10 Mistakes to Avoid on Your Trip to Lapland with Kids

Lapland is one of those trips you start dreaming about long before you buy the tickets. A child's face when they meet Father Christmas in the snow, a husky sledge ride, looking for reindeer in the forest or being lucky enough to see the northern lights… it all sounds rather magical.

That's exactly why it's so frustrating to get home and discover you paid more than you needed to, picked dates that weren't the best or missed out on the activity you really wanted to do. Lapland isn't a cheap trip, and it isn't one to organise at the last minute either. Some decisions can change the budget enormously, and others can make the difference between enjoying the trip and spending your days rushing from one activity to the next.

So, before you book flights, accommodation or excursions, I want to tell you about the most common mistakes when planning a first family trip to Lapland.

1. Buying flights because they're cheap without looking at the rest of the trip

This is probably one of the most common mistakes. Finding a cheap flight to Rovaniemi can feel like a bargain, but the flight is usually only a small part of the budget for a trip to Lapland.

Then come the accommodation, the transfers, the activities, the food and everything else you want to do while you're there. A €150 flight per person can look like a real steal… until you find out that four nights' accommodation costs €1,500, that a sledge excursion can come to more than €500 for a family and that even visiting Father Christmas can come at a cost.

Before you buy the flights, do a quick search of what the whole trip would cost on those same dates: accommodation, activities, transport, car hire if you need it, and food.

Then decide.

A cheap flight is all well and good, but saving €200 on tickets doesn't help much if the dates you've chosen make everything else far more expensive.

2. Thinking you can only go at Christmas

If your children dream of meeting Father Christmas surrounded by snow, it's natural that the first thing you think of is travelling in December. But Lapland isn't just Christmas.

Late November, January, February or March can also give you completely snowy landscapes and a proper winter experience, and sometimes you'll find better prices and more availability.

December, especially the days around Christmas and New Year, is in huge demand. So if your dates are flexible, it's worth comparing what the same trip costs in other weeks.

And there's another important point: you don't need to travel on 24 December to experience the magic of Father Christmas. If the main goal is to enjoy the snow, do activities as a family and meet the man himself, widening your dates can give you much more room to plan the trip and keep the budget under control.

If you don't need to travel on exactly those dates, compare before you book anything. Moving the trip by just a few days can make a considerable difference to the final price, especially for accommodation and activities.

3. Ruling out Lapland in summer

This mistake matters most if you want to see Lapland but don't need the trip to be a snow experience.

In summer, Lapland changes completely. The forests are green, the lakes invite you in for a swim, there are walking routes for families, you may come across wildlife and you can enjoy the famous midnight sun.

It's true you won't get husky sledges or snowy landscapes, but in return many experiences are easier to organise and the trip can work out a good deal cheaper. And yes, Santa Claus Village is open in summer too.

So if the budget for a Christmas trip is getting out of hand, don't rule Lapland out automatically. You may simply need to change the time of year.

4. Believing Rovaniemi is the whole of Lapland

Rovaniemi is the best-known destination and, for many families, a very convenient choice for a first trip. But Lapland is much, much more than Rovaniemi.

There are other places such as Levi, Ylläs, Saariselkä, Inari or Pyhä-Luosto, each with a different feel and its own range of accommodation and activities.

Rovaniemi has the advantage of packing in lots of experiences and attractions, but it doesn't have to be the best option for everyone. If you're after more nature, more peace and quiet or a slightly less touristy experience, it's worth looking at other areas before deciding where to stay.

5. Booking accommodation without checking where it really is

In Lapland, where you stay can make an enormous difference. A hotel or cabin that looks cheap can stop being a bargain when you discover it's far from everything and you have to keep paying for transfers.

Before you book, check exactly where it is, what's around it, whether there are restaurants or supermarkets nearby, whether any transport is included and how far it is to the activities you want to do.

And think, too, about something as simple as getting back to your accommodation after an excursion at -15°C. Being ten minutes away is not the same as needing forty minutes of transport.

Sometimes paying a little more for a good location ends up cheaper than saving on accommodation and then spending on getting around.

6. Booking activities without comparing prices or doing the maths for the whole family

This is where a Lapland budget can shoot up in no time. Don't book the first excursion you find: always compare prices.

