Lapland Hotels Äkäshotelli

My daughter booked Santa trip through Tui ..absolutely fantastic . We stayed at this hotel for four nights ,full board . We had a family room ,just behind reception. Room was perfect,well equipped.. Full kitchen amenities..dish washer..microwave, kettle ..Hobb ..plenty pots and pans . If you are going self catering everything you need . Super market is 10 minutes walk. Fantastic airing cupboard, which dries your snow suits effectively. Rooms are spacious..plenty room for family of four . Shower room ,with sauna. We had breakfast,lunch and dinner at the hotel restaurant. Porridge is the best I’ve ever eaten , Mrs Claus secret recipe I was told ☺️ Plenty of choice ,something for everyone..my grandchildren never went hungry..and they can be a little fussy . Lunch and dinner was equally excellent… Staff are all very nice , but I believe if you treat someone respectfully, warm and friendly..they reciprocate it . Hotel has a regular bus service to a nearby ski resort..(7 euros each way ,per person..we booked a private taxi 20€.. It is free to sledge there ..the children had great fun for a couple of hours . We then lit a fire in a nearby yurt ( wood and matches there for your use ,free) Part of our holiday booking included a trip to Santa village ,husky ride ,and snowmobile ride .. I can fully recommend this hotel .. It has always been top of my bucket list to visit Lapland at Christmas..so lucky to have my been .. Pure magical from start to finish. We were even saw the northern lights!..wow

Overall lovely holiday and experience for our first time to Lapland. We were part of a large group of all ages including children aged 3, 6 & 7. The temperature had been quite mild for Lapland and there had not been a lot of snow but luckily when we arrived there had been a bit of snow. Just seeing the snow is exciting & provides lots of fun for the children sledding. We booked through TUI and overall I think it’s an overpriced holiday and unfortunately not very ‘Christmassy’ we could have paid a fraction of the price and went in January/February and it wouldn’t have made any difference. The rooms are ok, spacious & clean which is the main thing. Food is awful at the hotel and be prepared the drinks (even soft drinks) are ridiculously overpriced (if you drink beer- very flat, not quite a pint glass and they’re charging 9 euro for that. 15 euro for a glass of red wine. ) The day out to the snow village was fantastic, we had a taster husky ride, taster snow mobile (pretty long session for a taster) visited Santa he doesn’t say much and you are in & out), children decorated cookies too. The only problem about the day here was it was far too short. We had 2.5 hrs to cram everything in, meaning we had to cut short our walk inside the igloos etc. we could have spent a lot longer here as really it is your full experience. The finale meal is very very disappointing, again very overpriced drinks (53-64 euros for a bottle house wine). The Christmas dinner was boiled potatoes (hard) or chips no roast potatoes, tinned peas & carrots and smoked turkey, it was not edible tbh. Puddings were nice though. Experiencing a winter holiday, sledding, and the snow village was brilliant, but if we went again we would not book through Tui or a package holiday and wouldn’t be as bothered about it being Christmas time as I think Lapland UK is far better for the Christmas experience and excitement for children. Hope this helps anyone looking to book.

Booked through TUI, was supposed to be full board, but whilst there was a kettle and fridge etc in the accommodation, there was no tea, coffee etc. and was told to walk to the supermarket. As a single parent to a child with additional needs, this was not that easy. The rooms are warm and spacious. Beds were not comfortable. WiFi was great. Sauna was lovely and shower had brilliant water pressure. Food was okay, odd combinations but perfectly adequate. Full board only allowed soft drinks with breakfast, such as orange juice etc, but nothing for other meals except water. Always had tea and coffee going in the main restaurant. Accommodation is spread out, so be prepared for a walk with your luggage and snow suits etc. The staff were great in the restaurant, very friendly and accommodating.

Could not fault the whole experience, the TUI flight was festive with games, songs and Santa landing on the roof, the accommodation was perfect, we stayed in a log cabin which are out of the way and had such an authentic feel with it's own sauna, the cabin was warm, clean, comfortable and had everything you needed, even extra shower gel and shampoo. We really enjoyed the food even my slightly fussy 7 year old. The staff were welcoming and accommodating. There were plenty of sledges around and lots of mounds to play on. We loved our Santa day at the Snow Village hotel which was breathtaking, and the snowmobile trip to see the real Santa! He was so authentic! The supermarket is a short walk away and behind it is the frozen lake with the Yllas swing. We also visited nearby Konnijannka petting farm and the hotel booked our taxi. We loved every minute of our stay! Didn't feel busy or touristy which is just how we wanted it.

We stayed at this hotel - paid 6k for a family of 4 for a 3night stay TUI were terrible you constantly felt ripped off - after paying so much for 2 min husky ride - a brief 1 min meeting with Santa was really disappointing. We didn’t want to spend another 500euro to do a proper ride Santa village was incredibly average I’ve been to better set up’s in Ireland The snow was wonderful The hotel buffet was awful apart from breakfast - our kids ate only chips for 3 days as nothing really else there The highlight was the sledding which cost us 29euro per board in local supermarket. The final gala again terrible food and woeful entertainment. Finally our flight was at 1415 and we were dropped to airport at 10 -4 hours before the flight! We loved Lapland but price was extortionate for what you got - DO NOT book with TUI from speaking sunway is far better organized!

The hotel is in a good position, ten minutes walk to the local village but take a kick sled for a fun trip down. At -25C make sure you take ski gloves and a knock face cover, my eyes started to freeze by the time I got to the shops. The walk to the frozen lake is about 10 mins also and worth the trip. The northern lights were brilliant and apparently the best they’ve had for a while. The food was excellent, don’t believe the other reviews. There is plenty for all and the breakfast has a lot of choice the salt cured salmon was my favourite but if you like cereal, toast or cooked breakfast you’ll be happy. The rooms were clean and the sauna was great, the rooms were always warm. We went with TUI and I have to say the reps were useless. When we go back I will book everything individually as it’s easy to get around on the ski buses and you can book excursions easily. I would suggest the reindeer excursion if you’re going to book one, it was a great experience on Christmas Eve through the forest it was Magical. The Christmas Day party was ok, this was heard at Y1 ski resort, the food was fine and the bar easy to get to (you pay for the drinks but they were slightly cheaper than the hotel). The party starts at 7.30ish and with little children it’s too late, we shared a taxi back with a couple who had a baby, €20 on Christmas Day I didn’t think was too bad. This was our first trip to Finland and Lapland, we will be back. The hotel is nice and well placed, however I think we will try the Saaga hotel next, a short stop there and conversations around what it’s like convinced us that would be our next hotel.