My friend and I recently spent three days at the Santa Claus Holiday Village and I can honestly say, it’s the most magical place on earth. The cottages offer plenty of modern amenities to keep you and your family comfortable and the convenient location keeps you and your kids close to all the action of Santa Claus Village. We really enjoyed our time here and I would recommend it to anyone looking for a family-friendly resort that everyone can enjoy. In this post, I will review both my stay at the Santa Claus Holiday Village and my experience exploring Santa Claus Village.
But before I get into my review, I want to clarify a few things. There are many names for this one area so if you’re searching for, or hear someone referring to Lapland, Rovaniemi, Santa Claus Village, Santa Claus Holiday Village, or something similar, then it’s most likely all referring to the same place. The name of this general area is called Lapland, which refers to the northernmost region of Finland, and the name of the actual city where everything is located is called Rovaniemi. You may see signs such as “Welcome to Lapland” or “Fly to Lapland,” etc., but that’s just referring to the general area as the airport, train station, and city center are all located in the city of Rovaniemi. The “Lapland” area is actually so big that it spreads across four different countries: Finland, Noway, Russia, and Sweden. That’s why you will also hear references to the Swedish or Norwegian Lapland, etc. but for the sake of this post, I’m only referring to the Finnish Lapland.
Santa Claus Village is the name of the attraction where you can meet Santa, ride reindeer sleighs, and play with huskies; and Santa Claus Holiday Village is just one of the many resorts located at Santa Claus Village. And lastly, Santa Claus Village is a collection of independent stores and tourist attractions. There is no one company that owns everything so you don’t need to pay an “entrance” fee to enter the village and you can’t buy an “all-inclusive” pass for meals or attractions. You kinda have to just see what you want to do and pay for them individually. And because they are all individually owned and operated, you will find competing locations to ride reindeer, play with huskies, and meet Santa.
Santa Claus Holiday Village Location
Santa Claus Village and Santa Claus Holiday Village are both located about eight minutes from Rovaniemi Airport and about 15 minutes from Rovaniemi train station/city center. There are public buses that will take you from the airport to the city center and to Santa Claus Village but they aren’t the most convenient. Taxis are readily available but they are very expensive so in my opinion, the best transportation option is to rent a car. By doing so, you can travel back and forth between the airport, the city center, and Santa Claus Village and having your own vehicle will also allow you to explore the other parts of Lapland and go hunting for the Northern Lights on your own.
If you don’t want to rent a car, you could of course just take a taxi from the airport to Santa Claus Holiday Village and then book day/night excursions with transportation included but needless to say, that will be very expensive.
Santa Claus Holiday Village Accommodations
The website refers to the accommodations as “hotel quality apartments” but they’re more similar to cottages than apartments. Depending on how big your travel party is, you can rent a single cottage that can accommodate two adults/two kids comfortably or a double cottage for bigger families. On this trip, we booked a “classic cottage” for our three-day stay. The classic cottage is their base-level accommodation.
The cottages are all modern, clean, and comfortable. The floors are heated and every cottage comes with its own sauna. Inside, you’ll find two twin-size beds (pushed together), a sofabed, and a little dining area. The amenities include a small TV, water kettle, and coffee maker.
The dining table isn’t the biggest but for the two of us, it was perfectly acceptable.
There’s also a little kitchen so you can buy groceries and prepare your own meals. There’s a stove, sink, microwave and a small refrigerator.
Above the sink, you will find dishes, utensils, pots, and pans. Dish soap and a sponge are also provided for your convenience.
The en-suite bathroom has a standing shower, toilet, and sink. There’s not much counter space but you can keep your toiletries in the medicine cabinet above the sink or the drawers next to the sink. And because the Finnish love their saunas, every cottage is equipped with its own personal sauna, which can accommodate up to four people. Soap is provided but it’s very generic so bring your own shampoo and body wash if you don’t want to use the stuff you would normally find in a gym. Other toiletries such as lotion, shower caps, dental hygiene kits, etc. are not provided in the “classic cottage” category of rooms.
The cottages are actually pretty spacious so you won’t feel like you’re on top of each other. There are plenty of storage spaces to pack your stuff away and password-protected WiFi is also provided.
Outside, there’s a little sitting area and each cottage also has its own Christmas tree and parking spot.
Adjacent to the cottages are some outdoor firepits, gazebos, and little hills for the kids to go sledding. I tried to take a combination of both day and nighttime photos for you guys. The resort is beautiful during the day with the snow-covered treetops but at night, this place really shines.
Breakfast is included for all cottages and it’s held in the nearby Christmas House. Here, you will find a gift shop, restaurant, and one of the two Santas.
I will say that breakfast was the most disappointing part of this experience. I’m glad breakfast was included to help keep costs down but it wasn’t the best.
The hotel reception building is located at the entrance to Santa Claus Village. Here, you can check in/out, get help, book tours and excursions, or grab a drink in the lobby bar. It should be noted that the Santa Claus Holiday Village has a strict 4:00 PM check-in time. If your flight or train gets in earlier, you can store your bags at the reception desk for a small fee.
This is also where the Three Elves restaurant is located. It’s not considered fine dining by any means but it is more expensive than the other restaurants located at Santa Claus Village. If you want to splurge for a memorable experience, you can book one of these two private, glass igloos to enjoy your meal.
