The fusion of cultures in Nellim, include Inari, Skolt and Northern Sami roots, that result in an appetizing culinary experience complimented with a festive flare. The possibility of the Northern Lights pirouetting over the artic pine forest makes for an impressive and memorable experience.

Departure Dates:
29th December for 5 Days             

Day 1

You and your family will depart Heathrow at 10:20 AM on your Finnair scheduled flight(s) via Helsinki to Ivalo. After you arrive at 18:50 PM Finnish time, you will be escorted by bus to The Wilderness Hotel Nellim by Lake Inari. You will then check-in at your hotel, followed by a welcome drink, a programme briefing and a delicious Sami buffet supper.

Day 2

After breakfast, you and your family will be guided to the kennels to meet Christopher’s pack of excited, eager and friendly Alaskan Huskies, whose barks and howls slowly magnify as you approach them through the trees. Parents and adults will have the opportunity to mush their own team of Huskies, while children ride warmly tucked in a sleigh, lead by your guide. As the dogs pull you along a snow-carpeted trail, the only sounds you will hear are the whooshing and slicing of the sleigh-runners in the snow. En route, you will stop in a clearing, where an open fire will heat you up as you indulge in warm berry juice, and delicious cookies. You will then return to your hotel for a hot and tasty lunch.

In the afternoon, it will be time for you to meet Rudolph, Donner, Blitzen and all their reindeer friends. The reindeer herders will invite you into a Kota, where you will experience a traditional Crossing of the Artic Circle Ceremony. The herders will then take everybody for a reindeer sleigh ride on the crystal sparkling frozen lake.

Day 3

After breakfast, it will be time for your wilderness safari adventure by snowmobile. Parents and/or adults will be paired together and children will ride comfortably tucked in a snowmobile sleigh. You will follow a forest snow trail among the pine and birches close to the rock-face shoreline of Lake Inari, immortalised as Enari, in the Philip Pullman’s Trilogy: “His Dark Materials”. Before returning to the hotel along a fresh snow trail, you will be crossing a passage of tundra, ice sheet and forest floor, where your lunch will be cooked over searing wood embers from an open fire.

New Year’s Eve will be celebrated around an open fire in a traditional wooden Kota with a menu accomplished with trout caught from Lake Inari, King Crab from the Barents Sea and cloudberries from the lake basin.

Celebrations in Lapland are not constrained by time zone. The New Year arrives early for the Skolt, an hour later for the Inari Sami and two hours later for the Northern Sami. As the evening progresses, you will experience traditional dishes with Russian, Norwegian and Finnish flavours. The festivities will include fireworks, dancing, and your fortunes will be told from the shapes melting tin.

Day 4

After breakfast, you will have the opportunity to rest and relax until the afternoon. Then you will enjoy tobogganing down the sloping banks leading to a frozen lake where you will be able to experience ice fishing, snow-shoeing and cross-country skiing. You will then return to the hotel for supper.

Day 5

After breakfast, you will have the time to toboggan, snowshoe at the lake and have some last minute fun in the snow before returning to Ivalo airport for your Finnair scheduled flight(s) to Heathrow where you will arrive at 17:10 PM UK time.

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.