Jussan Tupa Oy — Hotel in Tunturi-Lapin seutukunta

I am writing this review in two parts - firstly the hotel and then about Transun Northern Lights holiday.|When we booked our holiday, we were told that the two Davii hotels were full, but there was space in the Jussan Tupa. I was wary of this, but really glad that we were allocated this hotel as there is more going on around the hotel with nearby facilities (supermarket/chemist/hardware store/ a few gift shops with cafes/visitor centre and a ski run). There is nothing around the two Davii hotels as far as we could see. We were allocated room 35 which was a first floor corner room overlooking the back. To be honest the road outside of the hotel is very quiet as the snow quietens things and with about two cars an hour - so don't worry if youre at the front. Also the view at the back is nothing special - a few trees up a small hill incline and thats all.|The hotel does not have a swimming pool as we know it - it's actually more of a plunge pool facilitating the separate male and female saunas.|Storage facilities in the room are very limited so don't bring too many thick jumpers as the snow suits & boots take up a lot of floor space and the wardrobe only handles about 5 or 6 items per side. There is a corner chest of drawers but again these don't hold much. Most of our gear i.e gloves, socks, hats etc were stored on top of the headboard. Bed & bedding was comfy and we slept well, except for the guest below us snoring loudly (not the hotels fault). En suite is a small wet room with underfloor heating.|Guests in our group were sociable so it didn't take long to get chatting with everyone in the cosy bar & reception areas. The bar has 3 draught beers - Koff Long Drink with a hint of grapefruit at 5.5%, Kronenberg Blanc wheat beer at 5.0% and a local Finnish beer at 4.6% which was given a thumbs up by UK beer drinkers. The draught white wine was also fine - I didn't try the red. Prices reasonable.|Meals are a basic set menu - not cordon bleu but very tasty and plentiful. Vegans and gluten free requirements were well taken care of they said - and commented they wished they could get such nice meals in the UK. Free tea & coffee during meal times along with juice and water. ||Next part of review is about Transun Northern Lights trip (4 nights). Didn't get off to a good start with an abysmal service by Enter Air, the chartered airline, from Birmingham Airport. Recommend getting there much earlier than the two hours before departure as they only had one desk open for a Boing 737 number of passengers. Second desk opened about 20 minutes later and a third just an hour before departure. Many of us had to run through the airport to make the boarding gate in time.|Arrival at Enontekio Airport - be prepared for the cutest little airport - once you disembark you have to queue outside of the terminal as the hall can't cope with so many people. Once through passport control, you then have to take your own cases off of the little trolley transport from the aircraft. Friendly Transun Reps then direct you to your transfer coach. Lisa, the Transun Rep at our hotel explained that we only had a short drive to Boots & Suits to collect ours. This is where I believe Transun should add an extra Essentials item to their list i.e. an extra large belt as the suits are no particular size and if like me the legs are too long - a belt was needed to hold them up properly. |Included excursions -|Snowshoe Intro - is a walk across the frozen lake just across the road from the hotel. You then trek up into the woods - important word here is UP. This is the most strenuous activity on the trip.|Northern Lights Forest Trek - a gentle walk around the back of the hotel & school grounds. Sadly we didn't see the lights, but it was a nice experience sitting around the fire with a hot juice.|Husky Sledding - I didn't enjoy this (hubby loved it) - I thought it should have been much better organised with those not wishing to go fast being placed at the back. Inevitable accidents with sleds capcizing due to dogs trying to get past slower sleds in front. Also no warning of how bumpy the surface is for those who have bad backs/joint problems. When we reached the end, there was no-one around to tell us how to get out and a couple of our group got lost in the grounds. This was by far the coldest activity we undertook with hand and feet warmers being essential.|Snowmobile safari - great fun - better organised than the dog safari and with this being at night it was magical driving on the frozen lake with vast open space. Wish it had been longer.|Reindeer camp - animals tethered to back of sleigh in front. You just sit there while staff at the front walk around a circular route. Nice and gentle.||Last day - a long day as you have to be out of your room by 9 a.m. and the coach didn't depart until 2 p.m. Perhaps another activity could be arranged to fill in this time Transun?|Would we book again -...

