Staying at the Northern Lights Village, Saariselka/Lapland, Finland

This is hands down one of the most, if not the most, incredible, special trips we have ever taken. One that you want to just beam yourself back to the start of the trip again already and experience all of the magic of it again! I had high hopes but it really exceeded all of my expectations. So here is, hopefully, everything you might be wondering about where to start with planning a trip…

Where we stayed //

The Northern Lights Village Saariselka, northern Finland in an aurora cabin.

Who we booked through //

We booked our cabins {my parents came too so we wanted to all be on one booking} direct with Northern Lights Village Saariselka this time exactly a year ago - it’s a super popular spot and they’re booking for the next 2 winters already. We went for the 5 day ‘Nordic family adventure’ package which included all of the activities we wanted and saved around 25% than booking it all separately and crucially gave us priority on the best time slots for these - I wanted to make sure we did everything in the light!

How to get there //

The closest airport to Saariselka is Ivalo. We booked Finn Air flights indirect from Heathrow via Helsinki. We had a tight connection but I’d read that Finn Air hold the plane with any delays because they’re the same airline for both flights and a lot of people do this same route. It was around a 5 hour long total journey with the two flights and connection. Then Finland is 2 hours ahead of UK time.

Other options:

You can fly to Rovaniemi as flights are a lot cheaper there with a range of budget airlines but you then need to arrange a transfer or hire a car to get to Saariselka which is around a 3 hour drive. We didn’t fancy it with the dark days, ice & snow although it’s meant to be very doable. Being a group of 6 meant we’d need a bigger car which didn’t make it a lot cheaper than the connecting flight, plus saved a lot of time. If we’d have had longer I’d have loved to have combined it with a night or two in Helsinki for their Christmas markets but we were limited school wise {we utilised a long inset weekend to minimise days off of school}.

You can also book a charter flight direct to Ivalo with a full NLV package through a travel agent. We looked into this to start with but they didn’t have quite the right availability for what we needed in the end and the indirect flights worked out fine thankfully. We did have to wait around a month or so though from booking the cabin until the flights were released.

Our experience //

The Finn air flight from London to Helsinki felt like a transatlantic one, it was such a smart plane with entertainment in the back of the seats compared to the budget airlines. The Finnish pilots are excellent at landing in the snow - a few UK based flights got diverted. BUT I don’t know how much praise I can give Finn Air as they lost one of our suitcases! Luckily we had packed an outfit, including thermals, in our hand luggage just in case and thankfully my Mum could lend us some toiletries. We got an email straight away saying they’re sorry it had been delayed & to be fair they got it on the next flight and delivered it to our hotel the next day so it was all ok in the end but just be aware as I’ve heard it happen a few times! If you are flying Finn Air, take advantage of their famous blueberry juice {and they have cute Moomin themed ‘magic tickets’ for kids. Again I wish we’d had longer in Helsinki airport which is an amazing hub to see all of the cute moomin shops}.

How did we choose which Lapland trip to book? And why Saariselka? //

Lapland encompasses a few different parts of Finland, the main ones are Rovaniemi which is like Santa’s mini city {but in my eyes a bit too touristy for the kind of trip we wanted, e.g. it has a McDonald’s/Santa village - lots of people do love it though}, Levi, Phya, Yllas and Saariselka.

First things first, this was not a trip that we tried to do on a budget. You can, for sure, do it a fair amount cheaper and lots of people do but I’d seen some photos of this particular resort and their searching for Santa experience and was completely, head over heels, sold. I’d heard that some of Lapland can be quite commercial and if we were coming, we wanted to do it properly as it’s not the kind of trip we’re likely to take again. It included everything, even the airport transfer, so we didn’t need to worry about budgeting for activities or hiring clothing etc. And crucially, those aurora glass roofed cabins looked bucket list worthy. I was researching our trip this time last year and had pretty much decided on NLV but then spotted photos of a Santa experience at the very same place which sealed the deal.

So why Saariselka? //

- there are a few locations of the NLV resorts but I chose Saariselka as it’s the furthest north so is a lot more guaranteed to have snow. As we’d be at the earlier end of the season this was really important to us! And also I’d read about just how magical this village is and how there’s a sweet little village square within walking distance which gave it all a bit more depth too along with a small mountain ski resort and tobogganing within easy reach too to utilise in our activity free time. It’s also further north for peak Aurora spotting too.

Tips for booking //

• ask for a front row cabin so you can only see forest in front of you. Ideally away from the huskies {although they’re only there in the day so won’t impact your sleep but they are noisy!}.

• Request daytime slots for your activities as soon as you book! There’s only a few hours of light during winter, for a couple of weeks in December there’s not even a sunrise or sunset time so it was really important to me to have light for all of our experiences.

