Kakslauttanen Arctic Resort East Village — Hotel in Northern Lapland

Let me put it straight away to you, visit this resort only if you have the budget to do so, because the cost of stay and food in this place is on a very stepper side. The cost of activities in this resort is much more steeper. Kakslauttanen resort is spread in many hectares of area and the entire place is taken up by the resort. It is more of a theme park rather than a resort is what I feel. The two villages in which the resort is divided is the East Village and the West Village. The east village is the older one and the west village is a comparatively newer village and is much bigger, with bigger restaurant and areas. The resort provides transfers from East Village to West Village to Activities spot etc. In my opinion although Aurora Borealis can be seen from both the villages, the better view could be from West village due to its location and larger area. But beware that the premise has much light pollution so for better view one needs to find dark locations inside the premise. Mindwell that you may see Aurora Borealis in stays ahead in Ivalo and Inari as well, which may have better probability on a not so clear sky day as well. The resort is very beautifully spread out with large and small cabins, Igloos with and without toilet and sauna, and the Kelo glass igloos. There are about 80 of these Kelo glass Igloos, so you may now understand the massiveness of this place. The resort is very beautiful and the cabins are really cute and beautiful and looks very luxurious from inside, it gives the lapish homes vibrancy and experience. I stayed in the Large Cabin since the cost of Keloglass Igloos were very steep. The costings of the large cabins are also steep, and the attraction of Kelo Glass Igloos are only to have a view of Northern lights from the comfort of your cabin which may be suitable for couples but otherwise walking out into the resort premise and viewing it under the cold starry sky is more beautiful and spectacular. All the rooms are equipped with Northern Lights alarm and it buzz when there are sightings. We managed to see a grand spectacle of the Northern lights on one of the nights when the conditions were very conducive and skies completely clear. It continued for an hr. You can see it from the premise as well, we saw it during our Aurora Hunting expedition. The hotel seems to be on the lower end of staffing in terms of managing the customers. As far as the warmth and reception of the staff of the resort goes you will find the staff behavior and interaction to be at the extreme end of the spectrum ie: A group of staff are very cordial, respectful, mannerly, prompt, helpful, Cheerful, always with a smile. On the other end of the spectrum you would find a group of staff who behave unwelcoming, not helpful, ignorant, sarcastic and you may even get to feel that they have a racial overtone. The good ones in the staff balance out the bad ones, thanks to the good ones in their premise, they are very good. The bad ones at the front desk and in the activities would definitely need better trainings and re-skilling on client interactions because they face people from around the world and they represent the good will of the establishment. PS: You would see lots of Indians coming into the resort and I believe 70% of the guest are Asians. So if you are an Indian and get bored by again being with your fellow citizens and want to explore something else then you may rethink and move ahead much deeper into the Artic. For other nationalities: If you are looking at something more secluded, less noisy while having food, spending time in restaurant, calmer place, remote deep into the lap lands, more adventurous etc then you should think of going much ahead into Ivalo and Inari. Be prepared for the cold if you visit in winters, research and read well about clothing, gears, eye protections etc. The best way to visit Lapland and enjoy the beauty of the place amidst bone chilling and hypothermic cold is to layer up with good quality cold wears, the temperature will reach close to -30 degree Celcius.||||Advantages:||1. Very Beautiful resort with great rooms and amenities||2. Strategically placed in Kakslauttanen||3. Children get lots of space to play and roam around. ||4. There are many Nordic activities offered by the establishment, Snow mobil, Night Aurora Hunting, Husky rides etc. Snow mobil can be a great experience but depends on which instructor you are assigned to, this makes all the difference. ||5. The restaurant of the resort is very good. I stayed in the west village which has a pretty big one. The staff in the restaurant are very well mannered, cordial, jovial, accommodating, and cheerful. They work around the clock but don't show any sign of frustration or stress to the customers and interact very professionally. ||6. Food is good, I wont say that it is out of the world and very good. Probably because I have had better food at other stays before. Their breakfast spread is splendid and lot of options to choose from. Dinner is a set menu if its included in your package and every member can order an entire course from starters, soup,main course, and desert, BUT, the menu is very limited, its the resorts way of revenue generation through pax serving. They have few Indian food as well in the Menu if you like Indian food and have deployed an Indian Chef in their kitchen.||7. They have many assortment of beers, and also offer in-house brewed variety which I found to be good.||8. Activities are good and managed well. Husky safari and Nordic Skiing is a must if you have children because you will love it. They provide transfers to the activities spot and back. If you want to learn Nordic Skiing, I suggest you definitely do it and a very good tutor at this activity will teach you well in the time allotted.||||Disadvantages:||1. As I said the staff is a mix bag of people and you will get to experience both worlds of behaviors.||2. The location of resort is 40 kms behind Ivalo, so during hazy skies or clouds I wished I had moved a bit more north near Ivalo to see the Northern Lights.||3. The quality of food is good. The quantity of the food is abysmally less, and you may end up ordering from the Ala carte as well paying extra charges if you are famished.||4. The meals have timings which you have to adhere too, and once you reach late, due to possibly being in activities during day time or night, you will have to skip the meal, because all that you will get is small burgers,cookies or chips at the canteen desk or content yourself with drinking beer. ||5. The activities cost are sky steep and the cost keeps linearly increasing as you book these. These activities are part of the resorts primary revenue cycle. These activities can make you less by many hundreds of Euro or more depending on the kind and number of activities you book. I felt activities such as snowmobiling in Rovaniemi are way cheap.||6. The accommodation cost of the resort per day as I mentioned is on a very steep side and you may find better priced stay if you move ahead towards Ivalo ahead of Kakslauttanen. What you pay for in the resort can be justified with an experience cost. The cost may have large swings depending on the season and foot fall, hence you may have to plan accordingly and budget it out.||7. The winter gears given for the activities is good but the hand gloves begs for more and is very clumpsy and not good enough for the bone chilling winter especially at nights.||8. The food included accommodation menu has limited choices and it don't give you much leverages.||9. There are no cafes or shops outside the resort premises, so please get everything that you need with you.||10. They charge a holding charge of 300 Euro at the time of check in which I believe is tad too much and the hotel is making money through interests from bank on such hefty holding charges. I have travelled across resorts globally and many don’t have such charges and those who have keep it nominal. Also the money returns back to your account in a maximum time of 14 working days depending on the bank. ||||All in all this is a beautifully architected resort, with great views. A stay with an experience, which you pay for the experience and if you have the budget...

