The Snow Elf Hotel & Apartments

I stayed for 3 nights with my daughter in law and 3 grandchildren on a TUI package. We had a 2 bedroom apartment which was clean and tidy. The beds and sofa bed were comfortable although there was only one person on the sofa bed. If there had been 2 sharing the quilt was too small. The walk to our room was horrendous with 4 large suitcases and 2 hugh bags with our snowsuits and boots in. There is no help from the hotel staff or TUI reps. It was so bad that we booked a large taxi to take our luggage from our room (444) to the reception for our departure. This cost 20 euros for a 2 minute drive but was worth it to get the luggage ready for coming home. We also had no outside lights on the block we stayed in except for a short period of time one day. This was very dangerous for us all especially when hauling our cases upstairs to the apartment. When I told the woman at reception, she said maintenance had finished for the day but we could have a head torch! We were dining on a full board basis but thought the buffet food could have been better. It was usually cold and not very nice. We dined out one night just to fill up on something freshly cooked. The positives of the hotel were the location and scenery. Short walk to the shops, restaurants and lake and amazing scenery all around. If we were to come to Lapland again I think it would be in a different hotel and book our own tours. TUI crammed as many people onto the buses and it seemed as though we were hurried. The reindeer experience (costing over £600 for our group) was mostly a waste of money. We were picked up too late to enjoy it. It was totally dark so we saw nothing, no magic whatsoever. Around 20 minutes ride, 20 minutes in a hut having a drink and chatting about reindeer and about the same time feeding reindeer in a large paddock. They came racing in for the food which frightened so many children. Screaming kids is not the best way to round off a trip that was billed as a magical 2-4 hour excursion that was around one hour with over an hour in the bus. The Santa Claus day is mostly very good. It is only 2 and a half hours so slightly rushed and the biggest disappointment was Santa himself. Nothing jolly about him at all. He almost threw the gifts at the children with no enthusiasm. Allowed a few photos to be taken and said Merry Christmas. 2-3 minutes and we were out. I think that spending the money it costs to go on this type of package we should have been totally wowed but unfortunately we weren't. The children loved sledging and playing in the snow. Some of the activities were good too. The festive finale was better than we expected with the added bonus of seeing the northern lights. I've written quite a lot about TUI in this review as a lot of the guests were on the same package as us so I feel it's a good balanced opinion. The TUI staff were also the entertainment in the restaurant and other areas nearby.

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.

Great family experience. We have never been a winter holiday as a family and this was an amazing experience. Hotel was clean and food great for our fussy kids. The scenery is unbelievable and local people very friendly. Highly recommended to visit