How to do LAPLAND on a budget!

Stonebabies

Fly to Helsinki use Skyscanner to get the best deals, then get the overnight train to Rovaniemi (Lapland).
Get an Airbnb for sheckles.
You can visit the exact same places that tour companies visit. Santa Village is free to visit but you have to pay for each activity like husky/Reindeer sleigh rides. This is where they have the exact Santa from Portable North Pole!

Santa Park is just up the road from Santa Village, you pay to enter here €27 kids, €33 adults tickets are valid for 2 days. It's all underground in caves. Santa's post office,themed play room, visit Santa, view ice sculptures lots more to do covered in the price of admission.

The cheapest I found with a tour company was €4,046 for 1 day trip for our family of 2 adults & 5 children. I've booked it all myself for 7 nights for 7 of us including all transport, accommodation, baggage, taxes & fees for €1,826. This also includes 2 nights in Lapland, three nights in Helsinki to see the Christmas markets and a day trip across the Baltic sea to Tallinn in Estonia.

Don Imac2

Stonebabies wrote: »

Fly to Helsinki use Skyscanner to get the best deals, then get the overnight train to Rovaniemi (Lapland).
Get an Airbnb for sheckles.
You can visit the exact same places that tour companies visit. Santa Village is free to visit but you have to pay for each activity like husky/Reindeer sleigh rides. This is where they have the exact Santa from Portable North Pole!

Santa Park is just up the road from Santa Village, you pay to enter here €27 kids, €33 adults tickets are valid for 2 days. It's all underground in caves. Santa's post office,themed play room, visit Santa, view ice sculptures lots more to do covered in the price of admission.

The cheapest I found with a tour company was €4,046 for 1 day trip for our family of 2 adults & 5 children. I've booked it all myself for 7 nights for 7 of us including all transport, accommodation, baggage, taxes & fees for €1,826. This also includes 2 nights in Lapland, three nights in Helsinki to see the Christmas markets and a day trip across the Baltic sea to Tallinn in Estonia.

Impressive!

eurokev

thanks op, well done

v638sg7k1a92bx

What dates are you travelling?

testicles

This post has been deleted.

mik_da_man

Great Deal.

I'd nearly stay a night in Tallinn, I did a day trip and felt it was a wee bit rushed.
it's a beautiful spot and well worth a visit.

Easterly Beasterly

We have just booked a trip for 2 of us to Lapland from November 18-21st.

We did it more or less the same way except we are flying from Dublin - Helsinki with Norwegian and then getting a flight from Helsinki to Rovaniemi with Finnair. There is a 3 hour layover in Helsinki but we don't mind that. The train trip is 15 hours AFAIK and can be expensive.

We are staying 3 nights in the 4 star Lapland Hotel Ounasvaara Chalets and got it all in for less than €400 per person. I couldn't believe the value when I went digging. It does get more expensive as you get closer to Christmas but the weekend of November 18th - 21st is a great weekend to go they do an official opening of The Christmas Season at The Santa Village and Santa Park. It's also a good time to see the Northern Lights.

We have no kids and we can hardly contain our excitement!!

spongbob

Resession is officially over, let's everybody go to lapland to see santy

Even if we don't hav children

Dodge

spongbob wrote: »

Resession is officially over, let's everybody go to lapland to see santy

Even if we don't hav children

merry christmas to you too scrooge

nhunter100

spongbob wrote:

Resession is officially over, let's everybody go to lapland to see santy

It's dreadful people choosing to spend their hard earned money how they wish. Better call Joe on the whine line.

racso1975

You can also get flights direct to Rovaniemi with norwegian air from gatwick flying the 5th dec to 9th worked out at 380.

frash

Looks like the OP will be this week's winner!
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057654798

bored_newbie

racso1975 wrote: »

You can also get flights direct to Rovaniemi with norwegian air from gatwick flying the 5th dec to 9th worked out at 380.

Good idea. Or...
December 9th (Fri) to December 12th (Mon) is €149

deiseindublin

Would love to book this! Is it only from Nov 18 that the village and events are open/bookable.

What's the best website to look at booking events?

Absoluvely

When I went to Finland it worked out cheaper to buy Interrail one country passes instead of train tickets from the national rail company.

Trev De rev

frash wrote: »

Looks like the OP will be this week's winner!
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057654798

No think scrooge will win that prize. Locking his doors staying inside. No heating or electricity on. Doesn't cost him a cent. And he probably will get Joe Duffy to ring him back to

forgodssake

Great work OP well done !

uck51js9zml2yt

Would look at a overnight in Tallinn. I've done it in a day. It's a very long day. Early start with a late return.

JCX BXC

Shannon-Rovaniemi for 4 is €3606 from Shannon with Sunway for one night!

