17 Smart Things to Do When Planning a Lapland Holiday

The one thing almost no one talks about when it comes to planning a Lapland holiday?

How difficult it is!

It took us over 6 months to plan our Lapland trip and not just because we were also getting married during it (more on this soon!).

Here’s the thing.

If this is your:

• first Arctic holiday, to a place where -20°C is considered warm
• dream trip to (hopefully) see the Northern Lights
• a big family winter wonderland holiday, focused on all things Christmas, from sleeping on Santa’s train, to riding with his reindeer, to meeting the big guy himself

…of course it needs a lot of work, research and planning!

It’s a big deal!

And let’s not forget that Lapland is awfully expensive, meaning you really don’t wanna end up wasting your time there.

So we get it. Planning a Lapland holiday can be scary, stressful and intimidating.

But fear not.

We’re here to help.

That’s why we’ve created this list of 17 smart things to do when planning a Lapland holiday.

So you can prepare well and have a stress-free trip!

This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please read our Disclaimer.

Here’s a little bit about our journey, if you are new here! If you know us, feel free to skip this part.

After leaving our old life in Scotland in March 2022 (it rains too much there), we travelled full-time for almost 2 years. Sounds fancy, doesn’t it? Well, it was. If you think that carrying overpacked backpacks in 45°C heat around streets that aren’t even on Google Maps is fancy. And that’s just 1% of all the fun we had! 😆

During the 2 years we volunteered in Italy and Bulgaria (free travel while learning new skills, anyone?), explored other amazing European countries and backpacked Southeast Asia. Btw, even our secret wedding was more of an expedition than a wedding. 😅

And, of course, we researched and planned everything ourselves, because you gotta keep the budget low, right? If you are like us, you’ve come to the right place, because we want to share all the useful travel tips and info with you!

Excited? Good. Let’s get into it so you can go on your own epic adventures too!

What do you need to know about our Lapland trip

We’ve already mentioned the most wild thing about our Lapland trip in the intro.

It wasn’t just a Lapland holiday.

It was also our wedding!

Yep, we got married in total secret, with just one guest (Mirka’s sister, but she had no idea she was going to our wedding!), in Copenhagen, before we jetted off to Finland to continue this Lapland adventure!

If this got you curious, you can:

• See all about our untraditional wedding here
• Discover how we did this whole trip on a budget
• Give us a shout on our Insta if you want to ask any questions
• Book a call with us if you need help planning your Lapland holiday (or a secret wedding perhaps?)

Now let’s talk about the 17 things you can’t forget to do when planning a Lapland holiday.

1. Book key things early

A big note here: everything depends on where and when you are going.

If you’re hoping to snag a great deal for the festive season?

You better book the two most expensive things: flights and accommodation, super early.

If you’d rather avoid the Christmas madness and do Lapland on a budget, like we did, still book early (and don’t make the mistake we made with flights).

That being said, we have also seen some pretty good deals appear last minute.

For example, the amazing aurora hotel we stayed at had a deal for stays until the end of April.

When we came across this deal, in March, we could get:

• Super cheap accommodation at the northern lights hotel, because of the deal, and during good aurora viewing time (this is so important if you want to increase your chances)
• Decent enough flights, even though we were looking just one month in advance
• Santa Claus Express also happened to have a mega promo on their cabins at the same time

All in all:

• If you’re planning a Lapland holiday during peak season, book very early
• If you’re going during shoulder season, such as late winter/spring, it’s still safer to book early
• If you’re very flexible, you might be able to find a good deal even last minute, e.g. a month in advance
• When it comes to activities, our aurora hotel recommends booking them in advance during peak season. When we went there in April, though? We waited to book in person, at the hotel, once we could confirm the weather forecast. So again, depends when you go!

2. Decide if you need a car 

A Lapland roadtrip holiday is very different from doing Lapland without a car, so decide early which option you’re going with.

We did Lapland car-free—you can find all the info in this post.

If you decide that you want the freedom that comes from renting a car, though, make sure you don’t overpay.

Compare car rental options and choose the one that suits you and your budget the best:

3. Set realistic budget expectations 

Speaking of budgets. This is an important conversation to have quite early on, when planning a Lapland holiday.

We’re assuming your time and money is limited (if you do happen to be a millionaire, give us a shout on our Instagram, we wanna be friends!).

