Three fabulous locations in Finnish Lapland – which one is for you?

At Emagine we have chosen three very different locations and itineraries for our New Year holidays but whichever you choose we promise you will return special memories that will last a life time. After a hectic Christmas there is nothing better than escaping to clean air, exhilarating activities and a chance for some quality time away from the TV and daily stress.

Come and recharge your batteries in Finnish Lapland.

Hotel Jeris, near Muonio, Finnish Lapland.

For all ages.                           

6 days.

Our New Year guests at Hotel Jeris in Lapland last year never stopped talking about the setting, the scenery and the silence. It is a wonderful location, set deep in the forest, by a huge frozen lake and with a National Park on its boundary.

The holiday is a balance of activity and free time. It includes a snowmobile safari to a reindeer farm and a husky safari but on the other days you get to set the pace. Some guests chose to book on additional safaris, some collected cross country skis and explored the trails through the National park, others relaxed in the spa pools or curled up and read a book. It is fair to say that everyone tobogganed!

Following dinner on New Years Eve everyone had their fortune told and then headed onto the lake, a drink in hand, to see in the New Year and admire the fireworks.

Jeris is ideal for those wishing to get away from the crowds, have some activity but still have free time as a couple or family enjoying the cabins with their private saunas and fireplaces.

For further details click here.

Hotel Harriniva, Muonio Finnish Lapland.

For teens and adults only.     

6 days.

At Harriniva for New Year our safaris are longer so not recommended for younger visitors. When you head off on snowmobiles it will be across the fells, taking in the most spectacular views and with a stop for lunch in a lakeside chalet along the way.  Your husky safari will take you though the forest, with simple lunch served in a traditional kota.

Even though the group will not include children it doesn’t mean you have to hide the child in you, especially when we head off to the local ski slopes for some tobogganing!

There is also an opportunity to learn more about the region, its animals and the indigenous Sami people during a visit to the village of Hetta. Lunch will be served in the amazing Hetta Snow Castle.

Life at Harriniva are quite relaxed with evenings spent relaxing over dinner, a drink in the bar or maybe soaking in the lakeside hot tubs.

On New Years Eve following dinner and some fortune telling head outside onto the ice, not once but twice to celebrate the Finnish and then the Swedish New Year with drinks and fireworks before hitting the disco in the bar.

For further details click here.

Hotel Riekonlinna, Saariselka, Finnish Lapland.

For all ages.               

7 days.

Hotel Riekonlinna is located in the lovely northern Lapland resort of Saariseka. We have planned the holiday so you have a mixture of organised and free time so you can design your holiday to meet your family’s needs. It includes a long snowmobile safari and a long husky safari, both with lunch served along the way. On other days you can choose from an exciting range of additional optional safaris. You may decide to head off to the nearby ski slopes, spa swimming pool or try the resorts 2km toboggan run. We have included some dinners in the hotel so you can make new friends and other evenings are free so you can try the resorts excellent restaurants whether in search of pizza or some local delicacies!

On New Years Eve enjoy dinner in the hotel before stepping outside to take in the fireworks that are set off around the resort.

Emagine staff will be on hand throughout your stay to help you make the most of the amazing location.

For further details click here.

Visit Santa in the most magical settings, away from the madding crowd!

At Emagine this week we have launched our Santa Holidays to Finnish Lapland and Northern Finland. You can choose from 4,5 and 6 day holidays the most magical settings: isolated fell top hotels, cabins set deep in snow covered forests or picturesque resorts.

As you know this is where Santa Claus lives and he is often seen out and about training his reindeers. You will get to meet him twice. Once, as a family, as he rests in a cabin and again at a Christmas party.

You will take part in a host of exhilarating activities such as husky safaris, snowmobiling, tobogganing, reindeer rides, ice fishing, snow hockey…………….and lots more.

For a full list of dates and itineraries click here.

Choose from in a number of stunning resorts. Click on the hotel name for a full description.

Syöte enjoys its first winter snowfall.

The pretty area of Syöte in Northern Finland and home to Hotel Iso- Syöte and Syöte Keskus reported its first snow fall today.

The hotels sit atop Finland’s southern most fells in perfect isolation. The nearest town, Pudasjarvi is over 30km away.

