Can you visit Lapland on a budget as a family of 5? All too often it's advertised as a luxury holiday destination that most families wouldn't be able to justify the cost. For years I didn't think we'd ever be able to visit.
After years of dreaming about visiting this magical destination and letting my boys meet the 'real' Santa Claus before they got too old to believe in all the magic, I'm happy to say this is exactly what I achieved for my own family this year. It was great to cross a destination off my ultimate family holiday bucket list.
A holiday to Lapland can seem completely out of reach for a lot of families. This is especially true for larger families, due to how expensive it's portrayed to be. However, Lapland CAN be visited on a budget, as a family of 5 or more.
How I hear you ask? It's all about the planning and compromising on a few things. But rest assured, the compromises don't take away from any of the Lapland magic!
Also, I would avoid any package holiday deals or day trips to Lapland as the prices are often extortionate. You can get a whole lot more bang for your buck and a longer stay if you go DIY and plan the trip yourself.
Read on to see how I breakdown how to visit Lapland on a budget as a family of 5.
Lapland: When to go?
The time of year that you visit Lapland will have a big impact on your budget. Trips for a family of 5 around the most desirable time, Christmas, were coming in at €8,000 for accommodation alone. Obviously that was a huge no for me!
I started to search for other times of year to visit, that still offered the magic of Santa Claus and guaranteed snow.
My family of 5 visited Lapland at the end of March. It was honestly just as magical as I imagined it to be - and possibly even more so as I couldn't be dealing with the crowds at Christmas time!
It snowed almost every day during our visit and our accommodation, Santa Claus Village, had no crowds or queues for the attractions and at night it was as if we had the place to ourselves.
As we had our 20 month old with us and the milder March weather meant that he could still play in the snow and be outdoors for the majority of the day without freezing.
The plane - Ryanair are the airline that fly from Dublin to Rovaniemi (Lapland), was half empty both on the outbound and return journey. This meant we had plenty of space.
I highly recommend a visit to Lapland in March for all the reasons listed above, as well as the fact that it's considerably CHEAPER than the traditional Christmas/New Year season.
When to book flights to Lapland?
If you're travelling from Ireland, your only option to fly to Lapland directly is via Dublin with Ryanair. I recommend booking when Ryanair have their sales. If you really like living spontaneously, you can get great deals the week before you want to fly - especially if you choose to visit in March. Flying out one Wednesday this past March would have cost just €15 per person - you can't say more budget than that!
I chose to get the priority boarding and book a 20kg bag as we had food, etc. to bring for our toddler. However, if you're travelling with older children you won't need this, a backpack would be enough. This will allow you to save even more on a DIY trip and the flights.
Where to stay?
Admittedly, there are cheaper accommodation options available in Lapland, like AirBnb, especially if you visit 'out of season'. As we had our toddler who still needs a nap with us, we wanted to stay within Santa Claus Holiday Village to be close to the attractions and our accommodation.
We stayed in one of the family suites in Santa Claus Holiday Village, which comfortably sleeps a family of 5 and even has a private sauna in the bathroom. This was for under €1300. I was happy to pay this price for the convenience of being close to everything. If you're travelling with older children, you could reduce the accommodation cost by staying elsewhere.
Keep in mind that you may need to pay for a hire car to get around though. We didn't need a hire car as we were 5 minutes away from the airport and took the bus and a taxi to and from the airport. A taxi works out cheaper for a family of five at €20 and they'll collect you directly from your room.
Breakfast was also included in the price of our stay and was buffet style, which really set us up for the day. I thought the accommodation was great value for 5 people. I would stay there again.
What to pack?
Possibly one of the most expensive parts of a holiday to Lapland can be all the snow gear you end up buying, but honestly, you don't need it all, especially if you visit during a milder time of year.
Each person will need 1 snow proof jacket and snow proof pants each, as well as snow boots, a hat, neck warmer and snow proof gloves. Mid layers and base layers are also a must. All of these things can be picked up in sales, the middle isles of Aldi and Lidl and Penney's fleece pyjamas work great as a mid layer.
Don't go overboard and fork out on expensive snow gear - unless you're planning on going on multiple winter/skiing/Lapland holidays!
What to do?
By staying in Santa Claus Village, we had all the attractions on our doorstep.
Santa Claus is free to visit in Santa Claus Holiday Village and photos are optional - they start at €35.
A visit to Mrs. Santa Claus was €5 per person, again with an optional photo.
Mini snowmobiling was €20 per child.
Elf's Farmyard - the best value attraction, in my opinion, was €15 for adults and €10 for children - we spent hours here. Bring your own marshmallows and roast them over the open fires outside or in one of the tents.
The most expensive attractions were the Bearhill Husky ride and the Santa's Reindeer ride at €140 and €170 for the five of us respectively. Again, you can tailor what activities you want to do to suit your budget. We just wanted to experience everything as we had dreamed of this for many years.
Ultimately, my boys just loved sledding down the snow hills! Santa Claus Holiday Village has many sleds laying around outside that you can use during your stay. You can also buy them in the gift shop for €13 each.
They would have happily played in the snow all day long and that's definitely a budget way to spend some time in Lapland!
What to eat?
I would highly recommend packing lots of snacks/things for lunch for during your visit. As I mentioned, breakfast was included within our stay and it really did set us up for the day, but during our time of visiting there weren't many options available for lunch and our boys were too busy playing to want to come in out of the snow! Having snacks on hand kept them happy.
As we visited in March, dinner options also weren't great, so we had burgers/pizza and chips throughout our stay, averaging €60 a meal for the four of us - we had meals for our toddler that we brought with us.
There is also a Shell garage directly across from Santa Claus Holiday Village (please use the underpass and don't cross the highway!) where you can get cheap pizza and other snacks.
I hope I've inspired you to DIY your own dream family holiday to Lapland and that a trip like this can be achieved. We had a magical time and already dream of visiting Lapland again. Now that we know it doesn't have to be super expensive, we know that we can someday.
My middle son cried when leaving as it was such a magical experience. I'm so glad I got to make this dream come true for us all.
Find a highlight and reels with more information on our Lapland trip on my Instagram.