Here’s what you should do:

• List all the bucket list experiences you would like to have, such as riding with the reindeer or huskies, staying in an ice hotel, meeting Santa etc.
• Check prices for these activities
• Add to that the cost of accommodation, transport, including flights, and food (wanna see how much our full Lapland trip cost?)
• Cry when you see the total
• Decide to go on a beach holiday where you’ll just read a book and sip cocktails (included in the all inclusive price, of course!)

Just kidding!

You can still do a Lapland holiday, you might just need to make a few adjustments to your plan, based on your budget and the total cost you have estimated.

That’s why we wrote a whole post about how we saved money in Lapland, full of useful tips.

You can also check out exactly how much we spent in Lapland – we broke it all down here.

The whole point of doing this early on is to set expectations for the whole travel party, so no one is disappointed or upset later.

4️. Decide if glass igloos are worth it 

One way you can blow a lot of money pointlessly?

By staying in a super expensive glass igloo hotel, and then discovering it really wasn’t worth it.

Wanna know what we think, after staying in a glass roof Aurora Cabin?

Here is our opinion on whether glass roof hotels are worth the price.

5. Check daylight hours for your month

2 notes here.

First of all, check how long daylight will be when you visit.

Because short days mean more opportunities to see the Northern Lights – yay!

But it does also mean it might feel depresso, if all you get is 2 hours of meh greyness between 11am and 1pm (Santa Claus Village during Christmas time). 

Plus, with such limited daylight, you might want to plan meal times better.

You don’t want to waste the 2 hours of light you get eating a lunch in a restaurant. Consider whether you can get away with a small snack instead of a lunch, and then have a bigger dinner once the sun goes down and you have time until the Northern Lights hunting starts.

The second thing is to check sunset and sunrise times if you’re planning on heading to any viewpoints.

6. Test your layering system at home

The one thing that’s most likely on your mind when planning a Lapland holiday?

What clothes to pack!

There is a lot to be said about this topic, so here are some posts that will help:

• Wondering what to wear when aurora watching so you don’t freeze? We’ll tell you.
• This is our full Lapland clothing packing list – exactly what we took and how much of each item
• Want to save money when buying clothes for Lapland? No problem, we’ve got tips for that too!

One more thing you can do to prepare for your Lapland trip, though?

Testing out your layering system at home!

First, learn about the 3 main layers you will need in Lapland.

But before you put everything into a packing cube (or a vacuum bag), make sure you test it out.

Try wearing the 3 different layers at home.

Or, if you can, outside in cold weather.

Pay attention to things like:

• How are you feeling? Are you comfortable? Or feeling like the last bit of toothpaste being squeezed out of its tube?
• Is there enough space between your layers? Remember, base layer is skin-tight, but mid-layer should be able to trap air.
• Can you actually move in your layers? Or will you just be able to waddle around like a penguin in Lapland?

For example, we tested things like wearing the thick woollen jumpers under our winter jackets.

Or wearing two base layers on top of each other, in case the temperatures really plummeted.

Pro tip: if you’re shopping in person for any of your winter clothes, take what you already have to the shop with you. For instance, when shopping for Mirka’s winter jacket, we carried one of the thick jumpers with us around the shops, so she could try the jackets on over it.

7. Break in your snowboots

Know what would suck? 

If you took just one pair of shoes on your Lapland holiday.

Assumed that, since they are soft snowboots, they’ll be comfy.

And only discovered that they rub your feet in painful ways once you set off on your trip.

Ask us how we know!

Yep, that’s exactly what happened to Mirka. 

And it’s not like she didn’t try the shoes on before, she did walk around in them.

Just not long enough to discover how and where they rub. 

This is exactly why we suggest getting your winter gear early, so you do have time to test it out.

Mirka got her shoes just a month before our Lapland trip.

And it was already too warm in Slovakia to wear snowboots around the city.

So the testing opportunities were limited.

Don’t make the same mistake.

Break your winter shoes in, properly, before your Lapland trip.

Pro tip: when getting ready for our full-time travels, we broke our shoes in by wearing multiple thick socks in them, around the house. You can also try stuffing the shoes with balled up socks to stretch them out.

Pro tip no. 2: always pack plasters when you travel (grab the full list of Lapland essentials).

8. Check gloves for using the phone

Big, waterproof, warm mittens are the best for Lapland weather.

But how will you use your phone with them?

It’s things like this that you have to think about when planning a Lapland holiday.

And not just think, but also test them in real life.

So get touchscreen gloves. But also test them out, ideally in cold weather, to see if they’ll be good for your winter holiday.

