Ski Saariselkä & Santa’s Resort in Finland

by Christine M.April 10, 2014

My family and I were finally able to try out snow skiing and snowboarding for the first time in our lives at Ski Saariselkä Sport Resort in Finland two weekends ago. I ended up with a nice bruise on one of my butt cheeks from it for the past 2 weeks, but all in all it was a very fun experience for all of us!! We also went on a ski lift for the first time… and boy oh boy was that hilarious!! I fell off the side trying to get off and lost my blue winter hat in the process which went flying down the ski slope never again to be seen! 😦 So, if anyone finds a nice light blue winter hat that has a Helsinki tag on it… it’s mine! My husband also banged up his legs trying to get him and Mia off safely… my goodness, we were a complete mess trying to get off that darn ski lift!! Leave it to the family from Florida to show everyone how to do it so gracefully! Ha Ha! Oh well, we can now say we’ve tried it, not successfully, but we survived… barely! Another check off the bucket list! 🙂

We first tried out snow skiing with a very nice ski instructor named Leen. It was a great experience to have snow skis on our feet for the first time. It was a little difficult to walk at first, but we managed to go skiing down a little part of the bottom of the slope! The next day we tried out snowboarding. We were exhausted from all of the excitement of staying up late the evening before to see the amazing northern lights, so my husband and I didn’t do as well. But, to our surprise, Mia was a natural!! She had so much fun and we couldn’t believe our eyes when she kept successfully going down the little part of the slope and even slightly turning at the bottom. She looked like a little surfer girl with her arms stretched out on that snowboard…We were so proud and amazed!! All in all, this was a very fun experience for us and something we will never forget. We would love to try cross country skiing one day as well.. it looks a lot less scary and much more peaceful!!

Here are a few photos from our first experience snow skiing and snowboarding:

Mia with a pair of snow skis on for the first time!

Mia was so happy to have a pair of snow skis on her feet for the very first time!

This is Mia with our ski instructor Leen, learning how to stop.

This is Mia with our very patient ski instructor Leen, skiing down the slope!

This is me trying out snowboarding for the first time! It was much more difficult than I thought it would be!

Mia and her daddy on the ski lift… so happy right before all the excitement happened trying to get off! 🙂

Mia and I at what felt like the top of the world (well almost)… we were north of the arctic circle! That is also my blue hat I lost after falling off the ski lift!

I had a lot of fun trying out snowboarding for the first time!

This one is a bit blurry (forgot to change the settings). This is our family with our amazing ski instructor, Leen! 🙂

Santa’s Resort: After our ski lesson on Friday, we made it back to the Kakslauttanen Arctic Resort where we stayed and they had transportation (a quick 5-minute drive) ready for a group of us to experience their Santa’s Resort. We were greeted by a very friendly elf and were taken to feed some of Santa’s reindeer. We were then taken up a pretty snow lined path to where we could see Santa in front of a cute little cottage and he was standing next to a real reindeer!! Mia starting screaming “Santa, Santa, Santa!!” It was a pretty cool sight to see! We were then able to take photos with Santa and his reindeer and then went inside his cute cottage. Mia was able to sit on Santa’s lap and he gave her a present. The cottage had a cute desk where letters from children around the world were displayed. It also had a room where Santa’s sleigh bed was and a very cozy fireplace in the living area.

We were then taken down a beautiful wooden bridge where you could get a great view of the Celebration House (Finland’s largest log building which is used for special events). We enjoyed a nice warm juice drink and some tasty gingerbread cookies inside the stunning Celebration House. Here are a few photos from our experience at Santa’s Resort:

Mia and I with Santa and one of his reindeer at Santa’s Resort. What a neat experience!!

Our Family with Santa and one of his beautiful reindeer! I believe this may be a photo for our Christmas card this year!

Our family with Santa and one of his beautiful reindeer! I believe this may be the photo for our Christmas card this year!

Mia with Santa in his cottage. He gave her a nice gift as well!

I love this shot of Santa walking in the distance with all of the snow all around him!

This was a very unique building on the property at the end of the bridge!

You can go gold panning here in the summer. Mia really wanted to do that, but of course it was frozen!

You can go gold panning here in the summer with Santa’s elves. Mia really wanted to do that, but of course the river was frozen!

Mia and I with the beautiful Celebration House in the background.

The Celebration House on the property is absolutely stunning!

My family and I really enjoyed our weekend trip to Saariselkä, and truly had the time of our lives! We can now mark two things off our Red Pin Adventure Travel Bucket List:

~~Try snow skiing~~

~~Try snowboarding~~

For more information about Ski Saariselkä and ski/snowboarding lessons, please visit:

Ski Saariselkä Sport Resort

For more information about visiting Santa’s Home, please go to:

Kakslauttanen – Santa’s Home

To view my earlier post from this same trip about seeing the northern lights from a glass igloo, please visit:

Seeing the Northern Lights through a Glass Igloo

Seeing the Northern Lights through a Glass Igloo in Lapland, Finland

by Christine M.April 4, 2014

This is the view we saw sometime after 1:00 a.m. from the glass igloo before falling asleep!

