I N ONE OF the most far-flung corners of Santa’s kingdom, the Legends short break is based at Karesuando, deep inside the Arctic Circle. This hidden setting provides a tranquil, picturesque and unspoiled backdrop for your Arctic activities and the locals have been heard to whisper that Santa’s favourite secret cabin and traditional Sámi Kota – a tent made of reindeer skins – are nearby.
There is none of the commercialism here that can, at some of the destinations used by other tour operators, detract from the magical experience of searching for Father Christmas in his Arctic kingdom. Instead, Karesuando is set on the edge of a vast wilderness where beauty, nature and wildlife abound, virtually unsullied by modern man. Here, the land stretches for hundreds of miles west towards the Norwegian Alps offering views across the Arctic tundra, frozen lakes and rivers and silent forests. Set in the far north of Lapland, Karesuando is part of the ancient home of families from Europe’s least well-known tribes, the Sámi people.
Traditionally nomadic, many of these families still herd reindeer today. And most of our activities are run by the local people, ensuring that you benefit from their specialist knowledge and years of experience, and that our tourism directly benefits the local community. Karesuando is a picturesque village on the border between Finland and Sweden, which means you are able to walk from your hotel into a
different country! The village itself sits on the Swedish side of the River Muonio, while our chosen hotel, the Davvi Arctic Lodge, is in Finland. The village has an attractive church – the most northerly in Sweden – as well
Day One
IT’S ABOUT 10AM and you are ready to take off to Lapland – home of the real Father Christmas. With your special boarding pass collected at check-in tucked away safely, relax while you wait to touchdown in Enontekio. After clearing customs, you’ll board your coach with the assistance of our local guides. Sit back and soak up your surroundings on the 45-minute coach transfer to the Davvi Arctic Lodge in Karesuando. The road we are taking is known as the Northern Lights route, which serves to remind you that you are now deep inside the Arctic Circle. There’s every chance you will spot one of Santa’s many reindeer – they greatly outnumber people in this far-flung region. We stop to collect your included all-in-one thermal suits and boots. Temperatures here range between –7C and –35C in December and the thermal suits and boots are an essential part of your holiday package. Please note that hats, scarves and gloves are also necessary but are not included.
Polar Legends: Visit Father Christmas in Lapland
We continue to the Davvi Arctic Lodge, where you can check into your chosen accommodation. In the early evening, your Transun representative will host a welcome meeting, providing you with an insight into the area and discussing the content of your break in detail. During a welcome dinner, your rep will be available for any further assistance you may need. Tonight, you might like to join one of our optional activities, such as a safari under the night sky. Or, you can just relax in the Sámi Lounge. At bedtime, the children will be eager to talk about Father Christmas. Tell them there is lots of fun to have first, before we search for Santa.
Day Two
AFTER BREAKFAST, YOU will head out on your first safari – either a thrilling 5km Husky Safari or an exhilarating 1.5-hour Snowmobile Safari. During the day you can also take part in the snow activities, available nearby including tobogganing, kick sledges, stigas (toboggans with steering wheels for youngsters) or old-fashioned snowball fights! A warming lunch will be provided at the hotel. Most people will be familiar with the story of Hansel and Gretel. Now we offer you an opportunity to immerse yourselves in the story and decorate your own gingerbread house. Each family will be provided with gingerbread, icing and decorative sweets to enable you to construct your house and decorate it. Each house will be entered into a competition that will be judged by the host before dinner this evening, with a prize awarded for the best one. Alternatively, tobogganing, kick sledges and stigas will be available outside, or you can take the opportunity to join in one of our optional excursions. Before dinner commences, you are invited to join us for a host’s cocktail reception, when the gingerbread houses will prizes will be awarded. After dinner, you can enjoy your gingerbread house for dessert. Then get an early night or spend a couple of hours soaking up the atmosphere of the Davvi Arctic Lodge and its views, especially if there is a moon to reflect off the snowy landscapes. Or you have another chance to join one of our optional activities and the possibility of viewing the spectacular Northern Lights. But where is Father Christmas? The kids may ask you at bedtime. He’s very, very busy, you can tell them. But don’t worry. We will be going to search for him before we return home.