Probably more than you'd spend on Christmas presents for years on a child!

deadanonymau5

frash wrote: »

Looks like the OP will be this week's winner!
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057654798

I liked the OPs post in light of this post!

Quackster

Great thinking OP! Especially spending a few days in Helsiki - you won't be disappointed.

Have to agree though with the other posters that Tallinn is worth so much more than a day trip. But sure that'll just be an excuse to go back again in the summer when there are direct flights from Dublin.

spongbob

Trev De rev wrote: »

No think scrooge will win that prize. Locking his doors staying inside. No heating or electricity on. Doesn't cost him a cent. And he probably will get Joe Duffy to ring him back to

:D:D

I spent over a grand last year on outdoor lights and LEDs..
On top of the previous years stuff.

I just don't think I'll spend 4k on a trip to santy tho , each to their own in all that

SarahS2013

spongbob wrote: »

santy

Santa

Dickerty

SarahS2013 wrote: »

Santa

Santii in Finland, surely?

Trev De rev

SarahS2013 wrote: »

Santa

Father Christmas?

JCX BXC

Dublin-Rovaniemi has appeared in Ryanairs search engine. Nothing bookable yet though.

ImARebel

Eh it's Santy end of...

:-D

spongbob

ImARebel wrote: »

Eh it's Santy end of...

:-D

Thank you :pac:

ted1

spongbob wrote: »

:D:D

I spent over a grand last year on outdoor lights and LEDs..
On top of the previous years stuff.

I just don't think I'll spend 4k on a trip to santy tho , each to their own in all that

Any pictures of your lights ?

Boards.ie: Mark

Stonebabies wrote: »

Fly to Helsinki use Skyscanner to get the best deals, then get the overnight train to Rovaniemi (Lapland).
Get an Airbnb for sheckles.
You can visit the exact same places that tour companies visit. Santa Village is free to visit but you have to pay for each activity like husky/Reindeer sleigh rides. This is where they have the exact Santa from Portable North Pole!

Santa Park is just up the road from Santa Village, you pay to enter here €27 kids, €33 adults tickets are valid for 2 days. It's all underground in caves. Santa's post office,themed play room, visit Santa, view ice sculptures lots more to do covered in the price of admission.

The cheapest I found with a tour company was €4,046 for 1 day trip for our family of 2 adults & 5 children. I've booked it all myself for 7 nights for 7 of us including all transport, accommodation, baggage, taxes & fees for €1,826. This also includes 2 nights in Lapland, three nights in Helsinki to see the Christmas markets and a day trip across the Baltic sea to Tallinn in Estonia.

Congratulations Stonebabies who is the first winner of a €50 One4All Voucher for finding the best bargain of the week! You've filled the forum with Christmas cheer

Stonebabies

Willie Quick Human wrote: »

What dates are you travelling?

December 12th -19th 😆

Stonebabies

testicles wrote: »

Around July!

Ha not at all sure what's the fun in going in July?! December is when we're going

Stonebabies

mik_da_man wrote: »

Great Deal.

I'd nearly stay a night in Tallinn, I did a day trip and felt it was a wee bit rushed.
it's a beautiful spot and well worth a visit.

Brilliant thanks!

Stonebabies

Easterly Beasterly wrote: »

We have just booked a trip for 2 of us to Lapland from November 18-21st.

We did it more or less the same way except we are flying from Dublin - Helsinki with Norwegian and then getting a flight from Helsinki to Rovaniemi with Finnair. There is a 3 hour layover in Helsinki but we don't mind that. The train trip is 15 hours AFAIK and can be expensive.

We are staying 3 nights in the 4 star Lapland Hotel Ounasvaara Chalets and got it all in for less than €400 per person. I couldn't believe the value when I went digging. It does get more expensive as you get closer to Christmas but the weekend of November 18th - 21st is a great weekend to go they do an official opening of The Christmas Season at The Santa Village and Santa Park. It's also a good time to see the Northern Lights.

We have no kids and we can hardly contain our excitement!!

Brilliant! It worked out over €1k for flights for us from Helsinki to Rovaniemi so we opted for the overnight train at just under €300 for 7 of us. Lots of people go with no kids, I was surprised at the amount of couples when reading reviews & researching!

Stonebabies

racso1975 wrote: »

You can also get flights direct to Rovaniemi with norwegian air from gatwick flying the 5th dec to 9th worked out at 380.

Yeah I saw that but the timings were mad so we'd have to overnight at a hotel in Gatwick, to be fair we could get a great price for hotel less than €50 for the night but the flights out were 5am for the dates we wanted.

Stonebabies

deiseindublin wrote: »

Would love to book this! Is it only from Nov 18 that the village and events are open/bookable.

What's the best website to look at booking events?

It's open all year round including visiting Santa! Santa Village is free entry but you can book activities. Santa Park you've to pay in but they don't have online booking you can pay at the door, their advice is to get there early as tour buses get there from about 10.30.

