Always thought Lapland was a distant dream? Way too expensive? Well here is the way we managed to go. 2 Adults and 3 children for twice the length but half the price as a package deal.
It's still obviously not REALLY cheap but way cheaper than the packages were offering at the time. However do you own research as flight prices seem to have gone up a lot this year! Like everything else I guess!
DIY - 2 adults and 3 children ages 9-7-4.
16th Dec-21st Dec 2022
🛫 Flew Finnair to Helsinki (booked previous Boxing Day 2021) They were wonderful to fly with. We flew from Heathrow and didn't experience any problems despite baggage handling strikes at the time. We could have got an easy connecting flight in Rovaniemi but we were all keen to try the sleeper train!
£464 Finnair (total for 5- one way)
🛫 Top tip, travel in your snow boats, jacket and put your snow trousers in your hand luggage. You really don't need any more shoes, I packed trainers but never used them.
🚞 Night train Helsinki-Rovaniemi 1930-0730hrs.
We booked these in August '22 as soon as they came out as it is a popular journey.
It has 2 beds per cabin in the form of bunk beds. You only pay for a child under 11 if you would like them to have their own bed. We chose not to pay for our 4 year old and he slept in with me. This was more to do with the odd number in our family of 5 and the rooms sleeping 2 people. However the beds were a decent size and could easily have 2 children top to tail.
For the standard rooms, you can request interconnecting which we did and were really happy with our choice. Our friends paid slightly extra for a room with a very small ensuite, however, we didn't choose this as those room can't be interconnected. It was no problem at all using the shared toilet, always clean and only a few doors from the cabins.
£323 return for 2 cabins. We originally were planning on flying home from Rovaniemi and not doing the night train both ways but when EasyJet released their flights, they were super expensive! I'm talking 1000's for a one way flight! This is not the norm apparently but we opted to night train back to Helsinki and booked with Norwegian Airways back to Gatwick. This way we also got a a full day in Rovaniemi to spend at Santa Claus Village before our night train back to Helsinki.
🚙 At Rovaniemi we picked up our hire car with Enterprise (£279- 4 days) booked around November. We were so pleased with them. The queue for Green motion was an hour long! We were in our car within 10 mins of getting off the train, the car was heated up and de iced for us.
🚙 Setting off for the drive to Levi in total darkness should have been scary and my husband was nervous at first but it was easy driving. Pretty much a straight road all the way there. The temp was -5 in Rov but got to -25 on our drive up! Tyres are made for the snow and the roads were great to drive on. One of the things you also notice is the lack of cars and busy roads! Less people up this way so instantly calmer and so quiet!
☕️🍩 We stopped halfway for coffee and donuts. My 4 year old wanted (and got) an ice lolly! 😳 Lohihovi is the name and lies roughly halfway between Rov and Levi.
Lovely staff and reasonably priced. A welcome break for our first breakfast in Finland!
Google maps says 2 hrs to get to Levi but I would say slightly longer as you naturally drive slower and it took us more like 3 with the cafe stop too.
🛏️ We stopped in this Airbnb, cabin a 10-15min walk/sledge into Levi. A gorgeous place, warm, clean and peaceful with a sauna and a drying rack for clothes.
A large living area with a big table, huge sofa and kitchen. Then open stairs lead to the bedroom upstairs, a twin. The second bedroom is a double off the living room and the sofa is a sofa bed too. It worked perfectly for us. As we were pulling up the most beautiful Artic Hare hopped across the snow, a magical sight the greet us. The photos on Airbnb don't do it justice and if you don't mind a walk/sledge or drive into Levi would highly recommend and if we returned we would stay here again. Roger was so helpful and friendly in exchanges leading up to our trip. And look what we saw right outside our cabin! Awestruck!
Read about our time in Levi here and our visit to The Elves Hideaway here.
Comments