This is early days so the snow will probably melt as the day warms up but it indicates that winter is on its way and the beautiful and colourful autumn this region experiences is at an end.

During winter the region attracts, skiers and those looking for adventure on snowmobile and husky safaris.

Over 700km south in Finland’s capitol, Helsinki, they had several hours of sleet.

To visit Syote this December click here.

Saariselkä in Northern Finnish Lapland received its first snow overnight!

if the Late Finnish President had been successful!

The late Finnish President Urho Kekkonen had offered half of Lapland to the Soviet Union in 1968. The offer was made to former Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev in exchange for Karelia.

An recent article by Juha Pohjonen in Kaleva reveals that Kekkonen had proposed offering the area north of the 67th parallel. The region would have included several municipalities including Enontekiö, Inari and Utsjok would have been swapped for Karelia.

"The deal did not take place, but it was meant to spark interest in the matter among top leadership in the Soviet Union," said Pohjonen.

In return, Finland could have asked for the city of Vyborg back, the region west of the city, and the Saimaa canal.

The deal however did not move forward. Pohjonen said that the Soviet Union was not interested in the trade.

"If the USSR would have accepted the proposal, I would assume that Kekkonen would have been ousted from power," Pohjonen said.

you can take a dip!

After an exciting day of husky safaris, snowmobiling, ice fishing and of course meeting Santa we return to our hotel.

For many there is no such thing as too much snow and they head straight back outside to go tobogganing, skiing or making snowmen.

Others they reach a point where they can’t spend another second in all of those layers of thermals, jumpers and safari clothing. Some head for the bar for a well earned drink while others decide they are off for a dip.

Taking a dip varies dramatically depending where you are……….

In Saariselka, north eastern Lapland, in the Holiday Club Hotel is the fabulous  swimming pool with slides, spa pools and wave machine. Entrance to the pool is free to Holiday Club guests. Guests from other hotels are welcome but pay an entrance fee.

At Hotel Iso-Syote in Northern Finland guests can enjoy a relaxing warming sauna and take a dip in their cooling indoor pool.

At Hotel Jeris, western Lapland, taking a dip can involve more of a challenge if you are feeling brave.

While most guests choose to soak in the wonderful warm lakeside spa pools the crazier guests take a short swim in the outdoor lake pool!

At Hotel Harriniva, in western Lapland, there isn’t a pool but clients can hire an outdoor hot tub in a snowy riverside setting. The braver adults can take a dip in an ice hole!

It goes without saying that as this is Lapland all of the locations have a warming sauna to hop into after your dip!

A saving of £260 for a family of two adults and 2 children.   

4 days in Finnish Lapland staying at Hotel Riekonlinna, Saariselka for the weekend. Packed with thrilling activities, a wonderful setting and lots of care and attention. The ideal way to meet Santa in person, not once but twice!

Your holiday includes:

Return flights from London Gatwick to Ivalo, transfers, accommodation, full board, Safaris (Arctic activity day, reindeer ride, husky safari & snowmobile safari), outer thermal safari clothing, Meeting Santa one family at a time in a forest cabin and again at a Christmas dinner, A Christmas gift for everyone, Snowkids club and Emagine guides resident to assist throughout your stay.

Adults £799 and Children £699.

Offer Valid until: 31 August 2007.

Please quote reference 708SR when booking or on your booking form to receive the above discounted price.

To read the full itinerary and to book click here.

For special offer details click here.

An exciting range of holidays throughout December from London and Manchester to meet Santa!

Emagine are once again offering an exciting and diverse range of holidays to Lapland and Northern Finland this coming December.

Choose from holidays packed with activities in  a range of wonderful accommodation where you are

guaranteed personal care and attention.

Hotel Riekonlinna in Saariselka, Hotels Harriniva and Hotel Jeris in Muonio, Hotels Syote Keskus and Hotel Iso-Syote in Syote.

At all of these locations Emagine includes meeting Santa twice (once as a family in a forest cabin and again at a Christmas party), snowmobile safari, reindeer rides, a husky safari, ice fishing, full board, outer thermal clothing and the Emagine team on hand throughout your stay.

For those wanting a little more independence, new for this year is Simply Saariselka featuring   Hotel Holiday Club and Hotel Tunturi. The concept allows you to decide on the level of activity and meals included in your holiday. We have included the essentials such as flights, accommodation, breakfast and a fun activity day where you get to meet Santa as a family, then they let you decide what to do with that precious free time.

