I often hear that Lapland with children is very expensive, but with our saving tips and cost overview for a winter trip to Lapland with children you can estimate and limit your costs. You can make the trip as expensive as you want, but I can also tell you that regardless of the budget, a winter trip to Lapland with children is an unforgettable experience. We took a week-long winter trip to Lapland during spring break 2023 with two adults and two children. We visited Pyha, Saariselkä and Rovaniemi. Flight tickets to Lapland Flight tickets to Lapland are one of the largest costs for a winter trip to Lapland. In our case, we paid €903 for 2 adults and two children with a checked suitcase of 25kg. We flew with Ryanair from Brussels Charleroi to Rovaniemi during the spring break. The outbound flight was very cheap: 30€ per person and the reason we decided to make this trip! If you look at the prices of airline tickets to Lapland, you will see that during the school holidays the prices quickly rise to €350 to €450 per person, without luggage! When planning your trip to Lapland, it is useful to look at the airport that is most suitable for your destination in Lapland: Rovaniemi Airport (RVN): Located in southern Lapland, this is the busiest airport in the region and a commonly used gateway to Lapland. In winter you have direct flights from Amsterdam with KLM, from Brussels Charleroi with Ryanair, from Düsseldorf with Eurowings, and from London with Ryanair and Easyjet. Kittilä Airport (KTT): Close to Levi, a popular ski resort, this is a major airport in the western part of Lapland. In winter there are direct flights from Amsterdam or Brussels Zaventem with TUI, and from Düsseldorf with Eurowings. Ivalo Airport (IVL): Located in the northern part of Lapland, this is a convenient airport for those who want to explore the untouched nature of the north. Tui Eurowings flies direct from Düsseldorf. For direct flights to Lapland, check TUI Direct flights from Amsterdam or Brussels Zaventem to one of these airports are the most expensive. If you want to save on airfare, you can either fly from Charleroi airport or fly to Helsinki and then take the sleeper train or “Santa Claus Express” to Rovaniemi. For us, the return journey would have been €150 cheaper if we had taken the Santa Claus Express to Helsinki and then flown to Amsterdam. The disadvantage was that we had to go to Charleroi by public transport. Car rental costs in Lapland Do you need a car in Lapland? It depends on which airport you fly into and where you stay. A car is not always necessary, but it is useful and helps you save money. You always pay to be picked up, with 2 adults and 2 children the costs quickly add up. And if you are somewhere and the kids are tired, you can just get in the car and drive to your accommodation (public transport in Lapland is very limited). We booked a car through sunnycars for €430 for a week with all-in insurance. We booked very last minute, if we had booked earlier it would have been cheaper (a week earlier was €350). It wasn’t the smallest car, but it wasn’t the biggest either. When choosing the car I would take into account how much luggage you are taking with you. Sunnycars is our preferred website for rental cars as they offer all-in insurance Accommodation costs for a trip to Lapland with kids Another one of the biggest costs for a winter trip to Lapland with children is accommodation. If you book early you also have more choices. Christmas is the most expensive, followed by spring holidays because it is also the school holiday in Finland. We paid a total of €953 for a week accommodation in Lapland, spread over three different accommodations: You can check the prices for accommodation in Rovaniemi and Pyhä on the map below. I have marked the two hotels where we stayed in orange: We chose to go to Saariselkä because a friend of mine is from this “town”. It is not very big, but there you experience the Lapland feeling. If you stay in Rovaniemi you won’t have that. Saariselkä and Pyhä are very authentic. What can you do in Lapland? and how much does it cost? The activities are certainly the largest expense of a winter trip to Lapland with children. There is a wide choice of activities, from free to very expensive. The children made a Lapland bucket list in advance, after we looked together at what you can do in Lapland. Each kid made a Top 8 and, luckily, they agreed on many activities. I did tell the children how much everything costs, and that we couldn’t do everything in their lists. In the end, we did almost everything, and we came up with an amount of €1,660 for a week full of activities. These are all activities we did in Lapland with kids, in the order we did them: View this post on Instagram A post shared by Shere | Pure Family Travelblog (@shereypaul) Crossing the Arctic Circle in Santa Claus Village, Rovaniemi Free We landed at 10:30 in the morning and went straight to the Santa Claus Village (SCV). We first ate the buffet lunch at the shell gas station opposite SCV. Highly recommended, the lunch buffet costs 15 Something you cannot miss in SCV is crossing the Arctic Circle. It marks the southernmost latitude where the sun can remain continuously below or above the horizon for 24 hours. These phenomena are known as the Midnight Sun in summer and the Polar Night “Kaamos” in winter. You can send the grandmothers or grandfathers a message when you are there, so they can see you live via the webcam. Always funny. You can also visit Santa Claus for free. You cannot take pictures, you can only buy the one the take. Snowman World in Santa Claus Village, Rovaniemi Family ticket for 4 – 116€ , a drink in a ice glas 6€ Our first activity was the Snowman World . Snowman world is a snow and ice paradise for the whole family. You can slide down an ice slide, drink something in an ice glass at the ice bar (there is also an ice disco in the evening), lie down in an ice bed, descend the snow mountains on a kind of donut, go ice skating or get lost in an ice maze. The children will be busy here for a few hours. The ticket is valid for the whole day, so you can come in and out, which it’s perfect to go visit Santa Claus or do other activities in SCV in between. