Holiday Club Saariselkä Apartments

Bad management during check in. I book an Apartment for 2 nights for this stay but I got the room for 1 night each. Staff told me I have to change room tomorrow and check out at 12PM. So that mean first night I stay and tomorrow check out 12PM and wait for a new room. Also, the apartment is very far from reception. Luckily, I have a car. Imagine if I don't have a car, I have to carry big luggage from the apartment to reception to check out and wait for new room later and move my luggage to new room again, how was it? Moreover, when I check out at 12PM staff told me the room will ready for check in around 2 hours. Then came back to check in again for second at 3PM another staff told me the room is not ready yet and policy for the Apartment check in time is 6PM. ***!!! I said I need the room now because this is unacceptable. Then staff told me the room is ready and give me the key card. So, for this situation I waste the time for half day to pack my luggage, move a lot of luggage to my car with a lot of snow, check out, go to reception for check out, wait the new room, wait, wait, wait, and come back to check in and got very bad answer that she told the room is not ready, and go to check in again, move my luggage to new apartment with a lot of snow, and take a rest. VERY BAD!!!!!

We had to sweep the covered entrance walkways of our building ourselves, but otherwise had a great midnight sun experience in clean and exceptionally well equipped and efficient apartments with reindeer grazing outside and views of the nearby fell. Lovely resort with Netflix and YouTube on the TV, sauna in every room and lots of hiking/biking trails to explore.

We were lucky enough to win a week in the Holiday Club in a draw from Inghams Holidays! My lady gave way to a silver-tongued salesperson at an event and gave her email address never believing it would ever be her that wins. Then she nearly deleted the notification email as it was probably a scam. And so we were off to lands well north of the Arctic Circle in the middle of January. Neither of us were skiers so we weren’t sure what to expect. And we are both in our mid-70s so we weren’t going to take many risks. It's a three-hour coach trip from Kittila Airport to Saariselka including a 20-minute rest stop. The first stop in Saariselka was to get issued with heavy overalls, snow boots and mittens which are vital for temperatures of around -25c to -30c which was what we experienced. The hotel is in the centre of town and most places are walkable. Temperatures indoors were pleasant, not hot, but to go outside needed around 20 minutes to put on the kit to go outside. While we were there the sun rose about 11 am and set around 2.30 pm but there was another hour or two of reasonable light. The rooms were basic with twin beds easily pushed together and the continental individual duvets. Bathroom was fine. Lighting in the room was OK but could have been brighter. There’s a TV but the only English programmes were subtitled. The rooms aren’t serviced during the stay but we asked the rep and he organised the cleaners to change towels and empty bins mid-week. We had half-board so breakfast and dinner were buffet service and the food was filling and plentiful. My lady is vegetarian and the rep told the kitchen and they provided a fresh-cooked vegetarian dish for every dinner just for her which was easily added to with the salads and vegetables on the buffet. Dinner was usually soup with two main meat or fish courses plus plentiful bread, vegetables and salads. There was usually just one choice of sweet plus endless hot drinks and an adjacent bar. During the week we were there large numbers of French came and went plus some oriental parties. A couple of times we encountered a rather full house but the turnover of tables is quick and the food doesn’t seem to run out. There is a swimming pool which seems to be for play rather than swimming plus a sauna and a spa but we didn’t try them. There’s no gym. Inghams offered excursions such as husky driving, reindeer farm visits, skiddoos plus there is a regular public bus service to the ski lifts. We found it delightful to walk the signed trails in the hills – a walking pole is useful. The silence in the woods is wonderful. Everyone wants to see the Northern Lights but that is entirely by luck. During our week there were plenty of sightings but the quality was not good. Enough to show you have seen them but not enough to be thrilled. Plenty of green but no reds or blues. I never knew that the vague wisps of white cloud can be seen as green by taking a picture! Amazing. One lesson we learned, don