Especially when it comes to activities like husky rides, reindeer safaris, snowmobiles, northern lights excursions, ice fishing or farm visits.

Always check what each experience includes, how long it lasts, whether transport is included, what clothing they provide and, above all, what it really costs for your whole family.

A price advertised as ‘from €100 per person’ can sound reasonable until you do the sums for four people and add the extras.

These are some of the most popular excursions in Rovaniemi, so you can compare options and prices before you book:

And if you're looking for something different from the classic reindeer-and-snowmobile combination, these are other options that are also very popular in Rovaniemi:

7. Booking too many excursions and leaving no free time

This is the opposite mistake. As soon as you start researching what to do in Lapland it's easy to get carried away: huskies, reindeer, snowmobiles, ice fishing, snowshoes, the northern lights, Father Christmas… And before you know it, you've got every day of the trip packed with activities.

But Lapland can also be enjoyed without an excursion booked for every hour. Leave time to play in the snow, build a snowman, go sledging, walk through a snowy forest or simply enjoy the place you're staying.

What's more, this will help you save money on your trip to Lapland. Believe me, you don't need to book a different activity every day to enjoy Lapland.

8. Assuming you'll see the northern lights

This is one of the big dreams of any trip to Lapland, but also one of the easiest to be disappointed by.

The northern lights depend on solar activity and sky conditions, so nobody can guarantee you'll see them. You can spend several days in Lapland and have the clouds, low solar activity or plain bad luck send you home without seeing them.

So enjoy the aurora if it appears, but don't plan the whole trip around seeing it no matter what. Lapland has so much more to offer.

If you'd rather go with a guide, an excursion to try to spot the northern lights is one of the most popular options in Rovaniemi.

9. Skipping good travel insurance, forgetting about mobile data and buying too many clothes

In Lapland the cold can be extreme, and travelling with children without good insurance isn't a good idea. If something goes wrong, a doctor's visit or a problem during an activity can end up costing far more than you expected. Before you go, make sure you take out insurance that properly covers the kind of trip you're making and winter activities.

You'll also be glad to have mobile data during the trip. You'll need it to check the weather, use Google Maps, look things up or find the meeting point for an excursion. Having an Airalo eSIM installed before you leave can be a simple way to avoid roaming headaches.

And then there are the clothes. It's very easy to get carried away and buy a pile of thermal clothing, thinking you need to kit yourself out from head to toe. Before you spend, check what each excursion includes. Many tours provide thermal suits, boots and even gloves, so you may not need to buy everything.

That said, for the rest of the trip you'll need a good base: thermal layers, warm socks, a hat and a decent pair of gloves. In Lapland, being properly prepared for the cold really does make a difference.

10. Thinking you need to book a package holiday

Is it better to travel to Lapland independently or book a package? The answer depends a lot on how you like to travel.

A package holiday can be a comfortable option if you want to forget about coordinating flights, accommodation, transfers and activities. But Lapland can also be organised perfectly well on your own, and doing it that way lets you compare prices, choose where to stay and decide which activities you really want to do.

What's more, you don't have to book an excursion for every day. The best thing about travelling independently is being able to leave free time to enjoy the snow, explore the surroundings or simply spend a quiet afternoon at your accommodation.

If you're starting from scratch, we have a basic guide to planning a family trip to Lapland where we explain where to begin.

Just one thing: if you decide to organise it yourself, don't leave everything until the last minute. Compare prices, check carefully what each booking includes and, above all, work out the final cost for the whole family before you hit the book button.

Is it worth planning Lapland yourself?

If you want to save money on a trip to Lapland, there are five mistakes that can send the budget soaring: buying flights before the rest of the trip is clear, booking accommodation without properly comparing location and price, booking activities without working out what they'll really cost for the whole family, filling every day with excursions and thinking it's only worth going at Christmas.

Lapland can be a very expensive trip, yes, but you can also plan it far more cleverly. The key is comparing, prioritising and booking early, not trying to do absolutely everything you see on Instagram.

And some of the best memories don't have to be the most expensive activities. An afternoon playing in the snow, a walk through a snowy forest or even seeing the aurora from your accommodation window can turn into unforgettable moments.

Because in the end, you don't enjoy Lapland more by doing more activities, but by choosing the ones that really suit you and your family.