Day Three
AFTER BREAKFAST, YOU’LL experience your second safari – which ever you didn’t do yesterday, either a 5km Husky Safari or a 1.5-hour Snowmobile Safari. And when you are not on safari, you can head to the toboggan run where tobogganing, kick sledges and stigas will be available. When you’ve had enough of the cold, you can warm up at the hotel, where a buffet lunch will be provided. In the afternoon, those with older children may wish to take a stroll on snowshoes, a bit like wearing tennis racquets on your feet! Those with younger children may relish the warmer environment of our crafts class, where you can create a calendar or Christmas card. For those that can’t get enough of the great outdoors, tobogganing will again be available or you again have an chance to enjoy one of our optional excursions. Fancy visiting another country this evening? No problem. Work up an appetite for dinner by joining us on a walk to the local church, on the Swedish side of the border. It’s the most northerly church in Sweden! After a short welcome by the local vicar and carol singing, we will head back to the hotel for dinner before retiring for the evening. Or there's another chance to join one of our optional activities. Your children may be getting impatient. When will we go looking for Santa, they will plead. Soon, you will tell them. Very soon now. And their dreams will be filled with expectations.
Day Four IT IS OUR final full day in Lapland - surely we must find him today? After breakfast, we head outside. Perhaps there has been a fresh fall of snow overnight. It’s time to get some practice in for tomorrow's Santa’s Snow Olympics. There’s tobogganing, snowman building and snowball throwing - even if you decide not to enter, the training will be fun. Children will get the chance to test their own driving skills on the supervised kids’ snowmobile track (see page 48 for further details), try their balancing skills on the children’s skis and tandem skis, test their strength at tug of war and shoot for goal at snow hockey. Don’t forget to keep your camera close by, as the day is bound to provide some memorable photo opportunities. Lunch will be ready when you are and will be served at the hotel between 12 and 2. When you’ve had your fill of the great outdoors, head inside and join Mrs Claus in the Claus Christmas Crafts Class. Tonight is the festive dinner and the naughty elves have hidden all of the party decorations. Mrs Claus needs your help making Christmas hats, Christmas crackers, table decorations and more.
And now it is time to set off in search of Santa! You will need the special boarding pass you collected on your way to Lapland. You climb aboard a magical reindeer sleigh as you set off through the hushed, snow-filled landscape in search of Father Christmas. As you head off through the snow laden trees, an elf will help guide you on your way.Finally, we hope to find Santa taking a well-deserved rest in his chosen log cabin or Sámi kota, a traditional tent. During a private family meeting with Santa, each child has the chance to talk with Santa and will receive a small gift which will evoke special memories for years to come of the day they met the real Father Christmas. Later, we will sit down to a festive dinner, complete with crackers, party poppers and blowers.
Day Five AFTER BREAKFAST, IT’S time to check out. As you have had plenty of practice, the time has come for Santa’s Snow Olympics for all those that wish to enter. There are three disciplines to challenge you:
Tobogganing – this will be based on age ranges and is a timed run. Snowball throwing – can you score the highest number of points or even score a bullseye? Snowman challenge – this family activity is all about working together to build the best snowman in the time available. Alternatively, there is a last opportunity to join one of our optional excursions – perhaps an introduction to reindeer herding, or an expedition to a frozen lake to try your hand at ice fishing? As a finale to Santa’s Snow Olympics, Mrs Claus will award the prizes. Lunch will be provided at the Davvi Arctic Lodge before we depart for Enontekio and our flight home.
What's Included
* Return flights and hot meals on board
* Thermal suits and boots
* Your chosen accommodation
* Full board
* Welcome meeting
* Host's cocktail reception
* Visit to the local church
* 5km Husky Experience
* 1.5hrs Snowmobile Adventure
* Search for Santa
* Private family meeting with Santa
* Gift for children
* Reindeer Sleigh Ride
* Snow fun: tobogganing, kick sledging, kids' snowmobiles and more...
