Lying on the shoreline of frozen Lake Inari, whose islands are the ancestral burial grounds of the Sami, is the tiny village of Nellim. The tranquility of the setting and the genuine warmth of your welcome lends a Christmas here an almost mystical charm.


Departure Dates: 22nd December -
5 days

Day 1

Depart Heathrow at 10.20 on Finnair scheduled flight(s) to Ivalo via Helsinki. Arrive 17.35 local time and transfer to Nellim. Welcome drink, programme briefing and dinner.

Day 2

Nellim is home to Skolt and Inari Sami, along with ethnic Finns, and after breakfast your guide will introduce you to some of them, recalling their antecedence and telling of their contemporary lives. Your walk round the village takes you to a Kota, the Orthodox Church of St Triphon of Petsamo and a reindeer corral, after which you travel by car along the shores of Inari to the Russian border at Ressi.

Lunch back at the hotel before an afternoon of fun & games in the snow on the sloping bank running down to the lake with snow shoeing, tobogganing, ice fishing and reindeer lasso throwing practice. Dinner at the hotel.

Christmas Eve

After breakfast, it’s time to visit Dasher and Dancer, Prancer and Vixen, Donner & Blitzen and Rudolph, the most famous reindeer of all, who are resting nearby. Children will help to feed them on this, the busiest day of the year. Lunch back at the hotel. In the afternoon it’s play time again with tobogganing on the hotel’s very own toboggan slope. Dinner in the hotel’s traditional Kota around an open fire with tales of Santa’s whereabouts from one of his most trusted elves. 

Christmas Day

After breakfast, climb aboard your snowmobile for a safari through the pine forests surrounding Lake Inari and lunch of sausages and pancakes washed down with hot berry juice in a clearing in the forest. In the afternoon an elf will help you find a tree from the nearby forest for you to bring back to the hotel and decorate. You can also bake gingerbread cookies for tea and learn how to make traditional Sami felt toys. Sami Christmas buffet culminating in a visit from Father Christmas, who although perhaps a little breathless from having visited all the other children in the world, will arrive with Rudolph and have a small present for everyone.

Day 5

Breakfast and time for a last toboggan before transfer to Ivalo and return flight(s) via Helsinki to Heathrow, departing at 13.20 and arriving at 17.10.

Note - The above itinerary is to be used as a guide only. Days and timings may be subject to change. Ski suits and boots are required to be returned on the last night of your holiday.