Duinrell Eurocamp – An Honest Family Review
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- Posted: 08/11/2024
Santa Claus Village Lapland
Jenna Carr
The Travel Mum
Our little family is passionate about helping you save money. We are real people who understand the need to make your budget go further.
Everything you need to know about visiting Santa Claus Village, Lapland for the day
Lapland has become a VERY popular destination for families since budget airlines opened it up to everyone (not just those with huge travel budgets). Rovaniemi is located in the north of Finland, right by the Arctic Circle, it is where you will likely find the cheapest flights and is the place most families head to. I have a lot more information on Lapland as a whole including how we planned our trip, clothes to pack, what we did and how much it all cost over on my Lapland on a budget blog post. This post will cover Santa Claus Village Lapland, a popular attraction in Rovaniemi.
What is it?
Lots of people get confused as to what exactly Santa Claus Village is. Is it a real village? Well of course it is the village where Santa Claus lives (but it is an attraction too…)
It is known worldwide as the official home of Santa Claus, the ‘village’ is a Christmas-themed park that offers visitors a wide range of activities, experiences, and attractions. Here, guests can visit Santa Claus, Mrs Claus, cross the Arctic Circle, ride a reindeer drawn sleigh, and explore the serene beauty of the Arctic landscape. Is it a commercialised version of the thing you are likely expecting? Absolutely, but it is a great place for families to visit with a short stay and get that generalised festive experience the kids will love.
When does Santa Claus Village open?
Santa Claus Village is open year-round, meaning that you can experience the Christmas magic no matter when you visit (Santa is a lot less busy outside of December too). It’s not just a place for December, it’s a winter wonderland that offers a festive atmosphere throughout the year. January and February will likely have the most snow and MUCH lower prices compared to December.
Where is Santa Claus Village?
Santa Claus Village is situated just 8km (5 miles) from the centre of Rovaniemi, which is easily accessible by car, bus, or taxi. The village is positioned directly on the Arctic Circle, you can actually stand with your feet crossing the boundary, making for a fun photo opp. There is a live camera at the division so you can get family at home to log in and see you.
Rovaniemi itself is located in the northern part of Finland, about 100km from the border with Sweden.
How much does it cost to visit Santa Claus Village?
Santa Claus Village Lapland is free to visit. You can park there for free too. That doesn’t mean you won’t spend anything whilst there of course. The activities are all extra and I’ve covered some of the costs below from when we visited in the 23/24 winter season.
On a tight budget?
There are loads of sledges dotted around the park. Look for the ones with SCHV written on them to make sure you don’t accidentally steal someone else’s. If you don’t have a huge budget you could pick just one or two paid activities and spend the rest of your day exploring, sledging, playing in the playgrounds and toasting marsh mellows on one of the open fires. We took our own hot chocolate in a flask to enjoy while doing this.
What Activities Can You Do at Santa Claus Village, Lapland?
There are lots of activities to enjoy at Santa Claus Village. Below I have listed some of the highlights and the prices we saw in 23/24 (if the prices are vastly different this year please do let me know and I can update the post!)
Sleigh Rides
Most people visiting Lapland want to do a sleigh ride and these are available at Santa Claus Village. You can do much shorter sleigh rides, whether Reindeer or Husky led, than many of those offered by tour companies. This obviously reduces the price a lot. Below I’ve attached a photo showing the prices for the Reindeer Sleigh rides when we visited. You can see they offer the longer and pricier experience, but honestly, being sat still for more than 10 minutes gets very cold and very uncomfortable. We were there in December and you didn’t need to pre book, you could just turn up and wait for your turn.
- 400m ride: €25 adults / €20 kids
- 1000m ride: €40 adults/ €30 kids
- 3km Adventure: €99 adults / €75 kids
Visit Santa Claus
Did you know it is free to visit Santa at Santa Claus village?! They will charge you to capture the memory though. Photos are expensive, and they don’t allow you to take your own. If you plan to visit Santa Park you should visit Santa there. They let you take your own photos which will save you a fortune (our own photo from Santa Park below!)
Visit Mrs. Claus
We decided to visit Mrs Claus in Santa Claus Village as it was a relatively cheap way to pass some time, our time with Mrs Claus lasted about 10 minutes. We didn’t buy the photo (as they were extortionate), but it was nice for Leo to meet her and have a chat. She is located in a nice lodge building with a cafe where you can sit and have a drink after to warm up.
