In January 2018, my partner and I flew out to Lapland for a week-long holiday in Yllas, Lapland. We spent 6 nights in Hotel Saaga, and on the 7th night, we spent it at the Golden Crown Levin Igluts, Levi.
Hotel Saaga was in a fantastic location for what we wanted. It is part of the large Lapland Hotel Chain, which we booked through Crystal Ski Holiday Company. If you did not want to book it through a holiday company, you can book the hotel independently through booking.com, Tripadvisor, and direct through Lapland Hotels.
The hotel is based in the Sport Resort Yllas, right at the bottom of the ski slopes. With free parking and views of the slopes from our hotel room balcony, it was perfect for us!
Rooms
The hotel offers a choice of accommodation; hotel rooms and apartments. We chose to stay in one of the superior hotel rooms. We chose the superior room over their standard room for the balcony, hoping to see the Northern Lights. Making this trip extra special, on our last night, our dream came true! We saw the magical green lights dancing away above the slopes over Yllas Fell. It was one spectacular moment!
The room was lovely. It had a traditional Nordic feel to it, with tall wooden ceilings, wooden beams, and pale brown wooden furniture. The room contained 2 single beds as the hotel doesn’t own any double beds. To make your own double bed, the member of the staff on the reception desk suggested to us to push them together. Just be careful you don’t fall down the gap!
The room contained a lovely en-suite with heated flooring, a heated cupboard to dry off your ski gear, kettle, fridge, sofa, TV, and daily housekeeping. There were some chairs and a table on our balcony, but in temperatures between -8℃ and -20℃, I did not fancy sitting outside!
Food
Learning from previous skiing holidays, we are quite often too tired to go out and try to find somewhere to eat tea, after being out on the slopes all day. This year we decided it would be a good idea to go half board.
Breakfast and tea were buffet style with a large selection of food to choose from. Breakfast was served between 7.30 am and 10 am. Tea was served between 5.30 pm – 7.30 pm.
Breakfast: A mixture of cold meats, salad, cereals, fry up, selection of bread, and croissants.
Tea: Salads, meat dishes (mainly Game in a stew), fish dishes, some kind of potatoes including chips, roasted vegetables, selection of bread, dessert (usually something like a moose), and some biscuits.
The food was nice and my partner really enjoyed trying different meats. One night there was Oxtail on the menu. If you’re quite a picky eater like me, some nights you may find you’re eating bread and butter for tea! I don’t feel the menu is very friendly for children, especially if they’re picky eaters!
Spa Facilities
The hotel offers free use of their pool, sauna, steam room, 2 Jacuzzis, and a gym. Since I was skiing every day, the gym didn’t really appeal to me however, the use of the spa facilities did. Part of the reason we booked this hotel was due to the spa. A perfect way to relax after being out on the slopes all day!
There are 2 things I should warn you about when choosing to use a spa in Finland:
- Their average pool temperatures in Finland are a lot lower than ours are over in England. They set their temperature at 29℃. This was too cold for me!
- Wearing bathing suits in their saunas and steam rooms in a no-no. You have to be naked and take in either a disposable mat to sit on (normally provided on the wall outside the room) or your towel. The saunas are single-sex and you must get a shower before entering one.
For some fun winter activities while your staying in Lapland, please visit some of my other blog posts:
