Legendary Lapland - warming up for holiday season

 

It is a cliche but very true: Lapland is truly a Winter Wonderland! Snow, reindeers, cozy cabins, snow, nice colours on the sky before and after sunset - the arctic landscape of the Finnish Lapland left us in awe! We visited the Santa Claus Village and the Arktikum in Rovaniemi (1 day) and explored Levi area where we based (4 days).

 

I planned this trip even when Dominik was young. So it was high time to actualize it. I did not really find such organized trips from Hungary, just some travelogues for the same from ancient times and on extremely high price. So I did everything by myself. Flight and accomodation were reserved well in advance, even in June.  Finally I managed to keep the original dates (01-06/DEC) but with two transfers: BUD - LHR - HEL - KTT.

I can tell without exaggeration that this vacation was a perfect one, from each point of view. Even from the very beginning, when I chose Kittila airport instead of Rovaniemi. Rovaniemi is overcrowded, full of tourists, ruining the beauty of this place. Of course, a perfect vacation means different for everybody, but for me a perfect vacation is thoroughly planned in advance but leaves space for modification on site. These 5 days were my darest and most succeeded trip of mine with kids ever.

Second best decision was our cottage. Reserved on the day I saw it, being afraid of loosing it later. A very well-equipped, well-heated log house in the forest with sauna, high above my expectations. The accomodation came with a car fully prepared for winter, with 2x fat bikes, with tripod to catch the auroras, with 3x sledges. We were given everything to maximize our stay!

Third best decision was to go down to Rovaniemi, the official hometown of Santa Claus on the very first day. Although, I had to drive almost 200 km there and the same back on icy roads; somewhere on ice ribs or ice armor, somewhere on mirror ice - and of course the major part in darkness, and once reindeers crossed the road in front of us. Thanks to our host, the car (Suzuki Vitara) was very safe and comfortable (and new), really enjoyed it. It turned out, that the weather was warmer than usual on that day (around 0°C), that is why the road conditions were so bad. In general, the roads are not cleaned very much in Finland, they let the snow trample down and rather use tyres with special rivets. They also often use oversized lamps on the cars outside the cities. So why was the best decision to visit Santa Claus village on our very first day? Because it was under expectation and it would not have been good to wait for it during our whole stay and then to disappoint. Overcrowded, without snow, restaurants and souvenir shops everywhere. Rather call it business center than a theme park. I really missed the magic of Christmas. No Christmas tunes in the background at all, looong serpentine row waiting for that short 5-min reindeer sleigh, crowd that wasn't handled professionally. We had to ask an appointment to meet Santa and then go back. In between we decided to visit the nearby arctic museum, named Arktikum. It was OK and at least we spent that time contentfully. 

To meet Santa Claus is miraculous, indeed, even as an adult.

 

And to tell you the truth, it is free but you aren't allowed to use any cameras. They are taking the photo and also a video of the great meet that can be purchased either in printed or in digital form. So we sat, posed and even had time to ask Nolen's question: how is it possible that his reeinders can fly? The answer is top secret and cannot tell to anybody. Here, at Santa Claus Office you also have the chance to send a postcard to your beloved ones stamped by the elves. And one more famous spot: you can cross the Arctic Circle which runs right through the village. It marks the southernmost latitude where the sun can stay continuously below or above the horizon for 24 hours (called Midnight Sun in the summer, Polar Night "Kaamos" in the winter).

We had to plan our days smart, as the sun was on only for 2 hours during our stay. In return, the sky was beautiful right before and right after sunset. The darkness wasn't disturbing at all because of the snow and the play of lights. It was good that the sun did not stress us to wake up.

Fourth best decision was to reserve the reindeer ride not in Rovaniemi but in Sirkka winter forest (10-min drive from us), at a family-run business. It was pretty cold but the landscape along the frozen river and the cozy ancient café as assembling point compensated. Before the ride we were told that the reindeers are semi-wild animals, therefore we have to avoid sudden movements and loud noises next to them. After the ride Nolen enjoyed and hardly could stop the sledging from a hump. 

On the same night we decided to hunt for the Nothern Lights. We had to wait till 22:00 at least (almost fell asleep and hardly wanted to go out and feel the cold again), and find a place where there was less artificial light. The sky was clear and we drove to a nearby lake. We had luck! Within 30 minutes, we could admire the aurora in full beauty and could take some gorgeous photos with Dominik's iPhone (mine was not suitable for this, ha-ha). It was on my wishlist for a long time to see the polar lights, and now I hardly believe that everything was together to come this true.

As our accomodation was located in a ski paradise, we could not miss to go up to the peak by gondola. Surprisingly, the temperature was warmer high above than down below. Although, the view was fantastic, everybody spend time there only until put on their ski or snowboard and decide on which track to slide down. 

Wherever we went, there was snow, mountains and hills, therefore we put all 3 sledges into the trunk and if we felt like sleighing, we did. And all of us really enjoyed. The cold drawed off not only the energy of the mobile devices but also the children's.

Tontulla Elves Village was an unexpected good experience. Almost missed but luckily we stopped on the way home. We found the feeling there that was missed from Santa Claus Village. It was wonderful even just walking around. Found a hole in the lake to dip after sauna, an intimate place to warm up, reindeers together with their candies (lichen), and of course there was sledging possibility, here on huge donuts.

Loved the nature, the white roads, the less number of people in Levi area, the "Glögi", the noodle chips, the oversized tissues, the oversized snow-shovel, the oversized tyres of the bikes - Lappish people are undoubtedly prepared for this climate! I think I would return anytime without any hesitation.