- €5 per person
- €20 for a digital photo
- €30 for a printed photo
- €40 for both digital and printed photos
Elf Farmyard
We really enjoyed this experience. It felt like good value and interacting with the reindeer in Lapland was a great experience for our son. There’s also a slope for sledging, a playground, and a fire for toasting marshmallows. Aside from reindeer, there are also alpacas and sheep. The pricing when we visited was:
- €15 per adult
- €10 per child (ages 3–15)
- €5 for a bag of reindeer food
- Visit + 15-minute walk with reindeer: €38 for adults, €25 for children
- Visit + 1-hour walk with reindeer: €70 per person
Husky Park
We chose the 2km ride, which lasts around 8 minutes, a perfect length in my opinion. As I mentioned earlier sitting still while being pulled through the cold can get uncomfortable quite quickly, especially for little ones. Prices were:
- Tour of the Husky park + 2km ride: €75 for adults, €45 for children (ages 4–12)
- 2km ride only: €45 for adults, €30 for children (I would personally just do this if on a tight budget).
- Husky Hugging: €15/person
Elf Hat Academy
We were advised against this experience, as it’s a bit pricey for what it is. It’s a 25-minute session where you learn to be an elf. It’s worth noting if you plan to visit Santa Park, Elf school is included. The whole entrance fee for Santa Park is less than the cost of this 25 minute session.
- €39 for a 25-minute session
Mini Snowmobiles
These are suitable for kids ages 4–13. We felt Leo wouldn’t be able to drive the snowmobiles, so we skipped this one.
- €22 for 10 minutes (crazy prices)
Snowman World
This was one of our favourite activities with Leo within Santa Claus Village. Tickets cost £25 per person for all-day access, which includes tube snow slides, an ice maze, ice skating, and an ice slide. For an extra fee, you can grab a drink at the ice bar or enjoy a meal in the ice restaurant. We booked our tickets in advance, you can get tickets that are just for the park, or ones that include a meal at the ice restaurant.
- £24 per person over age 2 for basic entry
- £44 per person 13+ for entry plus lunch (£38 age 2 – 12)
- £90 per person 13+ for entry plus dinner (£62 age 2 – 12)
- Additional non-alcoholic drinks in ice glasses: £9 for two drinks advanced booking.
- Drinks at the bar are €5.20 each, so we saved a euro each by pre-booking.
Snowman World Restaurant: Honest Review
We decided to pay for the meal here as it isn’t every day you get to eat at a restaurant made of ice. The tables, the chairs, the whole restaurant is actually ice, which is really cool and a big novelty for the whole family. We opted for lunch over dinner purely because it was cheaper, and we were there for the restaurant experience, not the food.
I have attached photos of the menus for both lunch and dinner (on the day we went in December 2023) and the price you pay if you book on the day. You can see the options aren’t very substantial BUT the food we had was delicious. You almost expect poor quality food in a place like this, so we were pleasantly surprised. My husband and I had the smoked cheese Reindeer soup, Leo had the Pasta Bolognese. The warm apple pie desert was also yummy.
Send a Postcard Home!
A fun, cheap way to kill 15/20 minutes. Head to Santa’s post office and let the kids choose a postcard to send to a friend or family. The stamps are from the Arctic circle so its a lovely souvenir if they want to send one to themselves! Leo sent them to both of his grandparents (he has English and Portuguese grandparents!)
Find a DIY trip!
Select City and enter Rovaniemi into the location to find the best prices in December!
Santa Claus Village in Lapland is a great place to experience the magic of Christmas without having to make too much effort. All of the activities you could wish for are situated within this relatively small area. The Arctic Circle has incredible natural beauty and we personally preferred Lapland the further north we travelled. Rovaniemi is very convenient, but the authentic Lapland we grew to love was further north.
You can read more about our entire trip below.
Written by: Jenna Carr
The Travel Mum
Our little family is passionate about helping you save money. We are real people who understand the need to make your budget go further. With The Travel Mum we have created a vibrant community of over 650k budget savvy travellers who want to travel more while spending less. No problem is too big or small, together we will do everything in our power to make sure you are making the absolute most of your well earned budget!
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Check out some of our Lapland Content
Flights have finally become much more reasonable so it’s a great time to start planning a potential winter trip to Lapland! ☃️❄️🎅🏻
You don’t have to spend a fortune once you’re there. We visited who a whole week last year and spent less than £3000 on EVERYTHING (clothes, parking, car hire, petrol, food, activities, flights and accommodation!)
I have a detailed blog post on our website explaining everything we did!