9. Practice adjusting camera settings with gloves

One more tip for the gloves?

If you’re planning on using a camera to capture the Northern Lights, test out whether you can set it up wearing your gloves.

Because trust us, the nights in Lapland are cold. You will not wanna be risking frostbite because you’ll have to take gloves off to fiddle with your camera settings.

Same goes for a tripod, if you’re taking one. Practise setting it up at home, so you know how to do it fast (or consider pre-building it at your accommodation, like we did).

10. Confirm clothes rental pickup times

We already touched on this here, but if your plan is to hire winter outfits once you get to Lapland, double check the opening times or your rental place.

You don’t want to get there 5 minutes after closing and realise you will have to survive your first night in Lapland wearing just jeans and trainers.

11. Download aurora apps 

If you’re heading to a northern lights hotel, chances are it will come with an aurora tracking app. Our amazing Aurora Cabin came with a premium subscription that was custom for the hotel, meaning the aurora alert went off if the lights were visible exactly at our location, right above us!

If your accommodation doesn’t offer this, or you just want a backup, so you definitely don’t miss out on the Northern Lights, download the aurora apps before you leave for your holiday.

That way you can see which apps work for you: which ones are too overwhelming, which ones give you the info you want, which ones have the best alert system for you etc.

Test all this out when planning your Lapland holiday.

It will make the waiting stage more bearable (cause waiting for an exciting holiday can be excruciating, especially if booked well in advance, right?!) and you won’t be panicking on the first evening in Lapland over how to read and set up the aurora app.

12. Download offline maps

This is something that we do before every trip, not just when planning a Lapland holiday.

Make sure you download maps offline, so you can use them if there is no signal. (Especially important if you’re heading out into arctic wilderness!).

We’d recommend downloading Google Maps offline and having Maps.me as a backup.

It’s super easy to do—we wrote step by step simple instructions here.

13. Download bus timetables

If you’ve decided to travel around Lapland without renting a car, it’s a good idea to download any bus timetables to your phone/tablet.

Because your data might just choose not to work when you need it.

And there might be no wifi and no printed out timetable at the bus stop.

Take the extra 2 seconds to hit download when checking timetables—you might be glad you did, once you’re in Lapland.

14. Check the webcam livestream

This might be the most fun activity on your to-do list when planning a Lapland holiday.

Cause we’re going to ask you to spy on Santa!

Yup, you can do that on this livestream—there is a webcam pointed at the entrance to Santa’s office, and you can check it 24/7 to see what’s happening at the Arctic Circle!

There are a few ways you can use this webcam when planning a Lapland holiday—we wrote all about it here, so check it out, it’s such a useful, free hack nobody talks about!

15. Test camera batteries in cold + charge them

Batteries lose charge much faster in very cold weather, did you know that?

If you already have batteries for your camera, make sure you test them out in the cold, if possible, to see how long they last.

Super helpful to know, especially if you haven’t used your camera in a while, or ever, in freezing temperatures!

Same with your phone and any other devices you’re planning on using in Lapland.

One more thing?

Set a reminder for the day before your holiday to actually charge everything.

It’s so easy to forget in the midst of getting ready for an exciting holiday!

16. Get covered by good travel insurance 

One thing that people often underestimate when planning a Lapland holiday?

How many things can go wrong in the Arctic!

We don’t want to scare you, but there is super deep snow, icy paths, reindeer jumping onto the road, huskies misbehaving, etc. etc.

Best thing to do?

Get covered by a good travel insurance company.

We’ve got a tip for one like that: True Traveller.

They are our go-to travel insurance, because they offer awesome features, incredible customer service and their prices are hard to beat.

Check them out if you’re looking for a really good company to keep you safe in Lapland.

17. Sort out euros

Coming from a country outside the eurozone? Make sure you get some euros before your trip!

It’s true that you might never need them—we only ever used cards throughout this whole holiday.

But it’s always better to be prepared.

You might find yourself in the middle of nowhere in Lapland, with one small local shop, in a desperate need of painkillers (or a bottle of wine, depending on how your holiday is going) and the card machine might not be working.

You’ll be glad you’ve got some euros on you then!

Our usual setup when we travel?

Emergency cash.

2 good debit cards.

1 good credit card.

We hope these 17 smart tips for planning a Lapland holiday help you stay sane—without having to binge chocolate and wine every time you sit down to plan.

Remember, you can always give us a shout on our Instagram if you have any questions, or book a call with us, if things get really tough, and the chocolate and wine start running out!