With the festivities in full swing, parents across the nation are busy planning trips with the kids to visit Lapland UK, but one mum booked the real deal in Finland and saved £500
Lapland in Finland is one of the magical destinations during this time of year, offering visitors the chance to meet Father Christmas, witness the Northern Lights, and feed reindeer among the enchanting snow-covered landscape.
One parent has booked a trip to Finland for an extra touch of jolly merriment and managed to save a whopping £500 – making it cheaper than a visit to Lapland UK.
Ahead of the festivities, Jen Carr, 36, from Nottinghamshire, was originally planning a trip to the UK-based winter wonderland with her six-year-old son, her friend and their son, having previously visited Finland with her family. However, as she was looking into prices, she discovered that a trip to the UK destination in either Ascot or Manchester could set them back a whopping £1,100.
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Jen told the Mirror: “I was asking on my socials how much people were spending on Lapland UK because I know it can be quite competitive to get certain tickets, and the prices get ridiculous. A few families told me that they’d spent over £1,000 on Lapland UK, just for the day ticket and a hotel.”
Determined not to let the expense ruin their Christmas plans, Jen thought: “Surely you can go to the real Lapland for that?” This led the mum-of-two to research cheap flights on Skyscanner to Lapland, Finland, from various locations in the UK and for different dates in December.
Jen discovered that the cheapest airports to fly from were Birmingham and London Stansted. She booked direct, return flights from Stansted to Finland, departing on Monday, 15 December, for £103 per person (£412 in total), with hand luggage only.
While the group of four will need to drive two and a half hours to the airport from Nottinghamshire, they’ve managed to find a hack to save even more money. “We found somebody’s drive that we can park on rather than having to pay for airport parking, and they’re going to drop us off at the airport,” Jen explained.
With the flights booked, Jen looked into accommodation options for a two-night stay. “As we’re booking late, a lot of the accommodation in the little city, Rovaniemi, where everybody stays, was pretty much booked up, so it’s really, really expensive,” she explained.
“But we were able to find a room at a reindeer farm, which is about an hour’s drive from Rovaniemi, and it was super cheap.” The room cost £187 for two adults and two children, for a two-night stay.
“Whereas in this little city that everybody goes to, it was around £2,000 for two nights, like really insane prices,” Jen added. As they are staying an hour away from the main Lapland area, they looked into a car hire and booked one for £147. This will also see them drive from the Finland airport to the reindeer farm.
“We thought, it’s in the middle of nowhere, so it’s going to be forestry and snowy. There are going to be reindeer there, and we might even see the northern lights because it’s in the middle of nowhere. We thought that, actually, a lot of it would be free, and we could go sledging as they have sledges there. So we’re not going to have to spend a huge amount.” Jen added that the four of them will be sharing one room, which also features a small kitchenette where they can cook their own meals, and there will be a shared bathroom.
“Most people will just look into staying in Rovaniemi, but looking further out, it’s probably going to be quite nice. It won’t be as busy or touristy.”
In terms of what they’ll get up to during their stay, Jen explained that they’ll arrive quite late in the day.
“So we have the full day, and then we have a morning before we fly home in the afternoon. W’re going to see what there is to do around where we’re staying, do some sledging and feed the reindeer. Then I think we’ll drive to Santa Claus Village in Rovaniemi,” she continued.
“I’ve been before, so I’m familiar with the area. It’s free to go in, you can go sledging, there are some playgrounds, and it’s quite cheap with lots of little activities. You can see Santa Claus for free there, which we’ll do in Santa Claus Village.”
To keep the costs even lower, they’re going to do a little supermarket shop for their meals, making sandwiches or noodles for lunch and pasta in the evenings. The savvy mum added. “We’re also taking our own marshmallows to toast because there are lots of open fires where you can toast marshmallows, but they’re really expensive to buy there.
“Hot chocolates are also really expensive there, so we’re going to take some flasks and our own hot chocolate to make before we go out. Then we can just sit around a little fire with some hot chocolate and marshmallows, and it won’t cost us anything.”
The saving hacks allowed them to pay just £149 per person, including flights and two nights’ accommodation, which is cheaper than many Lapland UK day out tickets. During their winter getaway to Lapland, their only other costs are expected to be petrol for the hire car, their supermarket shop and a few activities.
Offering advice to others looking to save on their next getaway, Jen shared: “It’s research and being a bit flexible, being willing to step out of the box a little bit and go a bit further afield. Maybe travel from an airport that isn’t the closest one to you and try to travel without luggage, because once you add checked-in luggage, you’re adding hundreds of pounds onto the trip. Then just think about the little costs that would add up, like the hot chocolate and the marshmallows, or take a packet of noodles or two. It’s all the little bits that you can save on.”
Jen Carr, family travel expert and founder of The Travel Mum, shares the best affordable holiday deals for families throughout the week on her website. You can also read Jen’s e-book.
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