Just back from Saariselka with Emagine Travel. Thought I would do a quick post for anyone still to go or if they were thinking of going next year. We did a lot of research and eventually chose Emagine as they seemed the longest standing Lapland / Santa operators. They were excellent and the whole thing was very well organised. In common with all operators they use the services of Lapland Safaris who seem to provide the majority of the winter clothing in the entire resort. I would add its worth checking the weather before you go and unless its going to be -20 degrees centigrade I think most people will not need thermals/baselayers galore as the outer wear provided is more than warm. I dont think I have been so hot since our visit to Greece in the middle of a heat wave. If you have small children then you might want to bring your own pair of good outer gloves with some form of strap to keep them on. the mittens provided are very warm and robust but often fell off little hands.
The events organised by Emagine are superb. I am sure most operators provide a very similar service but from what I gleaned from others staying there you get longer husky rides and snow mobiling. The whole thing ran like clockwork and the team from Emagine were fun and very very helpful. The build up and story invented for the visit to Santa was so good I almost believed it myself and as a cynical 43 year old lawyer that is some trick!
Saariselka itself is fine for a town which I am sure has evolved around the tourist industry. Given it is 250 miles inside the artic circle one would be surprised if it had much by way of things to do outside the winter/sport arena. The area in terms of snow related activity is great. The toboggan run is very close to the hotel and is just great. we spent a lot of time there. There is a supermarket about 15 mins walk away but we didnt go there so cant comment on it. the hotel itself is adequate and to be frank is somewhere to rest and sleep. Food is also ok and children are well catered for (in terms of chips in any event). The bar is very small and slow which given the price of booze might be a good thing.
There seemed to be a lot of repeat visitors some with quite old children (14 - 16) who must have caught on about the Santa thing by now but who really entered into the whole spirit. This was a one off holiday which I can only recommend highly. So little in the real world is pure fantasy and this trip provided large doses of it for the children -
|||
Sounds like you had a great time. Which hotel did you stay in?
|||
Hello! We are off to Saariselka on Friday with Emagine and your review has made my day! We are traveling to lapland for the first time with 3.5 and 5.5 year olds - I wanted to get there before my 5.5 year old stops believing! We told them on Sunday and they are sooooo excited! I think the weather has gone quite a bit colder since last weeekend so I hope we arent going to be too frozen - bit worried about my 3.5 year old in particular as they said they dont recommend bringing children under 4.
Any tips on what to bring / things you forgot that would have helped?
|||
Your report was great. We are off on Jan 13th, 28 of us, 20 of them 1st time skiiers so they have been hoping for lots of other activities to do incase skiing gets a bit much for them, I%26#39;ll show them your report and they should feel happier. We are traveling with Inghams but I will check out Emagine Travel for the future.
Thanks again for the info.
3 weeks 3 days til were off.
|||
You should be fine with the 3 .5 year old. My son is just 4 and he was fine. In terms of tips I would only repeat that a pair of good sturdy outer gloves are a good idea. there is nothing wrong with the mittens they just fall off a lot.
If the weather is cold then make sure they have their face covered fully on the husky rides ie a balacava and a hat. Goggles are provided and if you use a scarf to hid any other flesh bits its fine.
Neither of my two (4 and 6) complained at all about being cold in fact quite the opposite.
The only other thing is slightly basic. There are not a great deal of toilets about in the Lapland wilderness. If you 3.5 year old struggles with the whole %26quot;holding on%26quot; thing a pull up might be a plan. Its all a bit chilly to be exposing yourself.
|||
Thanks for your reply! We are leaving in 6 hours time....better go and get some sleep. Will let you know how it goes!!!
|||
-:- Message from TripAdvisor staff -:-
This topic was inactive for 6 months and has been closed to new posts. We hope you'll join the conversation by posting to an open topic or starting a new one.
To review the TripAdvisor Forums Posting Guidelines, please follow this link: http://www.tripadvisor.com/pages/forums_posting_guidelines.html
We remove posts that do not follow our posting guidelines, and we reserve the right to remove any post for any reason.
Removed on: 3:19 pm, September 13, 2009
No comments:
Post a Comment