#laplandfinland #laplandonabudget #familytravel #thetravelmum #cheaptravel #savemoneytips #travelideas #wintertravel
Our favourite experience in Lapland! We decided to splash out and stay at @lakeinarimobilecabins instead of booking a northern lights tour, where seeing the lights might not happen.
Seeing the lights is never guaranteed, but sleeping under the stars for two nights, on the middle of a lake with no light pollution, we could keep a look out all night and definitely increase our chances!
The last picture was taken in the middle of the night. With minus 20 C temps we had to quickly wrap up warm and run out to get the best view 😍 Leo insisted he came out too!
Would you sleep on a frozen lake?!
#laplandfinland #lakeinari #inarifinland #uniqueaccommodation #northernlights #thetravelmum #northernlightsphotos
Why is this date important for booking your trip to Lapland on a budget?
Well it may or may not be! In previous years there have been some great prices released initially which quickly go up once those tickets are sold. Last year we got our tickets in June, so really dont worry too much if you miss this date. Prices will very likely drop again later in the year.
✈️ Last year easyJet had flights from Gatwick, Bristol and Manchester. It will likely be the same this year.
🏨 Benefits to booking early are being able to nab some cheap accommodation before it all starts selling out. Don’t book accommodation until you have your flights. Having date flexibility will help you get the best price.
🛫 Ryanair will likely release their flights in April. They had some amazing prices from Liverpool, Stansted and Dublin last year. People were still nabbing great December flights as last minute as November. (But then struggling to find good value accommodation!)
💻 The link to our complete guide to planning and booking a budget trip to Lapland can be found in my linktree (or just google The travel mum lapland)
#laplandfinland #laplandonabudget #cheapflights #budgettravel #lapland #thetravelmum #cheaptravel #cheapholiday
Are you ready to book a cheap trip to Lapland for this winter?! We have a great blog post with everything we spent and how we planned our budget friendly Lapland adventure over on our website. Most flights aren’t out yet, but they should be coming our way in March!
💾 Save this post to help you pack!
🧣Clothes I packed for 7 nights:
4 x base layers (could have gotten away with three)
5 x mid layer tops (way too many, only wore 3)
1 x mid layer trousers (I never wore these)
1 x snow coat (£25 from Lidl and was perfect)
1 x snow trousers (£12 from Aldi, again perfect)
1 x snow boots (£20 Aldi, my feet were never cold)
3 x bamboo socks
3 x woolly socks
Under gloves plus thicker snow gloves
Two hats (only wore one)
Scarf
Balaclava (didn’t wear this)
Neck warmer (didn’t wear this either).
Underwear.
Could you travel like this? Let us know!
#laplandonabudget #laplandfinland #visitlapland #cheaptravels #familytravel #thetravelmum #savemoneytips
Save this for when you visit! We visited for 7 nights and felt toasty the whole time, even on the -22C days 🥶🥶🥶
Layering up is the way to go.
❄️Start with long sleeved thermal base layers - we got ours from Aldi and Decathlon for around £7 per item. We took 4 pairs but would have been fine with 3.
⛄️ Fleece / wool mid layer. Avoid cotton/denim. You likely already have these - jumpers etc.
🧊 Thick waterproof outer layer - I got my snow coat for £25 from Lidl and it was perfect. I got snow trousers from Aldi for £12 and they were great. I got snow boots from Aldi for £20. Make sure your footwear is warm and waterproof.
🍦 Extras - buff/balaclava, warm hat that covers your ears.
I had bamboo socks as the base layer on my feet (cheap on Amazon) and then thick woolly thermal socks on top that I already had from previous hiking trips. I got some £6 ski gloves from Aldi which were brilliant and I had a base layer of thinner gloves I already owned.
Vinted is brilliant for cheap snow clothes. We got Leo a full snow suit for £8!
Considering Lapland? Check out our blog on how to visit on a budget, I have it tagged in our link tree ❤️
#lapland #visitlapland #laplandfinland #traveltips #thetravelmum #cheaptravels
We’ve spoken to families who spent over £10k 😱
Can you believe we managed EVERYTHING for less than £1000pp. That includes things like airport parking, the snow clothes we bought, all the food and activities, car hire, petrol, insurance 🤯 We weren’t kidding when we told you we can do ANY trip on a relatively tight budget ✈️
Head to our website and check out our latest blog post. It goes into detail about how you can plan a trip like this, everything we did and every penny we spent!
Fancy doing this next year?! Let us know!
