We booked a last minute holiday to spend Christmas in Lapland, we booked on line direct with First Choice to Santa Claus Hotel.

We are a family with 3 children aged 7 and twins 5, plus my husband and I. The hotel was excellent, the room spacious and very clean. I emailed the hotel direct and asked for inter-connecting rooms which we were allocated with upon arrival. There was plenty of choice in the restaurant, as they were catering for a wide range of nationalities. But something for everyone.

Christmas Eve, the REAL santa arrived at the hotel on his sleigh of course being pulled by reindeer., he gave all the children a present from the hotel and if you had anything you wanted to give to Santa to give your child, you took it down to reception earlier so it could be passed on to Santa on his arrival.

Christmas day was spent doing a whole host of activities, husky dog rides, sleigh rides, (all tasters) including in the holiday cost, but it was enough for the children. Christmas night you were taken again by tour operator for gala diner out of the hotel. Then following day you went to Santa Land. So its a full on schedule, but all worth visiting.

Around the hotel, there are shops, a few bars and restaurants. You can walk along to the river and there is a park and a few little hills nearby were we took the hotel sledges and went sledging. Bars an restaurants are quite pricey compared with UK., but its a holiday of a life time, and how much would you spend at Christmas at home.

I would highly recommend this hotel, its extremely central, lovely staff, exceptionally clean, and professionally run.

Don't worry about spending a fortune on gear as this is all provided for you by the tour operator, you all look the same but at least your warm as it is very cold outside the hotel christmas day was -32. Inside the hotel you can were your normal winter clothes as its lovely and warm its just if you go outside.

Definately a great holiday and the kids will love it.

We just spent two nights at this hotel and found it completely satisfactory. It is very clean, modern and well equipped. Staff were very fluent in English, friendly and efficient. It is well located in the downtown area and within walking distance of all shops and restaurants. The secure underground parking was appreciated.

The price included a buffet breakfast which was very good, with the exception of what appeared to be powdered eggs. Whatever they were, they weren´t fresh. Having said that, the rest of the buffet was excellent. We also tried the hotel restaurant for dinner one evening and found it to be OK but a bit pricey and the food not outstanding.

Over all, we felt this was a very good hotel providing good value for money spent.

Firstly in Finland there aren't many hotels which can be considered as having character. Most are functional grey concrete boxes, but well-run and clean. This hotel is no exception ! Its thoroughly modern and thoroughly grey/faceless, rather like Rovaniemi in general, certainly don't expect a log cabin with a roaring fire and reindeers outside. In fact the only connection with Santa Claus is the name.

However, its a well-run place and conveniently right in the middle of town (er, Rovaniemi is more like a big village) with parking close by. The restaurant is worth a visit, definitely for the à la carte traditional Finnish dishes.

There's a sauna but like every other hotel in Finland its a single sex one and you might find it difficult to get a time which suits you as half the time its reserved for men, the other time for women.

Certainly not a bad hotel but don't expect Santa Claus/Lapland/Sami quaintness or kitsch.

We have visited the Santa Claus twice, both times on organised tours but where you can choose your own hotel.

It is not the most picturesque hotel, some of the outlying hotels are better for that, but the facilities are of a very good standard and you have the town on your doorstep, so plenty to do on the long dark evenings.

The rooms were quite large, even with 4 beds in them. The hotel and rooms were very clean with bathrooms very well equipped and sparkling.

We only had breakfast at the hotel and chose to use various local restaurants for evening meals, ask at reception or the tour operators, there are plenty to choose from. The breakfast had as good a selection as anyone would need from continental to full english and some scandanavian dishes thrown in as well.

As we were there around Christmas the lobby got very busy and noisy at pick up times with lots of children milling around. This may annoy some. At these times it can also be difficult getting the lift. Both of these are only really for about 1/2 hour though whilst they board the coaches.

There is a tour operator just across the street where you can book almost any tour imaginable.

Santas Village is good but the queues to have your photo with Santa can be long unless you are lucky, we queued about 1 1/2 hours. Santa Park is not very well organised and there can be major queues!

Skidoo, Dog Sledding, Reindeer sleigh and tobogganing are all great, what more can a big kid ask for!!