When you're choosing a hotel for a Christmas vacation, you can't get a much more appropriate choice than the Clarion Hotel Santa Claus in Rovaniemi, Finnish Lapland. The Santa Claus Hotel is just a few miles away from the official home of the real Santa on the Arctic Circle and is a popular choice for Christmas visitors to Finland.
Like many Lapland hotels, the functionality wins over from looks when you see the Santa Claus Hotel from the outside--but if you're visiting at Christmas time, the daylight only lasts a couple of hours so you'll probably never get a good look at the architecture anyway.
The character of a Christmas in Rovaniemi comes more from the activities you undertake and the excitement of the season than a hotel full of character, and so the Hotel Santa Claus provides everything else that you need: neat clean rooms, a decent breakfast, friendly staff and a central location in Rovaniemi, and within walking distance of the train station.
Having said that, the Clarion Hotel Santa Claus has recently opened some new rooms that include their own saunas. There is also the option of booking the Santa Claus Suite which comes with a sauna and jacuzzi, but sadly without Santa.
We are suckers for a room with a killer view. We find that we are even more likely to forgive some minor hotel inconveniences if we can stare out the window at something pretty--yeah we are that shallow. Let's help out our fellow hotel mavens by uploading rooms with killer views to the HotelChatter/Flickr photo pool, or by sending the photo along to us. We will feature our favorites in this space from time to time. Remember to tell us the name of the hotel and the room number of the hot view.
Dreaming of a white Christmas yet? Here's the perfect killer view for Christmas, courtesy of the Luostotunturi Hotel in the middle of Finnish Lapland. The town of Luosto is perfect for skiing in winter, hiking in summer, and seeing the Northern Lights between August and April; and for getting killer views.
The Luostotunturi Hotel includes a new Amethyst Wellness Centre and you can choose to stay in regular hotel rooms, apartments or pine log cabins. For the best views, we recommend the cabins, which are set a little way apart from the hotel and closer to the wild.
Finland's not known as the land of cheap travel, but if you're swinging by Helsinki then a stay at the Hotel Matinlahti won't completely destroy your budget.
You might not be able to pronounce it, but you probably would enjoy a holiday at the Kakslauttanen Hotel and Igloo Village in far northern Finland. If you go in winter, you can sleep in an igloo made from snow (yeah, you might think they're all made from snow, but just wait a second). The snow igloos have a constant temperature of between 21 and 27 degrees F, so combined with the thick sleeping back they give you, you should survive the night.
But if you're more into comforts, you can try their special glass igloos. Kakslauttanen says these glass igloos are "based on our wild idea and vision" and they're made from a "very special" thermo glass. And the glass roof means you can lie in bed and (nature permitting) watch the Northern Lights--no waiting for the hotel to call you out of bed.
The rest of the year, the log cabins are your best bet. They accommodate between 2 and 6 people and each comes equipped with a sauna and a traditional Finnish rocking chair! Kakslatuttanen is especially popular for weddings (you can get married in an ice chapel) but they also run a special week each season when only singles can come and stay. Something for everyone.
What you hear about those Scandinavians is true--they are much larger in person, well, at least their hotel rooms are. Hotel Kämp in the middle of Helsinki has some of the most spacious rooms in the city.
Since the remaining Amazing Race teams spent the day getting dirty in Finland, we think the CBS suits should have put them up for the night at Hotel Kämp, a swank Helsinki hotel. Not only is this hotel in the center of everything, but the hotel also offers a laundry service for in house guests. Very nice.
As far as we know Phil and CBS made the teams continue racing without a night to catch their breath, however, if we were in charge of this little race around the globe, we would let these dirty kids wash up at a five star hotel in the middle of Helsinki. Oh, and the photo you see above? Yes, Hotel Kamp is known to hand out these ducks to guests to use in the bath tub. The monkey mounting the duck in this particular photo is not included with your room, just the duck, as far as we know.
A hotel receptionist who calls you up in the middle of the night. Not usually a requirement on your dream list of what a hotel provides, but at the Rantasipi Pohjanhovi hotel in Rovaniemi, Finnish Lapland, it's an extra service you can pay for: the Aurora advisory call. When the Northern Lights decide to put on their spectacular show, they'll wake you up and encourage you to pull on some clothes and get out there.
Depending on the time of year you visit Lapland, there are some key features you need to look for in a hotel: very warm rooms for winter, and thick curtains for the everlasting summer nights. The Pohjanhovi scores top marks for both of these. It also has other important features befitting a hotel just short of the Arctic Circle: a few saunas, of course, including a private one if you book in time, and electric power sockets for car warmers.
And to add to that, the real Santa lives just nearby. You can visit him any time of year with your wishlist and he can check if you've been naughty or nice.
Dream Proposal: Under the northern lights in Finland. Pbbbrrrrrfect. I don't care how cold it would be, chances are there'd be a warm bed in the agenda afterwards.
Dream Wedding: FREE. Last Tuesday (Feb 17) the Guardian UK listed that The Finnish Tourist Board will give away free weddings if you come over to Finland this month and propose to your sweet.
"the Finns will cough up for accommodation, ceremony costs, dinner and champers in Finland. Of course, you'll have to bring the in-laws."
Hurry!
The Catch: You need to be a UK resident. I can't help but wonder if they'd still pay if a UK resident married someone who wasn't.
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by amandak
