Lapland Hotels Sirkantähti — Hotel in Tunturi-Lapin seutukunta

Tui Lapland|Note we have previously been with Santas Lapland, so have reviewed and included some comparisons.||Stayed in levi in hotel sirkantahti |3 nights / 3 X adults and 1 X child|Half board - 3.7k ||Room - annex with 4 single beds|We were in the unit which was the furthest away, it was a bit of a hike, especially when we had to drag our snow suits and cases up. The ladder up to the beds was pretty scary and it felt very unsafe. Would not recommend this type of accommodation if you have very small children. ||Food was good to be fair. Plenty of choice for breakfast and dinner. Water, teas and coffees included with the meals. ||Tui|For a big company, we felt very micromanaged and it was the TUI conveyor belt, from the coach through to the Santa day and the gala meal. Thought it was pretty grim to send an email on the first full day which said "hope you've enjoyed your holiday, now it's time to think about coming home"||Tui like a bit of "free fun" there was more singing on the plane and games and more singing in the airport then Santa's Lapland. ||Tui use every opportunity to try to up sell, they withhold info to try and get you to the welcome meeting. I wasn't going to go to a welcome meeting, it's not my first trip abroad. And it's at 4pm and they are pretty insistent that everyone goes, we were sledging in levi at this time and wasn't pulling the child off the slopes to be sold extra trips. ||Felt TUI always had us queuing at any opportunity to make sure that they were filling time.||The final gala dinner is at 5pm which was too early for us as we were making the most of enjoying the snow, we arrived at about 6pm. But were seated in a separate area like outcasts and not able to get any of the main food, just the salad. Also had to argue with a rep about getting a few Christmas crackers as she needed to save them to make sure they had enough for the people that had arrived on time. We had heard that people at the welcome meeting were told they had to go to the gala to get the coach times for going home. ||Santa day|The taster sessions were a good laugh, very short and they don't give you any free time to chill and walk about, you only have about 40 mins to do the activities before you are back on the coach and off again. You get a quick hot berry juice but there are no snacks or anything. You don't get to fuss and hug the huskies, whereas on Santas Lapland we spent ages with the huskies and had loads of photos with them. Also the rep said to gather round the fire for a story at the end, but when we went it was actually a name call to make sure everyone was there and to chivvy us up and onto the coach. ||You then drive about an hour to see Santa.||The Santa hideaway was good, but any letters to Santa go to a sorting office, rather then to Santa himself. Which was a huge shame.||The TUI Santa is a fraud. | |The TUI conveyor belt was well in operation, you have to be at Santa's wooden chalet at a specific time, to be herded into a room and made to play some games with an elf and a load of other families, you then go through to Santa, but he hasn't read the letter and asked our son if he had written a letter, an elf had already told him she had seen Santa read the letter, so was pretty obvious he wasn't the real deal. Santa didn't know who we were so I would have avoided Santa if I knew it was going to be a shopping centre type experience. ||You have about 90 mins at the Santa hideaway and can decorate biscuits and wrap presents, it was nice. There is no berry juice or snacks or biscuits, it's the full TUI conveyor belt experience. Everyone else was very thirsty. ||Levi|Lots of nice shops and a fun area, behind the k5 hotel there are reindeer that you can feed and some trails where the snow was deep and not trodden on, this was a highlight and so much fun. ||In saraskila, there were tons of sledges everywhere and you just picked one up and used it. In levi, you need to buy one and hold onto it so it doesn't get stolen. Spoke to someone in a shop and was told that levi round them up and get rid of them, seems like such a waste. ||There was a supermarket opposite hotel and they are 11 euros, at zero point they are 20 euros. ||We went up the ski slope in the cable car lift. It's 15 euros return, but the views are brilliant and there is a cafe at the top, the Irish coffees are very nice. ||Tui wanted the snow suits back on the final night, but there was no way I was walking a six year old outside for a ten min walk to dinner with no snow suit in -18. This is typical TUI conveyor belt, shipping you in and out as quick as possible. Keep hold of your snow suit until the morning, you might be lucky and see the northern lights on the last night. ||Note: we have previously been with Santa's Lapland to saraskila it was 5k for two nights in 2022, but the Santa day was absolutely magical, the activities were long and fun, we were not time tabled as we could just grab any coach back and were there all day, you get to go on a snowmobile into the forest over a frozen lake and into Santas cottage and he knew who we were and had read the letter and knew what my son wanted. There is nothing more magical then this experience. You also get unlimited berry juice, pancakes and biscuits as you are walking about and exploring.||Did we enjoy our TUI break, yes definitely. We had a fabulous fun time and I knew we were not going to get a top tier experience. It was 1.3k cheaper and an extra night compared to Santa's Lapland. it was our second Lapland trip and we were not there for a once in a lifetime trip. If Lapland is a once in a lifetime trip, go with Santa's Lapland...

