We met the REAL Santa! - After lots of research the pure lack of reviews for this experience (and the amount of negative ones!) began to cause panic that I had booked the wrong Santa experience for my family, 2 adults 3 young children 8, 6 & 2. This is by no means a cheap experience, it cost us hundreds of pounds, I was very tempted to cancel as the time grew nearer, but overall I am really glad that I didn’t! Yes it is expensive for what you get in all honesty, but everything is expensive in Lapland. We started at the Safartica main office in Rovaniemi, there is parking just around the corner, pay by app. We were kitted out with warm clothing if needed/wanted (you can also just wear your own if you wish) we got on a minibus with our designated elf and drove 25 minutes into the woods. This part was unorganised, we had to ask twice what was happening and where we needed to be. Once we figured out which bus we were on all was fine. Our elf interacted with the children on the bus ride and tried to get them all excited and in the Christmas spirit which was nice. When we arrived we were greeted by more elf’s and the forest queen who explained what would happen on our visit. Several ‘areas’ with things to do in each of them, some things to do outside and some things to do inside. These were all ‘free play’ we could go to which ever area as and when we wanted spending as little or as much time as we liked in each area (wishing tree crafts/gingerbread decorating, marshmallow roasting with an open fire where we got our trainee elf certificates!, inside a hut for glogi and pastry, sledging hill with sledges to borrow, and lots of snow to play in) The reindeer ride was once around a small track lasted a matter of minutes but it was good enough as a taster session and to get a few photos, a few reindeer they were all attached to each other in a line (one behind the other), once around the track then off, you had to Que for this but we were lucky and straight on. The snowmobile again only a few minutes round in a circle attached to a string on a pole - no track or free play on the snowmobile (like they have at Santa Claus village for the kids) but again it was good enough for a little taster session, the elf was lovely and even gave our 2 year old a little go by getting on it with him and driving him around a few times, which was nice and unexpected - he loved it. The elf’s interaction with the children is what made this experience, they played with them listed to them and told them all about what it was like been an elf, how long they’ve been in elf school etc etc really sweet, they played on the sledging hill with them, snow ball fights, they were really good. The visit into Santa himself was also quick, but our children aren’t big talkers so that was fine, he sat with each of them individually and read through their Santa letters (which they wanted to hand deliver to him) we could take as many photos and videos as we liked and the elf even took photos for us so we could all be in the picture together. He was definitely authentic in the way he looked and acted, Santa even came out to say good bye to us all at the end of the evening, and waved us off on our busses which again was really nice. If you are more interested in the reindeer ride and snowmobile ride this isn’t for you, you would get more for your money at SCV, if you are looking for a lovely way to spend a few hours meeting Santa and playing in a magical winter wonderland with a little taster session on those things, then this is perfect. Overall I am very glad I did not cancel.

Absolutely perfect from start to finish! - A very unique character twist with no Mrs clause but an enchanted forest with enthusiastic elves and Aurora the Forrest Queen. The Santa was brilliantly convincing, took his time so you never felt rushed in and out. Answered questions and had quickly rehearsed the information about the kids to wow them with their names, ages and chosen presents from their letter. Loads of activities you just do as and when you want within the 3 hours, gingerbread making, Christmas cards, snowmobile, Reindeer ride, marshmallows and Santa. Really relaxed, not too crowded and a 25 minute bus ride to the location with your elf and the other lucky children specially chosen by Santa! Would highly and genuinely recommend based on our experience.

Magic - A wonderful experience for my daughter and son in law with their 7 and 3 year old. Meeting the REAL Santa was fantastic and seeing the Northern Lights on the frozen lake was a real bonus.

The most magical experience - From the time we arrived it was completely magical! My kids 6 and 9 absolutely loved every minute. They decorated cookies , went on a sleigh ride with the beautiful reindeer, and had so much fun in the snow. But the best part was Santa! He was amazing, and thanks to one of the lovely elves, she took my 9 year old sons letter from me and secretly handed it to Santa before we went in, he was blown away and I can now say he is definitely still a believer as he’s turning 10 soon and I know there were definitely doubts in his mind!! My 6 year old girl hand delivered hers. He spent so much time chatting with them, he was just lovely. The forest itself was so beautiful and peaceful. I can’t recommend this enough, worth every penny. I would love to thank them all for such a wonderful experience from beginning to end, the forest queen, the elves and the big man himself. Just magical

Mokustojas - We all really enjoyed it. Everything was taken care of, so we parents had a great time with the 2, 9, 11 year olds. We also got a taste of Finnish legends. All in a very funny way. Squirrel was the favourite.

Hidden Santa Dec 2021 - We have just returned from our holiday to Lapland and booked this experience for our 2 children 10 and 4. It was very magical, we arrived at location in the woods, met by the Forest Queen, we were able to at own pace take part in several activities decorate gingerbread, Christmas wishes, reindeer sleigh ride, snowmobile, sledding, fire warming with porridge and warm berry juice...this was lovely! Of course then meeting the main man, it wasn't rushed, he taught the children some important Finland phrases too. All the staff were attentive and made it fun for the children. After returning my children said it was their favourite part of the holiday..we then realised my son had left his gift from Santa in the office...but a lovely helper returned it...we couldn't be more grateful. Thank you :-)

Hidden Place of Santa - The whole experience was a truly magical experience. The staff were so attentive, they remembered our daughters name throughout. Only small groups go on the experience so it felt very personal, away from the hustle & bustle and not a queue in site. We never felt rushed and the activities were lovely. We were secretly led away to meet Santa who took time to chat and he read my daughter's letter out, I snook it in and gave it to a helper. She couldn't believe he actually had her letter. Highly recommend.