• I was desperate to go before Christmas because to me, it is a Christmas trip and the kids would see Santa and the reindeer etc. But in the last couple of years snow hasn’t been as guaranteed in late November/early December. Everyone says that actually January, Feb, even March and April tend to be completely full of snow and if you do meet Santa then, it can be a ‘thank you’ kind of mission instead.

What’s included? //

• airport transfers,

• great quality snow boots, a snowsuit and mittens. You go to the activity hut to pick these up when you arrive and keep them right up until you depart.

• Sledges and helmets for any activities you need them for.

• Depending on your exact package will depend on your activities but on our 5 day Nordic family adventure in winter we had: a 5km husky ride, 3 hour searching for Santa experience, kids snowmobiling, 25 minute reindeer ride, private glass roof sauna & hot tub session, night time aurora hunt by heated sleigh and a cross country skiing lesson.

• Full board food which includes 3 buffets a day plus a kids menu.

• Tea/Coffee available all day

• An aurora alert app to notify you anytime that the northern lights are visible which is super useful if you’re keen to see them {you can turn this off if you need sleep!}.

What to pack for a trip to Lapland with kids.

What do you need to pack?

• I shared this reel on details of what we packed.

• Thermal base layers {top and bottom}. Merino wool is best, I got a lot of ours from Vinted. Then a mid layer, either fleece, sweatshirts or wool mix jumpers and joggers. We really rated a mix of Uniqlo heat tech, second hand good quality merino wool and primark max warmth fleece lined leggings. Then we wore our hotel snowsuits.

• We took base layer merino wool glove liners but didn’t end up needing them as the hotel mittens were so good. And mittens are best to keep heat with your fingers next to each other.

• Warm fleece lined hats/balaclavas/snoods. I took two of each in case one got wet.

• Good socks. We bought wool socks and layered them up on the coldest days.

• Normal pyjamas, the cabins run hot!

• Swimwear for a sauna/hot tub experience if you have one included

• We took these rechargeable hand warmers {which were lovely and toasty in our gloves but also made good boot warmers before we put them on} and also some of the kinetic ones you snap for feet too but only ended up needing those on our very last day! The boots they lent us were amazing.

• It ‘only’ got down to about -20 during our trip and that was just on one day. We had a couple of -12 days but the others were maybe -4? I just couldn’t imagine the cold at all before we visited and everyone said before our trip that the cold feels different in Finland because there’s no moisture in the air and it’s so true. We were at home in England and it felt bitterly cold before our visit but in Finland it’s just so bearable. Even at -12 {we saw on a thermometer} we had our hands out at points as it really just felt like a crisp day! The layering works so well for the rest of the time. My kids didn’t feel cold until the very last day and constantly played/rolled in the snow. The temperatures can go down to -40 though! The Finns say you just layer up more!

• You can swap your gear if it gets wet but the cabin heated floor dried everything fast.

• We also took a few fun bits like these fun shaped snowball makers and everyone says to take bubbles to see them freeze. We took giant marshmallows for roasting and these extendable roasting forks which were fun.

• We packed torches but didn’t end up needing them as everywhere was lit or bright enough with the moon & snow reflections amazingly.

• We travelled in our normal clothes & trainers as you only walk from the plane to the terminal then straight onto the bus to the resort so we preferred that to carrying heavy coats or boots with us for that short bit.

• It’s worth packing a tripod for to capture the Northern Lights. I put my iPhone onto a long exposure to photograph & film them but it was amazing how much you can see through the naked eye there.

• December began when we were there so we had elf on the shelf snuck into our suitcases too and packed these carriers to bring them home with us on the plane.

• Pack a good lip balm to counter the cold weather & put your moisturisers on a bit ahead of time if they have water in - not sure exactly how true that last bit is but people warn against it.

• We used a backpack {that we’d used for hand luggage} for taking out kids snacks/extra hats/hand warmers/drinks etc so we were hands free for pulling the sledges.

• I panic bought snow goggles for the kids the day before we flew but we didn’t end up needing them at all. It probably depends on your weather forecast.

What are the cabins like? //

• we had a family aurora, glass roof cabin so it had a double sofa bed and a main bed with a small coffee/mini fridge area, shower room and more storage than we expected. It wasn’t anything super luxurious inside but it was cosy.

• You only get daily housekeeping if you ask for it {and there are Rituals shampoo/conditioner/shower gel and a hair dryer but no amenity kits}. There’s a mini bar area with macarons for your first day & tea/coffee making space.

• It was roomier than I expected and of course having that wow factor glass roof was the reason we booked it! There was a button that you could press to defrost the snow on the outside windows for the views and aurora spotting. Being able to lay in bed and sleep under the stars and spot the northern lights was a total bucket list dream.