Tui Lapland|Note we have previously been with Santas Lapland, so have reviewed and included some comparisons.||Stayed in levi in hotel sirkantahti |3 nights / 3 X adults and 1 X child|Half board - 3.7k ||Room - annex with 4 single beds|We were in the unit which was the furthest away, it was a bit of a hike, especially when we had to drag our snow suits and cases up. The ladder up to the beds was pretty scary and it felt very unsafe. Would not recommend this type of accommodation if you have very small children. ||Food was good to be fair. Plenty of choice for breakfast and dinner. Water, teas and coffees included with the meals. ||Tui|For a big company, we felt very micromanaged and it was the TUI conveyor belt, from the coach through to the Santa day and the gala meal. Thought it was pretty grim to send an email on the first full day which said "hope you've enjoyed your holiday, now it's time to think about coming home"||Tui like a bit of "free fun" there was more singing on the plane and games and more singing in the airport then Santa's Lapland. ||Tui use every opportunity to try to up sell, they withhold info to try and get you to the welcome meeting. I wasn't going to go to a welcome meeting, it's not my first trip abroad. And it's at 4pm and they are pretty insistent that everyone goes, we were sledging in levi at this time and wasn't pulling the child off the slopes to be sold extra trips. ||Felt TUI always had us queuing at any opportunity to make sure that they were filling time.||The final gala dinner is at 5pm which was too early for us as we were making the most of enjoying the snow, we arrived at about 6pm. But were seated in a separate area like outcasts and not able to get any of the main food, just the salad. Also had to argue with a rep about getting a few Christmas crackers as she needed to save them to make sure they had enough for the people that had arrived on time. We had heard that people at the welcome meeting were told they had to go to the gala to get the coach times for going home. ||Santa day|The taster sessions were a good laugh, very short and they don't give you any free time to chill and walk about, you only have about 40 mins to do the activities before you are back on the coach and off again. You get a quick hot berry juice but there are no snacks or anything. You don't get to fuss and hug the huskies, whereas on Santas Lapland we spent ages with the huskies and had loads of photos with them. Also the rep said to gather round the fire for a story at the end, but when we went it was actually a name call to make sure everyone was there and to chivvy us up and onto the coach. ||You then drive about an hour to see Santa.||The Santa hideaway was good, but any letters to Santa go to a sorting office, rather then to Santa himself. Which was a huge shame.||The TUI Santa is a fraud. | |The TUI conveyor belt was well in operation, you have to be at Santa's wooden chalet at a specific time, to be herded into a room and made to play some games with an elf and a load of other families, you then go through to Santa, but he hasn't read the letter and asked our son if he had written a letter, an elf had already told him she had seen Santa read the letter, so was pretty obvious he wasn't the real deal. Santa didn't know who we were so I would have avoided Santa if I knew it was going to be a shopping centre type experience. ||You have about 90 mins at the Santa hideaway and can decorate biscuits and wrap presents, it was nice. There is no berry juice or snacks or biscuits, it's the full TUI conveyor belt experience. Everyone else was very thirsty. ||Levi|Lots of nice shops and a fun area, behind the k5 hotel there are reindeer that you can feed and some trails where the snow was deep and not trodden on, this was a highlight and so much fun. ||In saraskila, there were tons of sledges everywhere and you just picked one up and used it. In levi, you need to buy one and hold onto it so it doesn't get stolen. Spoke to someone in a shop and was told that levi round them up and get rid of them, seems like such a waste. ||There was a supermarket opposite hotel and they are 11 euros, at zero point they are 20 euros. ||We went up the ski slope in the cable car lift. It's 15 euros return, but the views are brilliant and there is a cafe at the top, the Irish coffees are very nice. ||Tui wanted the snow suits back on the final night, but there was no way I was walking a six year old outside for a ten min walk to dinner with no snow suit in -18. This is typical TUI conveyor belt, shipping you in and out as quick as possible. Keep hold of your snow suit until the morning, you might be lucky and see the northern lights on the last night. ||Note: we have previously been with Santa's Lapland to saraskila it was 5k for two nights in 2022, but the Santa day was absolutely magical, the activities were long and fun, we were not time tabled as we could just grab any coach back and were there all day, you get to go on a snowmobile into the forest over a frozen lake and into Santas cottage and he knew who we were and had read the letter and knew what my son wanted. There is nothing more magical then this experience. You also get unlimited berry juice, pancakes and biscuits as you are walking about and exploring.||Did we enjoy our TUI break, yes definitely. We had a fabulous fun time and I knew we were not going to get a top tier experience. It was 1.3k cheaper and an extra night compared to Santa's Lapland. it was our second Lapland trip and we were not there for a once in a lifetime trip. If Lapland is a once in a lifetime trip, go with Santa's Lapland...