Emagine clients frequently comment on the levels of care and the attention to detail that goes into making their holiday to Lapland so special. They love the small finishing touches and the personal, thoughtful and friendly sevice from the guides  

To learn more about the holidays contact reservations on Tel: 0870 902 5399 

Click here to order a brochure.

To look at the holidays on the Emagine website click here.

Telegraph article tells all about visiting Santa in Finnish Lapland.......

When the travel presenter Judith Chalmers took her grandsons on a surprise trip to see Father Christmas she was just as excited as they were.

  
You know when you have been planning something secret for a long time? As the occasion nears you get excited: you want it to be the day to reveal all, yet you almost want to hold the pleasure back as it will all be over so quickly.

For the full story click here.

Limited availability remaining, click here for details.

Work has started on the igloo at Harriniva.

The team at Harriniva in Finnish Lapland have started work on their Igloo. The excellent snow levels and cold nights, already at times as low as -30, are ideal conditions for building.

Guests staying at Harriniva during the winter can book a room in the igloo to stay in for the night. At Harriniva they build this one large igloo with a central chamber which will be furnished with an ice table and chairs in the coming weeks. Individual bedroom chambers then lead off the central room.

The cosy sleeping bag and crisp clean air are the ideal conditions for a good nights sleep, even when it is -30 outside.

Pictures of the finished, decorated igllo to follow shortly.

For further details on visiting Harriniva this coming winter click here.

Visitors to Harriniva this December will be able to meet the Husky litter.

Avalon, Aragon and Aurin and their sisters Akita and Aura are keeping their mother busy and are growing fast. Any time now they will be transfering to the kindergarten where they will have more space and greater independence.

Harriniva already has a decent covering of snow, more is forecast for the coming week and temperatures are constantly dipping below -10. This means that the puppies are looking on with interest as the older dogs at the husky farm are setting off on training runs as the first husky safaris will start by the end of the month.

If you are visiting Harriniva this December you will be able to meet the huskies in person. Please send us your favourite photos of them.

For further details on visiting Harriniva in December click here and for the remainder of the winter click here. 

The big freeze at Harriniva!

Lapland is already enjoying temperatures at night as low as -25 and is looking amazing.

River Muonio that flows past Harriniva is just starting to freeze and the hotel is planning to build its igloo in the coming days.

Iso-Syote, amazing weather and stunning views!

After a flight via Helsinki we arrived in Rovaniemi in Finnish Lapland. It was then a gentle two hour drive south to the amazing fell area of Syote.

Unfortunataly pictures will have to follow so you will have to take my word as to how amazing Syote looks. At breakfast in the hotels panoramic restaurant we just watched in awe as the sun rose over the opposite fell and sat on top of the blanket of mist in the valley, truely breathtaking.

The trees, hotel and cottages are already covered in a pretty layer of frost and snow. The temperature waivered between -8 and -10 all day with bright sunshine and crystal clear skies. The safari guides were already out preparing the snowmobile roots for the coming season and the snow cannons were on the slopes.

If Juha and Katarina at the hotel Iso Syote have their way you will soon be able to admire the views for yourself from their webcam. It will be worth getting up early to see those sunrises.

The locals mentioned that they had already seen Santa out doing some pre-season training with his reindeer. It appears that the amazing summer has left them a little lazy and above their prefered flying weight. Nice to know that it isn't just humans that have to get in shape for the festive season! I will let you know if we see him or the northern lights.

Tap into the network of cameras across Finland and Lapland to experience the quiet life!

A Finnish website set up primarily by the authorities to monitor weather conditions on their roads allows you to get a glimps of Finnish weather and life. Until not many years ago staff in a network of cabins along the main routes would call in weather updates but now the cameras along with other roadside technology allow authroties to decide when the snowplows should be dispatched on any given stretch.

The first thing that hits you is the lack of traffic, especially when you look at the cameras in Lapland. You will also be able to see that Lapland already has a decent covering of snow, 30cm has fallen in recent days.

To link to the website click here.

As temperatures plummet, lakes start to freeze and the snow appears.