Santa Claus Village Experience
Santa Claus Village is truly a magical place but to be honest, you can easily do everything you want to do here in two days; one if you want to just do the highlights, or three if you want to take things a little more leisurely. As I mentioned earlier, we spent two nights here and that was plenty of time for us to do everything we wanted to do and explore the surrounding area as well. Here’s the overall map of Santa Claus Village and all the shops, restaurants and attractions that you can partake in.
Arctic Circle – One of the highlights of Santa Claus Village is its location at the Arctic Circle. The Arctic Circle is a circle of latitude that runs 66°33′45.9″ north of the Equator. It marks the southernmost latitude where the sun can stay continuously below or above the horizon for 24 hours – these phenomena are known as the Midnight Sun in the summer and the Polar Night (“Kaamos”) in the winter. This is a very popular spot at Santa Claus Village and you can even check yourself out on the live Arctic Circle webcam. This is a free activity but a certificate saying you crossed the Arctic Circle will cost you.
Santa Claus – For kids, and those young at heart, meeting Santa Claus is a pretty significant activity. Luckily for you, there are two places in Santa Claus Village to visit him. Visiting Santa Claus is free at both locations but you will have to pay to get a picture or video with him (personal cell phones are not allowed). The smaller of the two places is located at Christmas House. There is nothing special about this location as it’s something you can expect to find at a nice mall.
The larger (and much better) place to visit Santa Claus is located at the Santa Claus Office. Here, you can walk a little path through the elves’ workshop and visit the big man himself. For us, this was a much better experience as he spent a good couple of minutes talking to us. This made the entire experience much more personable (and memorable). I don’t remember the exact price but I want to say it was about 30 Euros for a digital photo and video of your meeting with him.
But because he does spend some time with each party, the line does move slowly.
Mrs. Claus also has a house nearby for kids to say hi. It’s free to visit but we did not go in.
Reindeer Sleigh Ride – There are two reindeer farms where you can go on a sleigh ride through a small path. They are both about 5 – 10 minutes long and will cost you about 16 Euros/adult. These are convenient because they are right here but you can easily visit better reindeer farms outside of Santa Claus Village. Just Google them.
HuskyPark – Of all the things we did, HuskyPark was probably the most fun. Here, you can play with huskies or go on a husky sled ride. If you want to do the sled ride, you need to book in advance as they do sell out. And just like the reindeer park, there are cheaper options located outside of Santa Claus Village.
Post Office – This was also one of the cooler things we did. Here, you can buy postcards and postage and send out Christmas cards to all your family and friends. You can either have them sent out immediately or held to be sent out at Christmas time. I thought this was super cool as I sent cards to all my family and friends and they will be delivered around Christmas time 2023. You can also buy postcards from the Santa Claus Office but the postcards are slightly cheaper here. I forgot to ask but I hope they get stamped from “The North Pole!”
Something I did not know is that when kids write letters to Santa Claus and send them to the “North Pole,” the letters get delivered here. That’s because Santa Claus Village is the official home of the North Pole. They actually have “elves” that read the letters and send replies. How cool is that?
Snowman World – This is a brand new addition to Santa Claus Village. We didn’t pay to go in but it’s basically an attraction where kids can go sledding, tubing, and ice skating, and adults can enjoy a beverage inside an ice bar. You can even eat inside an ice restaurant.
Restaurants – There are plenty of dining places located on-site from quick and casual to sit-down and more upscale. I wasn’t planning on doing any restaurant reviews but I wanted to tell you about one place that we really enjoyed – Santa’s Salmon Place, located across from HuskyPark. It’s a little teepee-looking place so if you’re not looking for it, you will definitely miss it. It’s not a very big place and they only have one main entree but we enjoyed the food so much, we went back a second time. The menu is very limited: a simple salmon filet cooked over an open flame, served with bread and a Finnish salad. That’s it for 25 Euros. I know it’s pricey but it was definitely worth it.
Northern Lights – And lastly, no trip to Santa Claus Village is complete without a mention of the Northern Lights (Aurora Borealis). To answer the obvious question, “Can you see the Northern Lights from Santa Claus Village?”, the answer is “it depends.” That’s because you need both solar activity and a clear sky to see them. Santa Claus Village is located north enough for you to see them, and on a clear night without any cloud coverage, you can see them from the village. But you will need to get away from the village to get a better view. That’s because you need a dark environment to see them better and Santa Claus Village is lit up with lots of pretty lights at night. So yes, you can see them but the further away you get from the village, the better your viewing experience will be.
But keep in mind, you need both solar activity and a clear sky. So even on nights when the solar activity is very strong, you won’t be able to see anything if there are clouds in the sky. Unfortunately, that’s what happened to us. It snowed the whole time we were there and we didn’t get to see much.
Other Activities – There’s obviously plenty more to see and do at Santa Claus Village. I just tried to give you some of the highlights. More info on Santa Claus Village can be found here.
Santa Claus Holiday Village Bottom Line
Overall, we really enjoyed our stay at the Santa Claus Holiday Village. The accommodations are cute, the amenities are convenient and the location can’t be beat. I really appreciated the heated floors and personal sauna. This allowed us to play outside during the day and warm up quickly the moment we got back into our cottage. This truly is a magical place and we can’t wait to come back.
What are your thoughts? Have you visited Santa Claus Holiday Village? If so, please share your thoughts with us in the comments section. Thanks for reading!
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