Given that there a lot of mixed reviews about this resort, let me try and set the record straight. My husband and I stayed here four nights with the first two nights spent in an igloo in the East village and the next two in a small chalet in the West. We got dropped off by the bus from Rovanieme right at the footsteps of the East Village reception making it very convenient to enter the resort. The check-in was smooth given that we were the first ones to arrive but note that they only had two staff members checking guests in so you may need to wait a bit. We were given all the necessary instructions, a map and keys to our igloo.||First few things to know about the place - the resort itself is HUGE. East village is smaller compared to the West but there is a fair bit of walking involved especially between the reception (and the dining hall next door) and the igloos. Our stay was in February so with all the snow it took a good few minutes (6-7 at our speed). Please keep in mind the scale of the place.||The villages are beautiful, especially when covered with a blanket of snow. The igloos are nearly perfect and we were lucky enough to be given ones in the first row. The igloos are all positioned at an elevation making the view of the scenery and the northern lights even better and less obstructed by foliage. The locks in the doors are not good and you may need a few attempts to get in with the key provided (a common compliant). The interiors of the igloos are exactly as advertised and we found them perfectly adequate. The East village is also far more private, quite and in our opinion, the better option for viewing the aurora. Compared to the igloos in the west village, we'd argue these are superior even without the private shower. The west village igloos are placed too close to each other and with the attached shower space, the illusion of living in an igloo is kinda broken. Of course, this is subjective. The chalets in the West village are pretty, clean and very comfortable too. We had no complaints with either stay option.||Transfers to the West village are with periodic shuttles that you can sign up for at the reception. The aurora alarm mobile app they have you install is simple and pretty accurate. The staff is also very easily approachable via Whatsapp. West village is fairly larger and involves a lot of walking. It is also more crowded. Signage throughout the resort is lacklustre and we ran into a fair number of people that were lost. Feedback to the resort to work on the signs please, especially for the winter season when roads are easy to confuse.||Regarding dinner - the food is pretty good even if the selections are limited! They have an international menu and an Indian menu at ALL times (three course mneu, NOT buffet). You can ask to see either or both. Dishes are rotated and you can mix and match dishes from either menu. Breakfast buffet is decent as well and if you care about Indian vegeterian options, we found the West village to have 1 or 2 options more than the East for breakfast. I wish they had a varied selection for breakfast though because for guest like us stayinglonger, the breakfast was exactly the same each day. They offer lunch as well (course menu or a la carte).||The staff is fairly helpful and kind but pretty busy (and somewhat overwhelmed, especially in the West) most of the time. Activities are well coordinated and pickups and dropoffs are as scheduled. We didn't run into any challenges.||For activities, we opted for the 2-hour Snowmobile safari. This one was an average experience - it was much slower paced than we imagined with a lot of stops along the way (for photos). I wish they would offer two variants - a slower, family friendly version and then a more fast paced one for those looking for the thrill of the adventure. We also opted to have the fireplace running when in the Chalet - yes you need to pay 35 euros upfront but the amount of wood they started us with for plenty to have the fire going for several hours across two days.||Overall, this a is a great place to stay but looking at the reviews, your experience will vary depending on your personal tastes, expectations and knowing what to expect. Be kind to the staff and they respond in kind and will try to help, as best as they can. Although don't expect too much. We didn't run into any of the challenges mentioned in other reviews. The resort is not perfect of course and fairly expensive as well but most of the experience was smooth and we fully...