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Shere | Pure Family Travelblog (@shereypaul) Sledding and the Northern Lights in Pyhä Gratis , sledge at the supermarket 12€ We drove to our glass igloo in Pyhä in the evening. I was really hoping that we would see the Northern Lights from our bed. When we were there, it was very cloudy and snowing. So first, I went to the supermarket to buy something for dinner and a sledge. After dinner, we went sledding in the Pyhä ski slope. There was also a fire where you could roast marshmallows (always fun for the kids). De skipiste is verlicht en, daarom is de Noorderlicht niet goed te zien. De kinderen waren al moe, maar we gingen een stukje lopen en ineens zagen we het Noorderlicht door een opening in de wolken. Echt gaaf!! In Pyhä zijn er ook nog twee plekjes midden in het bos waar een ¨aurora hut¨ (een soort van afdakje met een vuurtje en hout), waar je een mooi uitzicht hebt. Er zijn paden in de sneeuw die je kunt volgen om daarheen te komen. Ik ben na ongeveer 1km terug gelopen omdat ik niet zeker wist of dit het goede pad was en mijn telefoon bijna geen batterij had. The ski slope is illuminated, and therefore the Northern Lights are not clearly visible. The children were already tired, but we went for a walk. Suddenly, we saw the Northern Lights through an opening in the clouds. Really cool!! In Pyhä, there are also two places in the middle of the forest with an “aurora hut” (a kind of shelter with a fire and wood), where you have a beautiful view. There are trails in the snow that you can follow to get there. I was walking to one, but I turned back after about 1km because I wasn’t sure if this was the right path and my phone was low on battery. Digging up an amethyst in the mine in Pyhä-Luosto Adults €72, children €34 from Ukkoluosto parking, €38/€18 from Lampivaara café We chose Pyhä as an overnight stay to go to the amethyst mine on our second day. This mine was very high on the children’s bucket list, and I also thought it was a special experience. You will be picked up in a parking lot by a snow groomer with a ¨caterpillar sledge¨. Then you ride up to the top of the fell, with a short stop at the Lampivaara café. Our children really enjoyed this!! You can book tickets online from Luosto (slightly more expensive) or from a parking spot. If you want the cheapest ticket possible, you can walk to the Lampivaara café (winter hiking) or with snowshoes, cross-country skiing or a fat bike. The walk is 2.5km, but allow at lest 1 hour for it. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Shere | Pure Family Travelblog (@shereypaul) Searching for Santa in Northern Lights Village in Saariselkä Adults €150, children 75€ The reason for going to Lapland last minute was that the children still believe in Santa Claus. Liam was already 9 years old and Mika was 7. That’s why we booked this searching for Santa package. It’s not just about visiting Santa Claus in his cabin in the woods, but also about doing all kinds of activities. The entire program lasts 3 hours, and there are only 12 spots available per time slot. We shared the activity with another family, so it was very small-scale. You start by baking gingerbread cookies and writing a letter to Santa in the elves’ turf house kitchen. After eating the cookies, the Elf takes you to Santa’s reindeer. Then you take a (short) ride with the reindeer-pulled sleigh through the snow-covered forest. After this, it’s time to look for Santa’s secret hut. The snowmobile Elf takes one family at a time on a heated sleigh ride to the Santa’s secret hut At the hut, you will have a private meeting with Santa Claus. He calls the children by their names, and has a chat (he had received the letters that kids wrote while backing the cookies ). Inside the hut, everyone receives a present, and there is time for pictures. Our family was the first to go to Santa. When we got back, the snowmobile elf took the other family there. While waiting for the other family to come back, the children can roast marshmallows, drink hot chocolate and play with the other Elf. Our children thought this day was magical, and they often remember it. So definitely worth the money. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Shere | Pure Family Travelblog (@shereypaul) Kid’s snowmobile in Northern Lights Village in Saariselkä 30€ for 30 minutes If you saw the kids’ bucket list for Lapland, the kid’s snowmobiles were number 1 for both of them. So we couldn’t skip this one. At the Northern Lights Village in Saariselkä children can ride through the forest,. There are several trails they can use, but don’t panic, they keep driving in circles and you don’t lose them from your sight. If you compare the price of these snowscooters with normal...
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