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5 days - Independent tour for families to visit Santa before Christmas
This action packed independent Santa holiday is perfect for families looking for a magical experience in Finland. Taking part in safaris with huskies and snowmobiles and a visit to a real reindeer farm, you have got the main modes of transport covered.
With snowshoeing, children's snowmobiles, cookie baking, a private visit with Santa and lunch in an ice restaurant there is plenty for the whole family to enjoy. Staying in intimate cosy cabins or a family hotel, this tour will give you wonderful family memories to last a life time.
As a Certified B Corporation, 50 Degrees North has designed this tour using handpicked local hoteliers and suppliers who share our ethos of delivering services and activities of high social and environmental standards.
The CO2-e per person per day of all tours is carefully measured following each season. We fully offset all emissions of our tours on your behalf, and we constantly look at ways to reduce emissions where possible.
Transfers from Kittilä airport (for scheduled flights).
International flight tickets, meals other than described, alcoholic beverages and adult soft drinks, travel insurance, visas, gratuities and any items of personal nature.
Arrival at Kittilä airport and transfer to your hotel (approx 45 minutes). After a meeting with the staff at the hotel to explain the days ahead you will collect the much needed thermal clothes (thermal winter suit, winter boots, woollen socks, inner and outer gloves, winter hat and balaclava).
Head to the restaurant for the first of your included meals. The hearty buffet offering has a choice of local specialities and international favourites. Then, why not get your first taste of the frosty surrounds with some late-night tobogganing. Be sure to keep your eyes on the sky for the Northern Lights.
Get ready to fall in love with the local reindeers. You will have a chance to feed them, learn how to throw a lasso and experience a short reindeer ride. Lunch will be served in the ice restaurant before returning to the hotel. This afternoon you will bake Finnish cookies and in the evening enjoy a traditional Finnish style Christmas dinner buffet.
After breakfast, head out on a 20km snowmobile safari, with two adults sharing a snowmobile and children sitting in a sled pulled by a guide.Lunch will be taken in the hotel on your return.
The afternoon continues with snow fun. Test your skills at snowshoeing, cross country ski or zooming down the toboggan slope (you are never too old to toboggan!) Children will also have a chance to drive their own mini snowmobile, under supervision. Then the highlight of the trip as you are whisked off in to the forest by snowmobile sled in search of Santa’s secret hide out in the forest. Keep your eyes peeled as you look out for elves. As you drive near you can see moving lanterns held by the elves who sneak up to greet you. They know the secret path to Santa’s cabin and will guide your family through the lantern lit path straight to his cabin. As the children knock on his door will they wake him up from his little nap around the fire?
After breakfast, independent transfer to Kittilä airport.
Price is per person in dbl/twin share.
Family triple is for 2 adults & 1 child (4-11 years old) sharing a small cabin.
Remember to bring a gift for Santa to deliver. Please note that included lunches in Scandinavia are often hearty soups with bread.
A full itinerary will be given in resort and changes to the program itinerary according to weather conditions may happen. Lunch in the ice restaurant is weather dependant. Should the ice restaurant not be ready or the temperature be extremely cold lunch will be served around the fire in a traditional kota.
After your pre-Christmas tour, Helsinki is a lovely spot to spend Christmas, with magnificent Christmas lights, markets, and of course, the obligatory traditional Christmas buffets. Christmas across the Nordic Region is celebrated only from the late afternoon and evening of the 24 December until midday on the 25 December. Outdoor activities are plentiful on the morning of the 25 December such as ice skating in the heart of Helsinki. Local families all enjoy a sleep in and longer breakfast before heading outside to enjoy the time in nature.
Our hotels and apartments are all filled with Christmas cheer including Christmas trees, music, and celebratory hospitality. Traditional Christmas buffets for the evening of the 24 December can be booked at your hotel or in local restaurants such as Restaurant Savotta in central Helsinki. Afterwards, you can join Christmas Mass at Midnight in one of the cities Cathedrals. Pamper packages are available at many of our hotels with spas and treatments for all the family. Alternatively, you can join the locals, such as spending their Christmas morning at the Löyly Sauna complex, ocean front in Helsinki.
Meeting indigenous Sàmi people in Norway, Sweden and Finland is at the heart of meaningful, authentic and experience-rich travel. Take a look at some of our suggestions for how and where to meet and learn more about the only indigenous people of the European Union.
Shared experiences make lifelong memories and our multi-generational family holidays offer it all.
Planning your Northern Lights trip and want to get the best advice? As we approach another Solar maximum period, solar activity will start ramping up, and auroras should increase in frequency, peaking in 2025.
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Here are some suggestions and tips from our staff who have kids themselves, for travelling in Scandinavia with younger children. We hope that you will find this advice helpful and be sure to ask us for more information before travelling as our staff have all grown up in Scandinavia.