This place was a complete and utter let down.

When we arrived, we arranged a transport to take us to the West Village (the bus arrives at East Village). After waiting 30 minutes, the transport finally arrives. We were then charged a 400EUR incidental fee that we were told we would get back the day after we left the resort. Fast forward 3 days post-departure and the money is still being held.

After walking over 10 minutes in -20C weather to reach our igloo (no transport available), we were greeted with a rather small glass igloo. There was hardly any room for my luggage let alone my partner's as well. On top of this, there is nowhere to put your coats, either. The igloos have no privacy. The lowest panes of glass are glazed, but only on one side. If someone is standing anywhere in front of our igloo, they can see right through the door to our beds and also our bathroom. Twice people saw me getting changed in the "privacy" of my igloo.

The toilet is even worse than the bedroom. If you're 6ft+ like myself, you will feel completely and utterly cramped. The lighting in the bathroom casts a large silhouette allowing both my partner and any neighbouring igloos to see me use the toilet. The door on our toilet also had no lock, so occasionally it swung open and people walking past could see me using the toilet. Instead of having any hand or bath towels, you are given a towel that is larger than a hand towel but smaller than a useful shower towel that's meant to be used as both. The mirror in the bathroom also has a gross zoom to it, making anyone who looks in it look like an Oompa Loompa. The toilet isn't sealed either, so any smells will fill the ENTIRE igloo.

We were given two single beds, so we pushed them together and locked the wheels so that the beds wouldn't move. It turns out that the wheel locks must just be for looks, because even with all of the wheels locked we found our beds sliding across the room if I so much as leaned to one side.

After being disappointed with our rooms, we decided to head for dinner (you book your dinner time in advance). We waiting close to 10 minutes to be seated, and another 10 minutes for the water we asked for as we sat down. After another 5 or so minute wait we were then given an option for our 3 course meal. We had told the resort months in advance that my partner and I are both Vegetarian (and I allergic to dairy). To accommodate for our dietary needs, the following was offered for our 3 courses:

Entree: 2 spring rolls and a spoonful of rice.

Main: Fish??? We double checked with the waitress and yes, the restaurant was offering the two Vegetarians Fish for their main course. After we expressed that Vegetarians don't eat meat including fish, we were given mash potato for dinner instead.

Dessert: Nothing without dairy, but my partner had a small brulee type dish, which did actually taste nice.

While it was 3 course, each serving size was pitiful, usually lasting about 2 mouthfuls. In total, it probably would have fed a 6 year old child.

After our dinner, we thought that we would check out some other things to do in the resort. Unfortunately, the 700EUR price tag doesn't include any of the activities. For example, Santa's Village: 97EUR entry fee.

Because of the extreme price of the activities, we decided to head back and watch for the Northern Lights. Turns out a tree covered over half our igloo so we could hardly see the night sky anyway. We decided to turn to Wifi to pass the time. It cut out multiple times. Throughout the night, the Northern Lights never appeared, although obviously the Resort can't control that.

Breakfast the next morning was nice, but nothing exceptional. When we checked out, they never asked how the stay was, remaining completely businesslike, making sure we had no debts then sending us on our way, promising our incident fee would be returned by the next day.

It is also worth checking their policies online before booking, as some of them are questionable (in particular refund policies). Stay at Apukka Resort instead. 1/3 the price, 10x...