#lapland #laplandfinland #cheaptravels #diytravel #familytravel #visitlapland #finnishlapland #northernlights
AD | Did you know there is lots you can do in Lapland without spending a fortune?!
Use @skyscanner to find some cheap flights to Rovaniemi, book a cheap apartment and fill your day with fun budget friendly activities!
See Santa for free, go sledging, feed reindeer or ride in a reindeer pulled sleigh - all without breaking the bank!
#skyscanneradvocate #lapland #laplandfinland #rovaniemi #thetravelmum #familytravel #cheaptravel
AD | Could you pack light for a freezing country?! 🥶
It’s actually easier than we thought! Base and mid layers are perfect for vacuum packing. You only need one pair of snow trousers, one big coat and one pair of snow shoes which you will wear on the plane.
@skyscanner allows you to find some great priced flights to Rovaniemi, meaning Lapland is now more affordable than ever!
Clothes I packed for 7 nights:
4 x base layers (could have gotten away with three)
5 x mid layer tops (way too many, only wore 3)
1 x mid layer trousers (I never wore these)
1 x snow coat (£25 from Lidl and was perfect)
1 x snow trousers (£12 from Aldi, again perfect)
1 x snow boots (£20 Aldi, my feet were never cold)
3 x bamboo socks
3 x woolly socks
Under gloves plus thicker snow gloves
Two hats (only wore one)
Scarf
Balaclava (didn’t wear this)
Neck warmer (didn’t wear this either).
Underwear.
Would you travel like this?! Let us know!
#skyscanneradvocate #lapland #laplandfinland #cheaptraveltips #packingtips #familytraveltips
You really need to think less and do more. Life is too short not to. Childhood is too short not to ❤️
🏨 Stop worrying about booking that perfect expensive hotel, find a cheap apartment instead. You need a roof over your head, that is all.
❄️ Stop worrying about getting expensive snow clothes - Aldi, Lidl and vinted are perfect for finding cheap options. Everything we had was second hand or from Aldi/Lidl. We travelled with hand luggage and didn’t use everything we took. You don’t need much.
⛄️ Stop worrying about the £100+ excursions. Your kids won’t care if you don’t do a 3 hour guided husky ride that sets you back £600. Head to Santa Claus village, see Santa for free, find a sledge, do a short reindeer or husky ride (kids don’t want to be sat in the cold for a long time). Feed the reindeer at the elves farmyard. There’s lots you can do without spending a fortune. They’ll remember being there, having a great time, it being magical - and that’s it.
☕️ Don’t spend €5 a time on hot chocolates, take a flask and make your own. Pack sandwiches instead of spending €100+ eating out. Kids much prefer sarnies by a camp fire and toasting marshmallows for desert over a fancy restaurant.
Kids are simple beings, they don’t want expensive fancy things, they just want those special moments with you ❤️
#lapland #laplandfinland #travelwithkids #familytravel #thetravelmum #santaclausvillage #cheaptravel
We are big believers that you can still enjoy amazing experiences even without tons of money. Yes you will have to travel on budget airlines, take less things, take sandwiches out occasionally instead of having fancy meals - you realise none of the excess matters when you are living these core memories ❤️ Your kids don’t care if you have a restaurant meal or a picnic, if the hot chocolate is from a nice cafe or a flask, they don’t care if they see a free Santa or a £400 Santa. They really don’t care if they’re wearing vinted/Aldi/Lidl snow clothes. They’ll just remember they were in Lapland.
Catch up with everything we’ve done so far in our Lapland highlight. Once we get back we will write a full blog post on everything we did and exactly what it all cost.
Got any questions? Ask away! 🎅🏻🎄
#laplandfinland #rovaniemi #laplandonabudget #familytravel #cheaptravel #thetravelmum #christmastravel #bucketlisttravel
Day 1 of our 17 night trip to the Algarve and Porto 🇵🇹✈️
We visit the Algarve often as João is from here - the poor lad unfortunately left this sunny paradise for Nottinghamshire to be with me ✨ We are looking to move back here as soon as we can escape our mortgage..
Anyway, Alvor is honestly such a perfect place for a holiday. If you’re considering the Algarve look into Alvor or Portimão. I’ll do more videos on here later in the trip. The weather stays great into September and October, so it is the perfect place for a post summer escape. ☀️
#thetravelmum #cheaptravel #familytravel #portugal #algarveportugal #comewithus #comewithme #instagramtravel #travelfamily #dayinthelife
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