Safartica Hidden Place of Santa excursion - I struggled with what to rate this excursion. There are many positives to it although there are areas which could have been better and made more special for the kids. We were greeted at the Safartica office by a couple of “Elves” my family has stayed outside as it looked busy but they asked us to take a seat I went outside to grab the family and came back in to sit where requested. We were then not approached again by anyone but guessed from other people that we could get additional layers or borrow their gloves etc if we wanted to. This was a nice touch and their gloves were incredible. However it all felt very hectic and not quite the special beginning I had hoped for. We then had to enquirer again where we needed to go as others had started to leave but again had not been approached. We had an elf on our bus and don’t think we were very lucky with the one we got but she tried her best to do a little singing etc. the journey was fairly short 15-20mins from Rov centre. There were two huge coaches of families that were taken out to the magical forest and this was the part they could do better. There was a lovely welcome by the forest queen but they then sent us all down to queue for reindeer rides. I think if they had done this in smaller groups it would have felt nicer and less queuing. Luckily my husband took our kids off to play in the snow on the frozen lake while I waited so they weren’t affected. The rest of the experience was much nicer, you choose where you go and what you do out of all the options and if something was busy then we just went and did something else. The Father Christmas part you get approached by the forest queen to see if you’re ready to meet him. My husband had a quiet word with her and managed to pass on their letters to Santa which we send via our fire at home so this is what really made my 9yr old believe. He was amazed by this! Santa was chatty and asked lots of questions but annoyingly both my kids went mute and answered with one word answers so it may have lasted longer had they been more chatty but certainly didn’t feel rushed and he greeted them both by name which again was great. Maybe it’s even more special when it’s not quite so busy as I would say I’d have preferred less people around but I’m pleased overall with how it went.

Crowded and not worth the money - We booked this experience for our 7-year-old in the hope that he would have a special Santa encounter. We arrived at the Safartica office on time and excited. This feeling faded quickly as we were generally ignored, then eventually asked to wait until a coach arrived. After about 20 mins a coach arrived, and we were ushered on along with approx. 30 other people. Once we arrived at the destination, we were told to go and decorate cookies and make wishes for the wishing tree. The room was already heaving, and with our group in tow, the room was jam packed. The workstations were a mess and, in my opinion, unhygienic. The wishing tree was a small Christmas tree in the corner of the room. The children weren't guided in any way but just left with some card and stickers. Everyone was pushing and shoving, and we couldn’t wait to get out of there. The queue for the mini snowmobile was huge and the children were only allowed to go round in a small circle twice. It wasn't worth the wait, so we moved onto the reindeer sleigh ride. This was probably the best part of the whole experience but was over very quickly. When it came to seeing Santa, we asked several 'elves' if they could take our letter to give to Santa, but they said to wait until we were in the actual cabin. Luckily, we managed to give it to the elf in the cabin without our son seeing but it wasn’t easy and was quite stressful. Santa was ok. He didn't speak the best English and mostly spoke about the world cup. Once we'd completed all the activities, we had to wait for an hour for the coach to pick us up. We asked whether we could have another reindeer sleigh ride whilst we waited but were told no, even though there was nobody else waiting for a ride. I feel it was a huge disappointment and not worth the money.

Not worth the price - So disappointed with this tour. For 658 euro, I felt it was not at all worth it.    Waiting and waiting for a bus. Then waiting extra because three people were late. Then when we got off the bus.... waiting again in a circle waiting for everyone to get off two buses and hang around.    First of all, the wishing tree. This sounds like a large tree in the forest where children have to find it and then place their wish. ...a tree in the corner of the room where most of the time is spent colouring and placing stickers on it is beyond disappointing.    2) The porridge.... Every child I saw in the room put the entire thing in the bin. Surely there is another Finnish food that would be more suitable for children.   3) The snowmobiling. One minute going around in a tiny circle on a rope!!!! 4) The reindeer. This was at best acceptable. No effort was made to make the experience better. No blankets were handed out. There was nobody available to take a photo. Tiny sleds pulled by one reindeer. We haven't even got a family photo of our reindeer ride. Six reindeer tied together walking slowly.  5) Santa was deaf!!!  My son asked him " had he been good so far this year" . Santa started talking about reindeer!!! I repeated the question trying to ignore the confused look on my children's faces.  He again started telling us how strong the reindeer were.  Also we had all the activities done within 50 mins and were left hanging around for the rest of the time. We asked about sledding as advertised but there was no where to sled.  Then the kids asked could they go on the reindeer again. We walked down and there was no queue  and the man was just standing there so we asked. The guy shouted " that there were no extra turns". My youngest asked me why was he so cross.  This tour fell far short of a good experience. I had thought that by paying that amount of money, the kids would have had the snowmobiling experience and the reindeer ride. We had to do both again the following day at Santa Claus village.  I am beyond disappointed. What was advertised as a magical event was actually mostly hanging around waiting.