We visited Kakslauttanen in September and stayed in Glass Igloo. It was the most disgusting rest in my life!!!
We were not prevented that there isn’t bathroom in Glass Igloo. In the website of hotel I didn’t find this information too.
When we arrived in hotel, nobody waited for us and igloos were not clean.
Also I think, that Manager must warn us that building and construction works are conducted on territory of hotel. Bags with cement are scattering everywhere.
We like Finland very much and my parents are going to buy a cottage here, but after this situation Kakslauttanen left bad tasting in my mouth. So I would like to prevent you to be careful and look at all little details when you book this hotel.

We had our honeymoon at Kakslauttanen in Dec 2005 and it was a magical time for us. I would recommend it to anyone wanting a quiet, 'away from it all' holiday. The hotel complex is quite isolated but the nearest town is a short bus ride away. We managed to see a glimpse of the Northern lights which made it all the more special. We had one night in the glass igloo- bit of a novelty factor but nothing special. Not sure how you're meant to see the Northern lights in them as they are surrounded by trees which makes viewing limited. We timed our trip well- all the kids arrived for their Santa trips a couple of days before we left and I have to say it did get a bit noisy. We have very special memories of our trip and plan to return again.

My girlfriend and I visited Lapland on the 17th January 2006 for a 3 night break at the Kakslauttanen hotel. We arrived at the hotel in the evening and the place looks magical with candles flickering in crisp darkness, and the thermometer reading -28 !!!!!

We stayed in a glass igloo for the first night, followed by the log cabin then the ice igloo. We were surprised and thrilled to learn that you actually keep the cabin for the duration of the saty so you always have a cosy base to come home to.

The cabins were fantastic! The bedrooms were extremely cosy with large double bed, walk in wet room and private sauna and the best real log fire I have seen. Falling asleep to the crackle of firewood is heaven.

The glass igloos were very comfortable and provided excellent views of the sky and surrounding scenery.

The ice igloo was cold at first but actually very warm in the thermal sleeping bags provided, definitly worth the experience!

The place is amazing, the silence is literally deafening with your ears straining to hear something! We experienced temperatures as low as -30 which is very cold but wearing the correct clothing keeps you warm enough.

The resort is beautiful with cabins dotted around the forest. The food was excellent, both from the set menu and the a'la carte, breakfast again is wonderful.

Would highly reccommend snow mobiling and the husky safari. both were once in a lifetime experiences. When booking try to get the afternoon trips as travelling through the forest in the pale blue halflight is unforgettable.

Oh....... and we saw the Northern lights every night, they were mesmerising and you can't take your eyes off of them.

Go, you only get a chance to do this sort of thing once and I'm so pleased we did!

We have just returned from our Wedding at Kakslauttanen and it was better than we could have possibly hoped for.

With regard to the negative posts on this forum - I am not sure how they booked this place or what they were expecting, but they seem to be talking about a different hotel to the one where we enjoyed 4 fantastic days with 16 of our close family and friends.

Starting with the accommodation:

Our party was split into some with children and some without - those with Children all stayed the large log cabins which were of very high standard and had all the facilities they required including saunas, cooking facilities and lots of space.

Those without children stayed in the small cabins, which again were spacious, well presented and with saunas, stoves etc.

My now wife and myself stayed in the Queen Suite (which was a little extravagant) but stunning, with views over to the frozen lake to the ice chapel, fantastic bathroom with huge bath, walk in shower and sauna. Outside we also had our own hot tub where we were able to sit out and watch the Northern Lights (which we saw briefly on our first night)- all of which we were able to enjoy whilst helping ourselves to the drinks in the free minibar we had in our room.

Staff:

All the staff in the hotel were incredibly warm and friendly and could not do enough to help us. The children in our party were always given free toys from the gift shop when we sat down to eat. The people behind the bar were friendly and really seemed to enjoy making sure that our wedding party had the best time possible. Anne, who assisted us with the wedding details (which only took 30mins of our time the day before the wedding) went out of her way to ensure we had everything we could possibly have wanted and ensured that our wedding day was faultless.
As we were a large party they set aside a private room for us which we had all our meals at.
With regards to comments made in negative posts - some of the staff struggle slightly with English - that's because they are Finnish, if you want a fluent conversation learn their language!

Food:

Again, I could not fault the food. We had a wide variety, and were allowed to order from a set menu or the a la carte. Everything we order was extremely tasty (including the local delicacies) and everything we ordered was spot on (not bad for a party of 16 who would confuse even the most able staff in any London 5 star hotel!).

Wedding:

From the ride to the chapel in the reindeer sleigh, to the beautifully present meal in our private room in the evening (which was fully decorated, and the staff had laid on flowers and all their finest crystal) everything was faultless. The ceremony took literally 5 minutes (which is exactly what we wanted) and then we had the photographs taken.

The hotel had arranged a photographer - who was fantastic. He arrived at our room bang on time to take photos of us on our own and then as we set off in the sleigh. We had the Wedding on Friday and collected the photos (3 films worth, complete with negatives) presented in a lovely wedding album, as we left for the airport on Saturday morning so we could look through them on the plane back home - this thoroughly recommended as the photos he took were fantastic, it is not easy to get the light right in snowy conditions (especially in the ice chapel) and all the photos he took were brilliant (apart from the models!).

Ambience:

The place is magical, cosy cabins scattered amongst trees covered in snow.

Advice:

If you are getting married, do it properly. You can book directly with the hotel which will save you money, but you will not get piece of mind. We were very particular about where we went and who we booked through. We were recommended Kakslauttanen by many travel agents as it fitted out bill. In the end we booked through Scantours as Carola, who we dealt with had worked at Kakslauttanen, speaks Finnish and knows the staff there well - I strongly suspect this is why everything went so smoothly.

We did not get charged for every last thing we used, in fact we got alot thrown in for free. Drinks were reasonably priced and so was the food - don't forget this place is nearly 400km into the arctic circle so faces a slightly more difficult logistic challenge to your standard hotel, hence you would expect higher prices.

Would we go back - yes with out a doubt. In fact we are going to book to go back there next year to celebrate out anniversary!

Should you go - Yes absolutely, but as suggested before, if you are going to get married there I would suggest you don't try and cut corners if you want a truly memorable few days.