Stonebabies

Absoluvely wrote: »

When I went to Finland it worked out cheaper to buy Interrail one country passes instead of train tickets from the national rail company.

Excellent thanks, I looked at that too but worked out more expensive for 7 of us as we can get kids free on the train with VR.

Stonebabies

Quackster wrote: »

Great thinking OP! Especially spending a few days in Helsiki - you won't be disappointed.

Have to agree though with the other posters that Tallinn is worth so much more than a day trip. But sure that'll just be an excuse to go back again in the summer when there are direct flights from Dublin.

Yep was thinking exactly that!

Stonebabies

Carnacalla wrote: »

Dublin-Rovaniemi has appeared in Ryanairs search engine. Nothing bookable yet though.

They used to do direct flights but haven't in a while, hopefully they will again. It'd save a lot of hassle and money!

Stonebabies

Boards.ie: Mark wrote: »

Congratulations Stonebabies who is the first winner of a €50 One4All Voucher for finding the]best bargain of the week[]! You've filled the forum with Christmas cheer

Thanks so much, it'll go towards ski gear!

ShayC

Stonebabies wrote: »

Brilliant! It worked out over €1k for flights for us from Helsinki to Rovaniemi so we opted for the overnight train at just under €300 for 7 of us. Lots of people go with no kids, I was surprised at the amount of couples when reading reviews & researching!

Are you just getting a seat or a bed? Looking at compartments for 2 adults and 3 kids, its coming to €1122!!! Am I doing something wrong?

Stonebabies

Yep don't book the kids! I'll pop a section of the blog post I wrote with all the info below, if you've any questions just ask

How do I get from Helsinki to Rovaniemi?

Take the overnight train run by VR but it really should be called the Lapland Express! It took me a couple of days and a couple of phone calls to them to sort out the best rate. There are two options for the overnight train you can book a 2 berth cabin or seats that recline in a train carriage. We would be travelling with 5 children and children over 4 years old need their own seat so it actually works out cheaper for us to book a cabin.

Do not book any tickets online for children aged 10 & under. Book the adults into the cabin and then call them on 00358 203 32033, they’ve very helpful English speaking staff. Children aged 6-10 years old need a ticket to travel and will be added to your booking free of charge. If you book online you pay full price for them. Each adult ticket can avail of 1 free child ticket. Children under 6 years old do not require a ticket to travel in a cabin and you don’t need to notify them beforehand.

As there would be 7 of us I’d need to book at least 3 beds or 6 seats as 2 year old would be on our knee. This is where the calls came in as I was trying to get the best deal; the prices quoted on the phone were astronomical at €376 one way. With a little further research I found we could book 2 adults into one cabin and avail of 2 free children and then book 1 adult into a 2 person cabin with 1 child free. The other bed in this cabin will possibly be purchased buy another passenger. Notice I booked one of the children as an adult? I did that because we could then get another child free with that ticket.

The online rate is €118pp return this price includes a breakfast of porridge. If you sign up to their free Venturi programme you receive a €20 discount on this rate bringing it down to just €98pp return. You can’t book 3 beds on a single booking; it must be done on separate bookings. So the train for 7 of us return costs €294. Yes it would be a squash in the cabin but it adds to the adventure!

hairyairyfairy

Where can we access your blog?
Hope to get more tips from you especially where to get appropriate clothes (and tog rates etc)
Can't believe that this dream is a possibility thanks to your post!!!
thx

loki7777

hairyairyfairy wrote: »

Where can we access your blog?
Hope to get more tips from you especially where to get appropriate clothes (and tog rates etc)
Can't believe that this dream is a possibility thanks to your post!!!
thx

Google it
http://www.cherrysuedointhedo.com/2016/09/lapland-is-trip-of-lifetime-heres-how.html

hairyairyfairy

loki7777 wrote: »

Google it
http://www.cherrysuedointhedo.com/2016/09/lapland-is-trip-of-lifetime-heres-how.html

Thanks, she's the LEGOLAND lady!!!!

Stonebabies

Thanks Loki7777! Oh am I hairyairyfairy?! Yep I wrote a post on Legoland, Harry Potter Studios, Thomasland & a few others like Disney Paris, lots of info to help you do all these trips yourself at a fraction of the cost!

now online

For anyone doing this Lidl have ski gear in next Thursday.

matc66

@Stonebabies do you plan on organising activities when you arrive or beforehand?

now online

@stonebabies, we've booked! Thanks so much!

uck51js9zml2yt

Just read through this. Definitely something to book for next year....might leave the kids at home though !;)

80s Child

Our young fella is only 4 months old! I'm here looking at him going, "Sure, he'd still enjoy it!!"

Great thread! Fair play!