Christmas holiday in Lapland
| country: | Sweden |
| location: | Swedish Lapland, Northern Lights |
| departures: | 2008: 11 Dec, 17 Dec, 20 Dec |
| price: | From Kr5370 (approx £458) (4 days) per adult or Kr3785 (approx £323) per child (under 13 yrs, sharing parents' room) excluding flights. Price includes accommodation, meals, transfers, activities & equipment |
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the amazing things you'll be doing
This trip is ideal for families looking for a relaxed and personal getaway around Christmas including a visit to meet Santa in his own cosy cottage. We take you away from tour groups and tourist areas into the real Lapland. Together with our network of local, small-scale activity providers, we’ll help you make the most of your holiday.
Special Christmas activities are included in the programme as well as a festive celebration meal. If you wish to extend your stay additional activities like decoration making, meeting a Sámi reindeer herder, dog-sledging, or sleeping overnight in a snow igloo are available to add on to the holiday. Wooden cross-country skis, kick-sledges and snowshoes are available to rent.
Let us know if you have any special requests and our team will do the best to arrange for them.
Accommodation: Your guesthouse accommodation is located in a small village, well off the beaten tourist track and surrounded by expansive forests, pristine lakes and mighty rivers. By December, the landscape is covered with white untouched snow. The winter light can be breathtaking and the Northern Lights often appear at this time of year.
The guesthouse is a timber building dating from the 1920’s which has been renovated with environmentally sustainable living in mind. There are four simple, yet elegant and comfortable, double rooms with shared bathrooms and sitting areas. There is a dining hall and group gathering rooms as well as quiet corners for reflection and relaxation. The guesthouse provides a calm and peaceful atmosphere and fits in well with the surrounding nature and community.
Cuisine: Meals and snacks are freshly prepared with the highest quality, organic, and local ingredients available. Root vegetables, grains and pulses form the basis of most meals. Small amounts of imported produce add variety. Coffee, tea and chocolate are fair-trade. Vegetarian, local wild meat or fish dishes and some kid’s favorites will be offered. We happily accommodate those with special diets with creatively prepared, fresh food.
Organic produce: Meals at the retreat guesthouse are lovingly prepared with over 90% organic ingredients. The guesthouse has it's own organic garden which provides herbs and a portion of the root vegetables used in the kitchen. Grown under the midnight sun, the herbs and vegetables are full of great flavour and high in life energy.
Special Christmas activities are included in the programme as well as a festive celebration meal. If you wish to extend your stay additional activities like decoration making, meeting a Sámi reindeer herder, dog-sledging, or sleeping overnight in a snow igloo are available to add on to the holiday. Wooden cross-country skis, kick-sledges and snowshoes are available to rent.
Let us know if you have any special requests and our team will do the best to arrange for them.
Accommodation: Your guesthouse accommodation is located in a small village, well off the beaten tourist track and surrounded by expansive forests, pristine lakes and mighty rivers. By December, the landscape is covered with white untouched snow. The winter light can be breathtaking and the Northern Lights often appear at this time of year.
The guesthouse is a timber building dating from the 1920’s which has been renovated with environmentally sustainable living in mind. There are four simple, yet elegant and comfortable, double rooms with shared bathrooms and sitting areas. There is a dining hall and group gathering rooms as well as quiet corners for reflection and relaxation. The guesthouse provides a calm and peaceful atmosphere and fits in well with the surrounding nature and community.
Cuisine: Meals and snacks are freshly prepared with the highest quality, organic, and local ingredients available. Root vegetables, grains and pulses form the basis of most meals. Small amounts of imported produce add variety. Coffee, tea and chocolate are fair-trade. Vegetarian, local wild meat or fish dishes and some kid’s favorites will be offered. We happily accommodate those with special diets with creatively prepared, fresh food.
Organic produce: Meals at the retreat guesthouse are lovingly prepared with over 90% organic ingredients. The guesthouse has it's own organic garden which provides herbs and a portion of the root vegetables used in the kitchen. Grown under the midnight sun, the herbs and vegetables are full of great flavour and high in life energy.
day-by-day itinerary
| Day 1: | Transfer from airport or train station in Kiruna to accommodation. Welcome supper. Outdoor clothing outfitting |
| Day 2: | Morning: Snow fun. Build and play in the snow, downhill sledging Afternoon: Gingerbread making. Evening: Northern Light tour. Travel by foot into a wilderness area. Enjoy a warm drink under the night sky. With luck, the Northern Lights will be shimmering above. |
| Day 3: | Morning: Pancakes with Santa at his cabin. After a short walk along snowy pathways, we come to Santa’s cabin where the great man awaits. After a breakfast of pancakes and berry preserves all children will have a chance to whisper their special wishes in Santa’s ear. Late Afternoon: Special celebration meal. |
| Day 4: | Transfer to departure airport or train station in Kiruna |
travellers' tales
For me the highlight was the dog sledding and the visit to the Sami reindeer herder. The dog sledding was invigorating, just difficult enough to be genuinely challenging and involved us travelling through beautiful forested land and across frozen lakes. (more)
small group family holiday
This is a 'small group family adventure' - typically you will join several other families and travel in a group of approx. 16 people. The trips are great value and a great way for you and your children to meet new people! While itineraries are pre-planned there is some flexibility and you'll have plenty of time to yourselves. Most adventure kids tend to be aged between 7 and 15, but some are younger (minimum age is usually 5) and some older (perhaps travelling as part of a larger family group). Please check with the operator to confirm the minimum age for this trip flights/trains at Xmas & New Year
For the Christmas and New Year period you need to book your flights or train tickets early to ensure availability and good value for money. Travel to Lapland around the holidays fills up very quickly and is normally difficult to book by the end of November. Scandinavian Airlines www.flysas.com offers direct flights from the UK to Kiruna. Veolia Transport, www.bokatag.se, offers train tickets from Stockholm/Arlanda airport. Travel through Kittilä in Finland is also possible.how this holiday makes a difference
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This holiday is a small scale experience offering time for genuine experience and encounters with the culture and nature of the region. The essential ground of this holiday is sustainable, holistic living.
We are committed to sustainability practices that maintain and restore the health of natural ecosystems, local economies and the well-being of guests. This includes:
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Tourism can be good and bad for destinations & local people. We carefully screen every holiday against our criteria for responsible travel. 'Look behind the brochure' to find how each holiday makes a difference (see left). We don't claim to be perfect - there is no global accreditation - but we've led the way since 2001 and screened 1000's of holidays. We invite every traveller to write a review about their experiences and responsible tourism. This valuable feedback is sent to the people who run the holidays. We keep a very close eye on it and take off holidays that don't live up to our standards. |
