The Snow Elf Hotel & Apartments

My husband and I are off on our 3rd trip to Yllas with Ingham's next Sunday. We are staying in one of the Log Cabins in the woods, which we love and l will give a few tips to allow you to enjoy your holiday more. 1. When you first arrive at your cabin have a quick look round maybe a cuppa, but then get your warm gear on and get out and find where the supermarket and restaurants are before it gets dark. You can unpack later. It gets dark very early in January/February and you can loose your bearings trying to get back to your cabin especially if it is deep in the woods. We got totally lost last year and it wasn't fun in the dark, snowing and -33!!! 2. Take very warm waterproof weather gear and boots, as arriving on a Sunday you do not collect your hired snow gear until the next morning and it can be a bit of a hike for some people who are staying on the other side of the lake to get to Destination Lapland, for their gear. Or if you want to go out on the Sunday evening. They generally give you a plastic sledge to bring your hired stuff back to your cabin. And also on the Monday morning the Ingham reps give a welcome talk at the Akas hotel quite early so you need to be well wrapped up be it the hired gear you have already collected or the warm clothes you have brought with you. 3. I advise people who are going half board to get some provisions in for your first breakfast, from the supermarket, as the Akas hotel can be a long way for some of the cabins, as they are scattered around a large area of the resort, and can take a few days sometimes to get your bearings. 4. Pack a good few DVD s for the evening and especially for children, as the TV programs aren't brilliant, just 2/3 English speaking programs and generally old 'Casualty' and our ITV3 programs! Some cabins even have Video player's. Luckily l have saved some of mine as the cabin we are staying in has a Video player in the mezzanine area upstairs and a DVD player in the lounge, downstairs. 5. If you are going especially to see the Northern Lights, if it looks like it's going to be a relatively clear night, have a nap in the afternoon, wrap up extremely warm, take a water bottle if you have one and walk to the frozen lake for around 10pm sometimes later. If you have the Aurora Forecast downloaded on your phone it should be able to let you know how good a chance of witnessing this fantastic spectical will be. We were so lucky to see them on the Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights, last year but we were getting onto the lake sometimes at 11.30pm. We were in Yllas 7 years ago, also ,and got to see the lights from our cabin which was quite a way from the lake, but was obstructed by the trees. 6. The cabins are rather small and cosy so you may need to get on well with your family or friends! The 2 room log cabins have a bedroom with 2 small single beds, downstairs and an 'open' mezzanine bedroom upstairs with a double mattress or 2 single mattresses. You will be able to hear everything downstairs if you are trying to sleep in the mezzanine, so all go to bed at the same time unless you are a deep sleeper!!! 7. The street lights go out at 10pm so make sure you have a head torch or a good torch or both. If they get switched off and you have forgotten,it does take you by surprise!! 8. The supermarket is very well stocked and if you have bought a bit more than you bargained for, sometimes the plastic sledges are outside for you to take your heavy shopping home, but do check first that they don't belong to someone!!!! I hope this has been helpful to some of you, l know l would have loved someone to give me some insight on what l was venturing into when we first came 7 years ago.

We booked through Santa Claus Trips/Inghams in August 2018 to go to Yllas Log Cabins in December 2019. We booked half board but the hotel for our meals (Akas) was so far from our cabin (30 min walk each way with 3 kids inc 2 year old) we ended up taking taxis and buying food from a supermarket to cook at our cabin. We have complained to Inghams on our return and asked for compensation for the money spent on food and taxis and they offered us £26! We spent at least £250 on taxis and food! We booked with Inghams knowing that they had a good reputation but have been really disappointed with them.

The first thing to mention is how efficient the whole service from Inghams has been. From booking to pre holiday questions and especially the reps in the resort have been amazing. We couldn't have been more cared for. Food is basic and not great (we are accustomed to 5 star) but we didn't have many expectations of this before we went so we weren't disappointed. We were half board in a log cabin for 7 nights over New Years. Our cabin was perfectly located over the lake with everything you needed and immaculately cleaned. Everywhere is clean, well looked after and the locals are friendly. 4G is suprinsgly full strength everywhere and although services and facilities are exceptional yllas still retains a quiet, relaxed and traditional Finnish feel. Our holiday ended perfectly with the northern lights making an appearance on our last night. The airport is a nightmare but overall the holiday was perfect and magical.