Hotel Iso-Syote, a wonderful hotel set on of one of Finland southern most fells, just below the Arctic Circle, is enjoying the best of both worlds - bright sunshine and the arrival of winter. Temperatures are now regularly dropping below -10 which is vital at this time of year to ensure that lakes and swamps freeze before the arrival of the heavy winter snow.

The ski slopes tend to open mid November and the first husky and snowmobile safaris set off in early December or ealier if snow conditions allow.

Syote enjoys some of the heaviest snowfall in Lapland with the trees you see in the pictures being transformed into snow pyramids. The image below was taken last December from the hotel overlooking the ski lifts. The views from the hotel and cabins are breathtaking what ever the season.

For further details of spending Christmas in this Winter wonderland click here.

Life in the nursery in Lapland.

A few photos to show how Harriniva's latest puppies are progressing. They are growing so fast.

There is already snow on the ground in places in Lapland and at night time they are experiencing temperatures as low as -10.
That of course will be nothing to the puppies, as the winter progresses they must be prepared to function in tempratures as low as -40.
As a rule it is the warmer weather the dogs dislike, even temperatures of -5 are not pleasant when the dogs are working, whisking their sleds through the forzen forests. They are happiest and -10 and below! 

If you want experience husky sleding in Lapland click here.

Meet the latest arrivals at the Harriniva Husky farm in Finnish Lapland.

It is a wonderful life at the Harriniva husky farm. These youngsters are the newest members to the 350 strong husky family! The boys above are Avalon, Aragon and Aurin.
Below are a couple of their sisters, Akita and Aura.

The puppies are currently living in the nursery with their mother where they are given lots of love and attention. In a few weeks time they will move onto the kindergarten. It is then that the husky farm staff start to watch them playing, with their expertise they will be picking out which will be the husky team leaders of the future and which will be the muscle.  As they get older they will gradually be introduced to an experienced husky team, working alongside them. Once fully grown they will have lots of opportunities to do what they love most….to run. They will be whisking guests through the forest on sleds for hours or days on end.

Watch this space for more pictures of the Harriniva puppies as they grow-up.

For further details on visiting Harriniva and seeing the puppies in person this December click here.

We try and answer the eternal question………

While sitting by a lake in Lapland, deep in the forest one evening this summer a discussion started between me and some friends about just how old Santa Claus is.
As we sipped cloud berry juice and cooked sausages and fish over the fire the discussion went on long into the night, or is that day, this Finnish midnight sun is so confusing!

We were all lucky enough to have known Santa for many years as we were either locals or had met him while visiting Lapland on many occasions over the years.

Between the eight people present there was a huge variation in what we believed to be his age from a pitiful 183 years to a rather unbelievable 536 years.

Several of us were just guessing but others spoke with great authority.

Mikko, the local reindeer herder, felt certain that Santa was 428 years old. He pointed out that after all he should know as his family had been caring for Santa’s reindeers since his great, great, great, great, great grandfather was a boy!

Ilkka, the chief elf, just laughed and said that every elf knew that Santa is 498, they already had a committee planning his golden golden birthday, just 2 years away. After all wasn’t it the elves that had found Santa, then just a young man of 200 and something, wandering across the isolated fells and helped him build his secret cabin deep in the forest.

The discussion went on and on until Ilkka asked his grandson, Arto,the youngest in our group, to go to Santas house and ask him how old he is. So off the young elf ran.

We fed the passing reindeer, fished, had a sauna and napped by the fire but still the young elf had not returned. As we packed up to leave and were saying our goodbyes the young elf eventually appeared. As we all awaited the answer Arto promised that he had indeed asked Santa Claus the question. As he rocked in his chair by the fire the great man had started to count off the years, telling him of some of the highpoints of each year, smiling at the thought of some good years and weeping at others. We all encouraged him to tell us his final answer but the young elf had to admit that Santa had got as far as 415 and had fallen asleep!

If you want to visit Lapland and ask Santa how old he is click here.

Breakfast view from restaurant at Hotel Iso-Syote!

We took the above photo while we were sat enjoying a leisurely breakfast on our final morning at Hotel Iso-Syote in northern Finland last December.

After 4 crazy and wonderful days of snowmobiling, husky sledging and of course meeting Santa we were all quietly sat reflecting on our trip when the cloud settled and this amazing view opened up before us.

It just summed up our breathtaking location and unforgettable Santa holiday.

Alec.