This is the amazing view we saw sometime after 1:00 a.m. from the glass igloo before falling asleep on March 29, 2014! The experience of a lifetime!!

My family and I took the adventure of a lifetime this past weekend when we boarded a plane for a short one and a half hour trip up to Northern Lapland, Finland. We stayed at the Kakslauttanen Arctic Resort in Saariselkä. We decided to stay in one of the log cabins for the first two nights after reading some reviews and did the last night in the glass igloo (no shower, only a sink and toilet), but overall more spacious than we thought it would be. It ended up being one of the most exciting adventures of our lives!

We flew into the very small Ivalo airport and were picked up by a transfer bus to the resort. We were then dropped off right in front of our cabin and given our key. It was very convenient and the staff was very friendly (the owner who claims to be Santa’s brother even gave Mia a stuffed reindeer). They served us and the rest of the small group on our bus dinner at the restaurant even though we didn’t arrive until sometime close to 11:00 p.m. Breakfast and dinner were included, but I would recommend asking for their á la carte menu for more local choices for the dinner.

We were so determined to see an amazing show from the northern lights before we move in less than two months and we not only had one evening with an amazing show, we were completely shocked when we saw them 2 nights in a row (over one hour each night)!! The first evening was too cloudy, so we waited and waited the next evening and finally saw them sometime after 11:00 p.m. on Friday evening. One couple was so excited about seeing them that they got engaged right in front of us!! We gave up around midnight on Saturday evening after standing in the cold for so long, but then saw this amazing sight in the photo above sometime after 1:00 a.m.! We ran outside in the cold again and watched an even better show than the night before!! Everyone around us was so excited and I even had to email 4 different groups of people photos that we took to those who couldn’t take a clear enough shot from their cameras. It was a very exciting weekend for all of us at the resort!!

This was right after we landed. Transfer bus to the glass igloos! We were so excited!!

This was the cozy 2-bedrrom cabin we stayed in the first two nights.

This was the cozy 2-bedroom cabin we stayed in the first two nights. It included a kitchen, living area, dining area, fireplace and also a sauna in the master bathroom.

Mia and I in front of the glass igloos. There are only three rows of them (20 in total). A very special serene setting on a hill.

This is Mia and I in front of one of the beautiful glass igloos lit up before dark.

Wow!!! The beautiful Northern Lights! Amazing things happen to those who wait… very patiently! The show of a lifetime!!

One of the happiest moments of my life… standing in front of the northern lights! Amazing!!!

It looks like the ice the northern lights are coming right out of the Snow Chapel!

It looks like the northern lights are coming right out of the Snow Chapel! Breathtaking!!

This is the only shot with Mia in it before she fell asleep on a sled at midnight all bundled up in blankets! She said she sleep so good on that sled under the stars!

This is the only shot with Mia in it before she fell asleep on a sled at midnight all bundled up in blankets! She said she had her best sleep on that sled under the stars!

Danny in front of the beautiful northern lights. We worked so hard together trying to get the lights to show up in our shots with us in them. Photographing the auroras was extremely challenging while you are freezing!!

This shows one half of the beautiful arch from the northern lights.

This is one of my favorite shots from Saturday evening (March 29, 2014)!

I was so excited to be standing in front of such an amazing show from the northern lights… one of the most exciting moments of my life!

This is a day shot of the area where we viewed the amazing northern lights!

This is a day shot of the area (snow chapel) where we viewed the amazing northern lights! I believe this is the best location at the resort to see them with no trees blocking your view.

Kakslauttanen Hotel & Igloo Village entrance sign.

Entrance sign at the Igloo Village Kakslauttanen.

There are many beautiful art pieces around the resort. This one was my favorite!

My family and I really enjoyed our weekend trip to the Kakslauttanen Arctic Resort and overall had an amazing experience that we will never forget! For more information on the resort, you can visit:

Kakslauttanen Arctic Resort in Saariselkä, Finland 99830.

For more information about Aurora Hunting and photography tips (I stumbled upon an article with Andy Keen and found his tips which were a great help to me although I still have lots to learn). I do hope to experience his “The Great Aurora Hunt” in Norway one day… what a dream that would be! Please visit:

Aurora Base Camp

For more information on the best times to see Auroras, please visit these two very helpful sites (I checked these often before our trip and almost every 15 minutes during our trip):

Aurora Service

Aurora Forecast (Includes the very important Kp tracker while aurora hunting. We only needed a Kp2 to see the auroras since we were so far north).

My next post will include our first experience ever snow skiing and snowboarding as well as our visit to Santa’s Home at Santa’s Resort. We can now mark another Red Pin Adventure off our Travel Bucket List:

~~Stay in a glass igloo in Lapland (see an amazing aurora borealis show)!~~