Came here December 2021 via TUI Lapland Christmas Package.

The Hotel: So you need to know that the building pinned on google maps is just their main office/reception/restaurant. You dont actually stay here. They own/run several apartments and other buildings.

The Room: We had the studio apartment as per the pictures. Its not fancy but certainly does the job. Its comfortable and clean albeit the beds aren’t the best. I read a prev review saying the sauna doesn’t get hot….it does! But its not clear that the controls are very low down on the heating unit inside the sauna. I was messing about with the control unit in the bathroom just outside. Anyway the thing gets very hot, 90 degrees according to the thermometer if you sling plenty of water and steam in the unit. Only issues i can report is the dryer unit kept turning off after 10 minutes and wouldn’t come back on which was very irritating. Used the sauna in the end as the dryer too. Also, the radiator in the door way doesnt work if the sauna is on, nothing to tell you that! The TV is a joke too, must be 30 years old and 1 channel in finish. I wouldnt worry too much about the firealarm, it would need an intense blast of heat to go off so dont worry about using the kettle or sauna, just keep the bathroom door closed. The self catering facilities were good.

The Services The restaurant and food was good. We had breakfast included and there was a good range. Cereal, toast, cakes, biscuits, yogurts with lots of topping options and cooked selection. I had a few complaints of course, i am picky :-) so take it as feedback….. your egg options is either a very sloppy and runny scrambled egg which is unpleasant or a cold boiled egg still with its shell. Consider fried please or at least hot boiled egg. The porridge too is very strange in texture. Is it made with water? I think if you have picky kids when it comes to food the dinner might be an issue. We had two meals here and mine couldnt really eat anything other than very over salted fries and chicken nuggets. The rest is very finnish cuisine meaning fish and smoked meats. Even the gala christmas dinner is nothing like a british dinner so keep that in mind. The staff however were fantastic, especially the Elves and the tui reps, they were the best ive ever come across, with lots of energy and festive spirit.

Hints and Tips Lots of free sledges around so grab any that are free. Good for transporting your luggage and snowsuits I found. If you want the best sledging experience of your life, go to the skiing slopes after they close to the skiers (when they turn off the lights). Unless you can ski, this is the next best thing! When I did the taster experience session, there are campfires there, bring some marshmallows and sticks or something so you can roast them over the fire! Also, the experience session put me off buying the husky ride and snowmobile. The 2 minute taster we got froze our faces off, even with face warmers it was unpleasant but perhaps we are overly sensitive.

Christmas Experience This was fantastic. Kids loved it. I had my doubts. But the location they have with santa and his workshop is great. It wasnt overly busy so well organised. We got to see the workshop, and the school privately pretty much as no one else turned up straight away from our bus. Santa was authentic looking too and again all the elves were great. Some pictures...