We stayed here on a Transun Northern Lights holiday. Sadly we didn’t see the Northern Lights! |The hotel was clean and the staff who spoke English were friendly and helpful. |The bedroom was quite small and could do with some better storage and hooks to hang up the snow suits. As has been said, the snow suits are one size in length so I definitely needed a belt, which should have been provided with the suit. No hairdryer. The worst problem was the complete lack of sound insulation, so we could hear the people above us moving around and people being very noisy in the lounge area at the end of the corridor. We asked our rep to ask people to be more aware of this but there was no change.|The Transun person I spoke to on the phone before we traveled was very helpful in explaining how to layer up, although we had unseasonably warm weather and temperatures were around 0!||Food was ok ‘ish. Breakfast was standard with some cereal, bread and a reasonable hot selection. One day when we had nothing in in the morning we were a bit late and it had all gone. The main course at lunch and supper had no choice and there was a stew, sliced sausage burger and stuffed cabbage rolls. Boiled potatoes were fried up the next day. The overcooked frozen mixed veg made the whole thing rather like a school dinner. There was a bit of salad and some pickled beetroot. Pudding was cake or a weird “fruit soup”. Juice and tea and coffee was available at meals but no kettle in the room.|The sauna and cold water plunge pool was only open for a short time in the afternoon. So we had quite a lot of time when we were not on a trip when we could have used it. We were pleased to be in Hetta where there were a few coffee shops and tourist shops. The silver jewellery was particularly good.|The reindeer and husky trips were good fun. The talks from the people working there were most interesting. The snow mobile trip at night was a waste of time. We drove at speed over the frozen lake but were warned sections were melting and to focus carefully on the track of the vehicle in front of us. This could have been a good trip during the day, especially if we could have stopped to take some photos of the open space. We had no activity on our first day or the second morning, although we did take the hotel toboggan and did that for a bit. There needed to be another activity to fill up some of...

Overall the hotel is very basic. The rooms are Spartan; no kettle, tea, coffee or hairdryer. The lack of kettle is heightened by the absence of facilities outside of the strict breakfast, lunch and dinner times. There are no refreshments available between these times. ||The small bar serves local beers - wine on draught ! ( red or white) and mostly cheap spirits - at top end prices. ||Rooms are not serviced daily, not even a towel change. The towels are cheap, thin and small and by the end of the week - well…..||Sound proofing in the room is non existent- we had a downstairs room and it sounded like a one legged man was clog dancing in the room above - morning and night. ||Food is absolutely dreadful - there is no choice available and what is presented sits somewhere between IKEA on a bad day and a prison canteen. The food is not ‘ home made’ - it’s poor quality , pre-prepared with the cheapest ingredients. Lunch today was this mornings hot dogs sliced into last nights pepper sauce. The restaurant is self-service - and, you are expected to clear up, putting leftovers into a plastic slop tray. ||There is no real social area in the hotel, which makes it a little more difficult to meet other travellers. Your room has to be vacated by 9 am on the last day - because, as the Transun rep explained - they have get the rooms ready for the next tour arriving at 5pm later the same day - and, the rep went on to say - they don’t have a lot of staff! ||The plus points are its location and cleanliness - Transun have missed the opportunity to make this adventure into the Arctic perfect - everything else is a once in a lifetime experience - just a shame they use this type of hotel. ||There is a far better hotel just up the road - Hotel Heta - good food, cocktails and a fabulous view across the frozen lake. The bar area is spread around a huge log fire, with ample seating and a pool table. ||There is also a great little burger bar next to the hotel - cracking quality burgers. ||Please read my reviews from other trips, if you feel this...