• The cabins for couples were very similar but just a tiny bit smaller and had a fire behind the bed & the bed facing the windows.

• Being in Finland I do wish it had had a private sauna though!

Which activities did you do? //

- Husky ride: a 5km long ride followed by time by a fire for hot berry juice & meeting the cute baby huskies. The guides were so lovely for this and answered so many of our children’s questions about the huskies after.

- Searching for Santa: this was the real highlight of the trip and was 3 hours long. It included meeting the elves, going to bake gingerbread with them & write letters to Santa, taking a reindeer ride in a sleigh to an elf village where you play in the snow with the elves, hunt for candy canes on the snowy trees, toast marshmallows on a fire & then hear elf stories in a cabin with hot chocolate. Then you get taken in an ‘elf taxi’, a snowmobile pulled heated sleigh through the forest to search for Santa’s cabin. And it is just the most incredible experience ever. My Mum and I were crying at Santa and everything he was saying to our children. You find his charming house, just what you’d picture it to look like with a lantern lit path and roaring fire outside, and then go inside to sit with him by a fire. You can see the letters he’s received {if your children have sent a letter from home you can hand this secretly to an elf before too} on his desk and then get given a gift - children receive a reindeer cuddly + chocolate coin from Santa’s desk and adults get a handmade Finnish wooden cup. He then waves you off and throws snow all over himself. I’m going to share a video about this, I’ll link it here when it’s live.

It’s really really gorgeous and such a special experience I doubt anything will beat. - my only criticism with it is that you get emailed a form to fill in before hand with details about your children which we filled in but he didn’t mention any of them! Luckily he did ‘know’ with our guidance on the day where we’ll be for Christmas - we’re away this year - so my children were impressed that he knew that and in total awe of him in general but I do feel for older children they’d benefit from those special details being mentioned. The elves are really great at taking any photos you want. They also take one on their professional camera that they email to you to purchase later if you wish.

- Reindeer Express ride. This was a 25 minute reindeer ride through a snowy forest, completely and utterly magical.

- Cross country skiing, a 2 hour lesson with a drive out to a national park, this was a bit of a disaster for us as it was on the coldest day and although our kids were super keen to try it, they started off but v quickly wanted to stop! It was so scenic there though and amazing to see the locals cross country skiing as a way of life, Saariselka is known for its cross country skiing.

- Aurora Hunting by heated sleigh, you’re taken at night to a mountain top with a teepee and fire to look for the northern lights. You get hot berry juice + marshmallows. It was late and a bit of a bumpy ride, 8.30-11.30pm {the kids really wanted to do this so we put them to bed first then woke them up for it which they were buzzing for} but such an experience and we were so fortunate to see the most spectacular display!

- Kids snowmobiling for an hour - only Freya could do this as the minimum age is 6 {and do check on the maximum height limit} but she LOVED this. It’s on a track just outside the restaurant. There’s a teepee with a fire right by it to sit with any smaller children and they give you marshmallows.

- Glass roof sauna and hot tub session - A private one hour session in an igloo sauna, built with the same glass roof style as the cabins so you can sit in it and watch the sky, it’s really special. There’s also a hot tub outside - it’s a bracing quick walk between the two haha. My husband ran into the snow before the sauna!

- These were all included in our package which was great as they really add up if you book extra activities in and as hotel guests you get preferential times on the activities {their activities, especially the Searching for Santa experience are well known and lots of people staying locally will also book in for this}.

The food //

- the buffets run for a long time for each meal so there’s pretty much always food available which is helpful given that activities are all at different times. The food changes on a 5 day menu rotation. There’s always a big tea and coffee station open. My parents are coffee snobs but were impressed by the coffee here.

- Breakfast is from 7am–10am and is always the same give or take a couple of changes. Everyday there were lots of fresh bread options, croissants, yogurt, berry compote, cereal, meats, cheeses, boiled + scrambled eggs, beans, sausages, bacon, fresh salad crudities, smoked salmon, granola, nuts, porridge, jam, marmalade, Nutella, avocado occasionally, fruit, cakes, biscuits, waffles, juice, tea/coffee/hot chocolate.

- Lunch 11am–4pm: had a mix of salads, soups, a few potato and pasta options, bread, stews, lasagnes, white fish fillets or salmon and one dessert option.

- Dinner 5pm–9pm and was a similar theme to the lunch options but also a cheese and dessert table and ice cream bar.

- Be aware that they do serve a fair amount of reindeer and elk meat! Which was all super tasty, and a huge part of their culture.

- There were a few vegan options but I’d say you’d find the options pretty limiting unless you can email the chef in advance to see if they’d cater specifically for any dietary requirements.