* Festive Dinner
* Arctic Circle Crossing Certificate
* Souvenir Lapland Passport
* All taxes and government air passenger duty
* Gingerbread house decorating competition
* Santa's snow olympics
* Snowshoe trek or indoor crafts
* Claus crafts class
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There is none of the commercialism here that can, at some of the destinations used by other tour operators, detract from the magical experience of searching for Father Christmas in his Arctic kingdom. Instead, Karesuando is set on the edge of a vast wilderness where beauty, nature and wildlife abound, virtually unsullied by modern man. Here, the land stretches for hundreds of miles west towards the Norwegian Alps offering views across the Arctic tundra, frozen lakes and rivers and silent forests. Set in the far north of Lapland, Karesuando is part of the ancient home of families from Europe’s least well-known tribes, the Sámi people. 
board your coach with the assistance of our local guides. Sit back and soak up your surroundings on the 45-minute coach transfer to the Davvi Arctic Lodge in Karesuando. The road we are taking is known as the Northern Lights route, which serves to remind you that you are now deep inside the Arctic Circle. There’s every chance you will spot one of Santa’s many reindeer – they greatly outnumber people in this far-flung region. We stop to collect your included all-in-one thermal suits and boots. Temperatures here range between –7C and –35C in December and the thermal suits and boots are an essential part of your holiday package. Please note that hats, scarves and gloves are also necessary but are not included.
sweets to enable you to construct your house and decorate it. Each house will be entered into a competition that will be judged by the host before dinner this evening, with a prize awarded for the best one. Alternatively, tobogganing, kick sledges and stigas will be available outside, or you can take the opportunity to join in one of our optional excursions. Before dinner commences, you are invited to join us for a host’s cocktail reception, when the gingerbread houses will prizes will be awarded. After dinner, you can enjoy your gingerbread house for dessert. Then get an early night or spend a couple of hours soaking up the atmosphere of the Davvi Arctic Lodge and its views, especially if there is a moon to reflect off the snowy landscapes. Or you have another chance to join one of our optional activities and the possibility of viewing the spectacular Northern Lights. But where is Father Christmas? The kids may ask you at bedtime. He’s very, very busy, you can tell them. But don’t worry. We will be going to search for him before we return home.
For those that can’t get enough of the great outdoors, tobogganing will again be available or you again have an chance to enjoy one of our optional excursions. Fancy visiting another country this evening? No problem. Work up an appetite for dinner by joining us on a walk to the local church, on the Swedish side of the border. It’s the most northerly church in Sweden! After a short welcome by the local vicar and carol singing, we will head back to the hotel for dinner before retiring for the evening. Or there's another chance to join one of our optional activities. Your children may be getting impatient. When will we go looking for Santa, they will plead. Soon, you will tell them. Very soon now. And their dreams will be filled with expectations.
for tomorrow's Santa’s Snow Olympics. There’s tobogganing, snowman building and snowball throwing - even if you decide not to enter, the training will be fun. Children will get the chance to test their own driving skills on the supervised kids’ snowmobile track (see page 48 for further details), try their balancing skills on the children’s skis and tandem skis, test their strength at tug of war and shoot for goal at snow hockey. Don’t forget to keep your camera close by, as the day is bound to provide some memorable photo opportunities. Lunch will be ready when you are and will be served at the hotel between 12 and 2. When you’ve had your fill of the great outdoors, head inside and join Mrs Claus in the Claus Christmas Crafts Class. Tonight is the festive dinner and the naughty elves have hidden all of the party decorations. Mrs Claus needs your help making Christmas hats, Christmas crackers, table decorations and more.
landscape in search of Father Christmas. As you head off through the snow laden trees, an elf will help guide you on your way.Finally, we hope to find Santa taking a well-deserved rest in his chosen log cabin or Sámi kota, a traditional tent. During a private family meeting with Santa, each child has the chance to talk with Santa and will receive a small gift which will evoke special memories for years to come of the day they met the real Father Christmas. Later, we will sit down to a festive dinner, complete with crackers, party poppers and blowers.
Transun Optional Extras & Naughty & Nice List (1745 kB)