In general, Scandinavia and Finland are very child-friendly destinations and if you have any special requests or questions while here, please contact the staff at your hotel immediately. Almost all restaurants can be considered child-friendly with baby chairs and sometimes also drawing utensils, books or toys, and when using public transport, Scandinavia offers some great support for families with younger children. Baby changing tables in public toilets, play equipment and play rooms at airport terminals and family wagons in trains with playing area for the little ones are common place.
When possible, we suggest arriving to Scandinavia or Finland a day or two earlier before your holiday program begins so that your younger children can adjust to the time zone. Young children arriving from the Southern Hemisphere generally wake up at around 4 - 5am for the first few mornings before they get accustomed to the new time zone. Be sure to have breakfast provisions ready for this, as it is unusual for anything to be provided from the hotel at this early hour. We suggest bringing packages of the child's favourite breakfast cereal from home plus tea bags etc. to help in those first few days. Likewise, quiet entertainment for those early hours might be a good idea as well.
Hotel rooms in Scandinavia more likely than not, only have twin beds pushed together to make a double if required. The spare children's beds are often foldout beds. Generally, it is easy to arrange at reception for the cots but be sure to ask for help if something doesn't seem right. We were provided a cot without a mattress once - very uncomfortable indeed if we hadn't chased that up!
Also, in Scandinavia it is not common practise to have tea or coffee provided in the room, and even if there is a kettle, there might be nothing else. We suggest travelling with a small supply of your own tea bags/coffee, and asking directly at reception for a kettle on arrival.
Feeding your children adequately is probably the hardest thing to do on an arranged holiday - kids are out of wack with jetlag, fussy and hungry for their own comfort food. When hotels and packages provide set times for meals and buffets, it is important to come prepared.
It is handy to take a small cooler bag already from home filled with snacks, utensils and fresh food. From the breakfast buffets it is usually acceptable to take a small amount of fresh food such as boiled eggs, rolls and fruit for morning and afternoon tea for the little ones.
We would also suggest that you give your kids a taste of what’s to come before their holiday on some foods that they are likely to get in Scandinavia. Meatballs, European flavoured sausages, soups & then treats like cinnamon buns and waffles are typical children's menu items. Cinnamon is a very common flavour used in Scandinavia and Finland.
If you are part of an arranged program, be sure to ask at reception if you need anything in particular. The hotel staff will be more than happy to warm up baby food and organise more snacks or fruit.
We recommend seeking all available information from the reception or activity provider when considering what optional activities will suit your younger children. These activities can be cold and involve a transfer a certain distance from the hotel. If you are uncertain why the activity is being run at a particular time, please ask for clarification as there is often a reason that you might be unfamiliar with. We all know as parents that children generally perform better earlier in the day than later, however, the activity providers might have a safety, logistic or climate reason for picking a certain time.
In Scandinavia, it is often left up to the parents to make decisions about age limits and suitability (unlike other regions where everything is stipulated) so be sure to ask reception or other guests who have done the activity for further advice.
We usually don't recommend winter activities, such as longer husky safaris, snowmobile safaris and late evening Aurora Hunts to children under the age 4-5. This of course depends very much on a child as every child is different, but for younger children we recommend shorter excursions as it can get very cold sitting still in a sled. Some operators also do not take children under the age of 5 on their tours, so please ask us specifically before travelling about these limitations.
This is going to make or break your holiday in Scandinavia in the winter. Be sure to refer to our comprehensive packing list provided in your pre-departure information and be on the look out for the best protection for your children in the cold. Winter is great time for kids to play outside and snow-based activities will keep the young ones entertained for hours as long as they have appropriate clothing.
Extra (non-cotton) layers that can be added or taken away when needed, heat warmers and slip on crampons for the older children are recommended. Mittens where all fingers except the thumb are together are often warmer than gloves, and extra pair of mittens will come in handy after building a snowman or two. A balaclava type of hat that covers both the neck and ears and which can also protect part of child’s face if needed, is also great under a warm and windproof beanie.
The base-layer next to skin should be either wool or synthetic blend, never cotton. With perspiration cotton turns quickly damp and then cold, no matter what other warmer clothing items are layered on top of it.
Many of the hotels and activity providers also do offer warm outer clothing for hire, but if traveling with small kids, please do check beforehand that correct sizes are available.
Travel insurance is compulsory for all tours with 50 Degrees North. The safety of our travellers, staff and operators is a major priority of 50 Degrees North. With an operational office in Norway, 50 Degrees North has access to an up-to-the-minute flow of information regarding the countries we work in. We are also in regular contact with the various operators we use. Their in-depth knowledge and understanding of their various areas is vital.
