Lapland Hotels Bear´s Lodge

Booked through TUI. Value for money. No safe in room! Food ltd options for veggies. Rooms basic but clean. Only one tv channel in English (American news), I forgot to take my fire stick to watch Chris**as films!! Bar area very small but was so tired come the evening we hardly used it. Nice open fireplace. Location perfect if you want to be remote Frozen lake surrounded by woods. Pure Narnia! No light pollution so saw the aurora from there on first night. There are a couple of hills which people sledged on. They only had bum boards though so take your own sledge. The kids club in the afternoon provided sledges but then packed them away. Staff friendly and couldn’t do enough for you. Checking in took ages but then it was a coach load in one hit. I can’t comment on kids clubs but the adult evening entertainment was disappointing. It was just a quiz and everything was finished by 8pm and only a handful of people stayed. The festival finale pantomime was 2 reps singing!! They were good singers but wasn’t what I’d call a pantomime. We wouldn’t have stayed up much later as exhausted but a little more adult entertainment would have been good! Laplands for big kids too 😀 Would definitely return as the positives definitely out way the negatives. Don’t let bad reviews put you off, it really is a magical place. I didn’t give 5 stars due to evening entertainment. I would have taken off another star for no safes in rooms but in hindsight I should have checked if they kept belongings in hotel safe. €100 each way to Santa Claus village. Which was about a 20-30min drive. I booked a taxi and asked them leave a note that I was happy to share if anyone wants to. Someone else had done the same so that halved our cost. People always happy to share. You’ll have an amazing time at winter wonderland

We visited here 6 years ago and loved it but came back this Chris**as so that our 4 year old son could experience this magical place and it did not disappoint. We travelled with TUI both times and felt the overall organisation was much better this time. We stayed on one of the lodges the hotel had to offer and it was incredible. There was a separate sleeping area upstairs for our children, a jacuzzi tub and sauna in the bathroom, a log fire, a private balcony and best of all, separate sleds for our kids to use! I didn't realise that there was a full kitchen area in the lodge which included, kettle, filter coffee maker, microwave, hobs and all the utensils you need. We stayed half board so had breakfast and dinner each day and the food was excellent with plenty of choice for adults and children. All of the staff we really good with our kids and couldn't do anymore to help us during our stay. We had a great time experiencing the TUI and elves extras including, winter Olympics and the kids club in the evening. If you are thinking of visiting this place please do, you will not regret it.

Great hotel, in fairness more like a youth hostel so do not expect plush or Al a cart but it works for a family Lapland holiday, isolated position so kids have the freedom to roam, kids club and activities are ok. Food is basic but ok. Plenty of sledging in the day. Negatives are that after the 2nd day get together they take away the ice hockey, football and sledges which is disappointing, also small bar area. One recommendation is bearshill husky experience it is fabulous

Overall we had the most wonderful stay at Bears Lodge - Winter Wonderland Hotel. We stayed as a Chris**as TUI package so experience of the hotel may be different at another time of year. The location is absolutely stunning and everywhere you look is picture perfect. As soon as you arrive, you are greeted with the most beautiful scenes. It truly is a winter wonderland. Yes, it is far from anywhere but I wouldn’t have changed the location, it was magical. Walking around the lake was lovely. We were even treated to seeing a lady out for a husky trek with her dogs. Sledging was great fun! Tip: take an inflatable ring to sledge on (ice tube) or pack your own snow shovel sledge as a lot of the hotel ones got broken. My children also loved to play in the giant snow mounds from the snow plough and made slides in them. The hotel itself has a lovely cosy lodge feel and the only criticism I have of the reception area is that we struggled to find somewhere to sit. It’s a shame you can’t use the restaurant tables in the evenings. The rooms were basic but perfectly fine and clean. Beds were comfortable and it was cosy and warm. We had a lovely view from the window over the frozen lake. We enjoyed the food and thought the staff were lovely. We also liked the little gift shop, which had some lovely items that came inside a little gift pouch. Great Chris**as gifts. Unfortunately some parents let their children run riot and you could hear children racing around the corridors into the early hours of the morning and we did witness a lady being extremely unpleasant to the staff when they asked the children to behave. The staff handled this perfectly, and the impact on the a**osphere and for our children was minimised. Entertainment was in the conference room downstairs which was good for children and for something to do but there were no tables for drinks. The TUI staff did a great job, had lovely voices and were super friendly. Shout out to Sleighbell Sammy, Lively Liv and Angelic Anna. It was so cute that Ginger bread George gave the children Chris**as names. We are still using them :). Taster day was lovely and Santa was the real deal! Absolutely perfect! I would have to say that I was completely disappointed with TUI elf school and wish we would’ve avoided it. It actually led to my son (who loved the elves) being suspicious. I felt this could’ve been tonnes better with minimal effort put in or should just be avoided. This brings me to elves. We absolutely loved the elves. Fairy Lights was a favourite and added to the magic of our holiday with her stories and elvish. Woolly mittens was also a superstar and secretly handed the letters to Santa before we went in. The look on my children’s faces will stay etched in my mind forever. It was so special. Santa Claus Village is great but busy, top tip is to get there early and if you would like to eat in a restaurant pre-book! Be prepared to part with money and do not rely on the visit en route to the airport i