- À La Carte options 11am–9pm {as a paid extra}

- Bar 9am–1:30am {drinks are extra}

- The food was all good quality and plentiful but did get slightly repetitive by the end of our trip {got to say though, I was just so glad for a break from cooking and loading the dishwasher everyday ha}. The children’s menu had hot dogs, nuggets, chips, burger, pasta bolognese or tomato pasta on. There are always big bowls of cucumber/tomato/sweetcorn to add to any kids meals too and Raffy is obsessed with raw carrots which the kitchen staff kindly gave him peeled each day {at first they assumed he wanted to build a snowman with one haha}.

Things to note //

- There’s a nice small town nearby that’s about a 10 minute walk away, make sure you go to the tiny bakery in the gift shop in the same building as K Market and buy the cinnamon buns, they’re insanely good. There was also a bowling alley in town, a couple of souvenir shops, pubs, restaurants and a few hotels.

- We transported our kids by sledge everywhere! They’re plentiful around the resort.

- Pack some snacks in your case for kids but the staff will also give you takeaway boxes for anything from the buffets if you need. We always take weetabix for Raffy before bed in the room. I ended up buying peanut butter and some berries in the supermarket for the kids too.

- The staff were all so kind and worked so hard.

- The restaurant area feels super hot when you walk in with all of your snow gear on so everyone quickly strips down the their base layers. It’s not at all dressy. People wear a mix of base layers, christmas jumpers, even christmas pyjamas.

- We took some games/toys for mealtimes and it was nice to sit on the sofas by the fire and play for a bit after lunch. There’s also a small children’s play corner with some duplo where my kids loved meeting other children if we were still eating.

- One morning we took the free shuttle {book one day in advance from the QR code by reception} up to the mountain to see the sunrise and get hot chocolates from the iconic cafe at the top watching the skiers jump off of the chair lift. The views are stunning from up there. We had planned to get the chairlift down and then walk back but the tickets were so expensive - they sell them as round trips so we walked down, I say mountain, it’s a big hill and it made for a nice scenic adventure.

-There’s a ski bus that comes to the resort with a timetable around town, it’s 6 euros all day. We didn’t need to use it during our stay though with so many activities booked in.

- We walked to a tobogganing area one afternoon next to the church which was good fun but very icy - the day after it snowed a lot which would have been better.

- There’s a ski slope & one of Finland’s longest toboggan runs with the chair lifts which looked amazing.

- The darkness is so strange! It only gets light for a couple of hours in the middle of the day. 9am at breakfast was pitch black. One day we were in town and looked at the time expecting it to be around 5pm but it was only 3pm! But it does make for some stunning skies on clear days. For a few weeks from this Friday it will start the polar nights where the sun literally doesn’t rise for anytime, you just get a glow of light in the middle of the day.

- I found it so hard to sleep for the first couple of nights as I was genuinely so excited to spot the aurora and sleep under a glass roof {there are curtains to pull if you want}. The first time our aurora alert went off at 1am but we couldn’t see much. But in the days after it was so active and from around 6pm which was amazing so the kids could experience it too. Once we’d seen the lights a couple of times I slept properly after that.

- I was amazed by the planes landing and taking off on completely icy, snowy runways. So very different to when a tiny bit of snow causes chaos at Heathrow! Also, we spotted wild reindeer on our bus ride back to the airport, such a special way to end the trip.

- I was worried our days would feel too long with the short day light and relatively short activity times but actually the kids just loved playing in the snow so much, the mealtimes were leisurely, it took a while to get suited & booted every time, we walked into town each day so actually there was little downtime. And it was all just so scenic and stunning that we were so glad for the length of trip we did!

How much did it cost? //

We paid around £4,200 (converted from euros) for the four of us to stay five nights in an Aurora Cabin at Northern Lights Village, including the full activity package, full board food, airport transfers and our clothing hire. Our flights plus two suitcases each way came to an additional £1,400.

It definitely wasn’t a budget trip — we’d saved money gifted from grandparents to help make it happen — but honestly, it felt worth every penny. The whole experience was unforgettable, the kind of trip that gives you memories to last a lifetime. And truly, I wouldn’t have wanted to visit Lapland any other way; staying in the Aurora Cabin made the trip feel completely magical and all of the activities felt super high quality.

People definitely do cheaper trips to Lapland, some even go for just one day! So it really depends on how you want to do it and what’s important to you to prioritise on.

I’ll let the photos do the rest of the talking and will post more over on my instagram but it really was the most incredible trip. Please do let me know if you have any questions at all as I know how hard it can be to find out information, particularly for travelling with children which is why I write these - hopefully helpful - in depth guides. The best way to contact me for a reply is via a comment on an instagram post.

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