in December for a
guaranteed snowscape. Ample time is
crucial: do not book one of those 24-
hour round-trips from another country
— your child will be so tired and cranky
you’ll wonder why you bothered. Four
nights is better, and even then you’ll wish
you had more. Darkness reigns: daylight
falls between 10am and 2pm, when an
eerie green and pink glow illuminates
the sky.
Not all Santa villages are the same
Lapland spreads across the top end of
Norway, Finland, Sweden and Russia’s
Kola Peninsula. However, Finnish Lapland
is where almost all Santa trips go, and
Rovaniemi, the provincial capital, is
the ‘main’ home of Father Christmas
(santaclausvillage.info): the big guy
can be visited here every day of the
year. With this comes a hefty slice of
commercialism, and if you’re happy with
that – paying for your photo in a snow
globe, endless gift shops, a whopping
great city of Santa – that’s where you
should go. Children will love it; parents
may not. For the real deal – and
endless other wintry activities, such as
snowmobiling, skiing and reindeer rides –
head north to the smaller resorts of Levi,
Yllas or Saariselka. Levi is just 20 minutes
from the airport, making transfers with
weary tots superspeedy. Here, Santa’s
village is way out in the wilderness: a
huddle of twinkly log cabins hidden
among snow-laden pines. Kids can
decorate gingerbread cookies with Mrs
Claus, make decorations and visit Elf
school to learn Finnish words such as
‘Hyvää Joulua’ (Happy Christmas), as
well as having a private tête-à-tête with
Santa himself. The focus is firmly on
wholesome festive fun and, refreshingly,
souvenir stops are sparse.
If you only ever take one package
trip, this is the time to do it
If you let the experts plan this trip for
you, the festive fun starts on the plane
– and children are hooked. Trust us,
when it’s -20°C outside you’ll want a
coach-load of elves to collect you from
the airport, equip you with thermal
snowsuits and speed you straight to
your accommodation. And with just
three or four days on the ground, you
won’t want to waste precious time at
the supermarket, so opt for a hotel. The
expansive buffets will please even the
most unadventurous of little eaters.
Go against the flow
Book your husky ride, snowmobile
and reindeer safari (all unmissable)
for the last day or two of your hols.
The numbers will have petered out by
then as most people whizz off at high
speed on the first day or two. Booking
through the local tourist office or direct
(laplandsafaris.com) can make it more
crowd-free. Check your tour company’s
included excursions carefully – these can
be just five minutes ‘having a go’ and
nothing like the longer experience. And
remember the best fun is free… Some of
your sweetest memories will be sledging,
building snowmen or simply rolling
around on the slopes. In Levi, sleds are
scattered about, and there’s a nursery
slope with free button lifts at Kids’ Land,
so children can have a go at skiing. Pick
up some sausages and marshmallows
from the local S-Market en route and
toast them free of charge over the fire in
a little Lappish hut at the bottom of the
slope (levi.ski/en/kidsland); hire ski gear
a short walk away at Zero Point.
Maximise your chances of seeing
the Aurora Borealis
The Northern Lights are elusive and the
luckiest time to see them is in spring and
autumn – here’s how to increase your
chances. Stay far north of the Arctic
Circle (in Levi, Inari or Saariselka), out of
town (less light pollution), and download
the aurora app (free). It shows the
likelihood according to your location and
will send an alert if a sighting is imminent
– some hotels will even sound an alarm
to wake you when the aurora is near. Or
take an after-dark snowmobile safari for
an atmospheric treat. Even if you don’t
see it, speeding across a frozen lake at
60kph is an experience in itself.
24 worldtravellermagazine.com