Day 4- Snow Hotel!

I woke up to the most amazing snowy view in Lapland this morning. Once I figured out how to make the coffee I enjoyed the relaxing view a little longer. The Arctic tree house hotel was a great location to stay and get away from the tourism and hype of Finland and the staff was so accommodating and friendly!

Santa Claus Village

I had a few hours before I have to be at my pickup location for my next adventure so I decided to head to SCV  (Santa Claus Village). It’s about a 20 minute walk on the snow path and a 5 min drive. Unfortunately, today there is a bus strike so it looks like I will be walking!

Once I arrived at SCV I went straight to see Santa of course! You can come see Santa for free and don’t need an appointment. They don’t allow you to take pictures with your own phone but you can purchase a small one from the store and it was 30 euros. Overpriced for the picture but when you go to Santa’s village,  one must have evidence of seeing him right?! He was the real deal and showed me pictures of  Mrs Claus and their summer home on the lake with their dog. He said I look like a nice person..6 out of 7 days a week 😊 I told him I sure do try!

At SCV they have an insane amount of gift shops where you can buy any Christmas souvenir you can imagine and then some. I mosied around and then ended up at Santa’s post office. You can purchase post cards and Christmas stamps and then mail them from SCV. You can mail them now or they will save until Christmas and mail then. They have cute little writing spots in the post office and people feverishly writing to loved ones as well as kids writing to Santa. ❤️

Then I ventured over to the hub of picture taking for the Arctic circle, snapped a few photos and decided to go for a reindeer ride! I think doing a reindeer ride at SCV is perfect because it gives you a taste of what it’s like without spending gobs of money. 30 Euros for about a 15 minute ride at SCV. I did the husky and reindeer ride and my preference is the longer husky ride and farm. Some fun facts I learned about the reindeer at these farms. 

-They do get a few months off at the farms for a vacation.

-They live up to 15 years in Finland.

-They do name them like pets at the farms and they have personalities just like other animals.

-Reindeer is on every menu for dinner and lunch. This is one of their main meat sources. 

-Reindeer don’t run wild, they are owned by people just like in America we handle cattle. 

-They use helicopters, snowmobiles and other ways to gather them in fields.

Arctic Snow Hotel

Next stop was the Arctic Snow Hotel! They do have pick up service at a few locations which is handy. From SCV it is a 30 minute drive north of Rovaniemi. When you arrive you feel like you have stepped into a whole arctic planet that you haven’t seen before. The art that goes into building this is astounding. They build a new arctic snow hotel at this location every year. It takes them 4 weeks to create it and the theme is different every year. The hotel is made of snow with ice sculpture art built into the walls or freestanding in rooms, the bar or the restaurant. 

I chose a package called the 5 senses of snow which included dinner at the ice restaurant, dinner at Kota (warm restaurant), lunch at Kota, a drink at the ice bar, the sauna experience, ice fishing excursion, one night in the snow hotel, breakfast both days and one night in the glass igloo.

Some info on the snow hotel stay:

They have a bathroom that is warm, one for women and one for men along with a locker area for your snow night belongings and valuables. In the locker room is your first layer zip up, your sleeping bag and your pillow that you will fetch right before bedtime. They ask you to not leave things in your room or go to your room until you are ready for bed. They allow entry to see all of the rooms in the snow hotel and to take pictures, which you will want to do! Once you are ready for bed there is a curtain you pull shut along with a rope that goes across the entry saying not to enter. You have to leave your luggage in a storage room in the reception area for your stay at the snow hotel. So you must get a small collection of things to get you through the night in the snow hotel. This part was kind of a pain and I didn’t know this going into the booking but it truly was a once in a lifetime experience for me. You have one cord in your room for charging your phone but make sure you have your adapter. I would compare the night in the snow hotel to camping in extreme cold weather conditions. You are warm in your sleeping bag and really only need one layer of thermals, if you dress too warm you will sweat and be cold all night. For the visitors that can’t handle the cold all night they do have bunk beds in the locker room to sleep in if you need it. It was totally full of people when I woke up the next morning 🤣. They will come wake you if the northern lights come out and have a wake up call with warm berry juice which is so nice first thing in the morning. I wore leggings, wool socks and a t-shirt and I slept great. Make sure to put your coat in the bottom of your sleeping bag so when you walk out of your room for the morning or a bathroom break it will be toasty. I wouldn’t recommend staying more than one night here but I feel it is a must to experience it. They do have a public sauna for hotel guests that has a divided gender community shower area if you want to use this in the morning or at night before bed.

The ice bar is open for 15 minutes on the hour and then full time for several hours in the evenings. The glasses are made of ice and they put shots of alcohol or non alcoholic beverage. Once you drink it you throw it against the wall and of course…it breaks. Just watch where you throw! They do have hot beverages they will give you in to go cups if you would like. Shots of alcohol are around 10 euros a piece.

Next up was the Finnish sauna experience. You get an hour and a half with your own private shower, sauna, hot tub and snow sauna. They do serve a small selection of beverages both alcoholic and non alcoholic. I do recommend taking a small plastic bag for your swimsuit afterwards and anything you need to look presentable (hairbrush). They provide a towel, shower, shower gel, robe, slippers and a stocking cap. The rest is on you to take! I did the recommended sauna first for 30, hot tub for 30 and then the snow sauna for 15. This worked great for me and thoroughly enjoyed this experience!

Dinner was next at the Kota restaurant which has a pre fixed menu that you choose prior to arriving. I had the vegetarian dish with soup and dessert. A lot of people ordered the salmon which seemed to be a big hit and is cooked on open fire in the middle of the restaurant. The food was great and I definitely recommend doing Kota on the night that you stay in the snow hotel to have a place to warm up before your cold evening. Next door is the warm Sky bar which is a great place for a night cap before bed.