4 Best places to stay in Finnish Lapland

Just 5 minutes from Rovaniemi airport, 10 minutes to downtown Rovaniemi – and a two-minute walk to SantaPark (the lair of the real Santa Claus) – are the perfect place to stay for anyone travelling to see Santa with the kids.

The family-friendly chalets are clean, simple and functional enough. Some have kitchenettes and a private sauna. But you’re really staying here for the activities on offer.

During the holiday season, children’s activities such as crafts, baking and sledding are organised each day at the on-site Gingerbread Club. Staff can also help arrange reindeer, husky and snowmobile safaris, while boats, bikes and fishing equipment can be rented on site.

The Ounasvaara ski centre, 2km away, offers downhill runs, a tobogganing trail, a kids’ run, three ski jumps and over 60 miles of excellent cross-country paths.

This simple but comfortable Lapland hotel has 64 rooms and 28 log cabins, suitable for all ages and budgets. But what sets it apart from other accommodation in Lapland is what’s outside your bedroom door.

With over four hundred huskies – Harriniva is the biggest husky centre in Finland and the place to come for a husky safari. Tour options range from several hours to several days. Multi-day tours, staying in one of their traditional lakeside wilderness cabins, gives you the opportunity to harness, rig, feed and prep the pack for the following day’s mush, followed by dinner and a sauna. Open to ages 4 and up.

They also offer snowmobile safaris, which along with the dog sledding tours, take you speeding out onto the tundral plains and through the dense boreal forests that make up Lapland’s most spectacular wilderness. Other enticing icy activities on offer include reindeer safaris, ice fishing, snowshoe hiking, and northern lights workshops – pretty much all your winter bucket list activities are covered.

Husky and snowmobile tours are available only from November until April, subject to weather and snow conditions, though you can visit the husky farm at any time. The Northern Lights appear from the end of August to the end of April – this is also, at time of writing, when the hotel is open for guests.

This is edge-of-the-world wilderness and the accommodation is suitably wood-cabin rustic. What makes it a winner is the endearingly heartfelt sincerity of the Kamarainen family who own, run, live and breathe this hotel. It is important to them that they are always on site to meet and greet guests, and ensure personal service.

It’s easy to see why they’re so proud of their home; the location is sublime, a mirror-calm lake, hauntingly-beautiful birch forests and guaranteed pin-drop peace and quiet. There’s a coherent integrity to every aspect of a stay so the cuisine is regional, with a fabulous wild food restaurant where berries and mushrooms foraged from the forest, compliment game and fish. Their dress is traditional and the wellness is homegrown too.

Finland is the spiritual home of the sauna and the family keep it simple: get very hot in one of its saunas, and then jump in the lake to cool down. In fact, they strip everything back to basics – as they like to say moonlight is the only street light needed.

This extraordinary hotel, beautifully set on the edge of one of Finland’s greatest national parks, offers a wealth of outdoor adventures for adults and kids including snowmobiling, husky tours, ice fishing, hiking, mountain biking, reindeer safaris and even gold panning. You never really need go anywhere else for your Lapland experience.

But what it’s really known for is its igloo-esque rooms; constructed of thermal glass that functions like a two-way mirror – you can see out but no-one can see in – they allow you to lay in bed and stare at the starred universe. If you’re lucky, you may even see the famed Northern Lights – from the comfort of your thermal-blanketed bed.