Pyhan Asteli

Our cabin was stunning and we did see northern lights from our bed which was magic. Most of the activities are well run and enjoyable. We had an amazing time having a private dinner and northern lights hunting with Guide Dan. We loved the cross country skiing. The reindeer farm experience was so fun and interesting. The snowshoeing experience was very underwhelming and our guide wasn’t the best for this. The buffet food included wasn’t very good I’d rate it a 4/10. Overall the price of the hotel is too expensive for what it is offering. For the price I expected a luxury experience but it felt a bit like an organised glamping experience. And example of this is when we arrived we expected a welcome drink and to be welcomed but instead it our transfer dropped us outside reception, told us to stand in line to wait to be checked in and then reception pointed us in the direction of our room and didn’t help us with the bags. The big buses of tourists arriving made it feel like a low cost camping experience. The food was uninspiring and the reception team overall seemed inexperienced and don’t understand the basics of customer service. The only helpful reception staff member that was was Barbra. The standout part of this hotel are the rooms are beautiful and some of the experiences are magic. Improvement required to achieve a higher score: - Lower the price to match the experience being offered - Have a more helpful team of reception staff - Improve the buffet food! - Snow shoeing experience should be cheaper - Would be nice to have more local people/Finnish people working in the hotel to make it feel more authentic.

We stayed here for 3 nights mid January. Our package included all food, activities, use of thermal clothing, transfers and staying in an aurora cabin. Paddy picked us up from the airport for the 1 he 45 min drive. He was great, really friendly and gave some helpful tips. Check in was good, we had our bags taken to our cabin and was provided with our itinerary for the next couple of days. Walking into our cabin was amazing, it was so cosy, inviting and warm with the glow of the electric fire. It was a little too warm and the remote didn't lower the temperature so we used the resort app and someone came out to adjust it whilst we were at dinner. Food-- food was OK, there was plenty of it and it was always hot and it was available for most of the day, but as I'm a bit of a picky eater I was a bit limited but I didn't go hungry and I enjoyed what food I had. The menus are provided on the website and in the dining area. Activities - we did the reindeer ride, snowmobiling, husky safari and northern lights hunting in the wilderness. All were just amazing and so much fun. The guides were all great and even though they do this day in day out, they still made it special for the guests who may never have done this type of thing before. Snowmobiling into what was like Narnia, with snow falling and stopping off at a wooden hut in the middle of nowhere to light a fire, toast marshmallows/have a hot drink was just magical. The husky safari was great, I have reservations about animals being used for tourism but the dogs were excited to get going, healthy and well looked after and it was a great experience. We had time to give them lots of cuddles and even saw some puppies. The aurora hunting was on our last night, Dan took 6 of us out in a van to somewhere more remote. There was a clear sky but a full moon so not ideal conditions but we saw the lights which was great and it was a really nice evening with 2 other lovely couples. Overall we had the most amazing stay at the northern lights village, we loved every moment and it more than lived up to our expectations. I'd highly recommend staying here.

Families should avoid early December and for the next few years until they are an established and fully functioning hotel. Allowing 2 stars for the Search for Santa experience (especially the amazing elves) and for the Aurora cabin accommodation. We stayed from 1st to 4th December 2024, and were so excited to have arrived to Lapland. However, at check-in, we were taken aback to be greeted by moody, sullen staff members, not the positive, happy welcome you expect to receive. The male member of staff on reception was exceptionally unhelpful, unaffected, lacking in any empathy and devoid of any sense of customer service, giving only yes/no answers, without furnishing us with any helpful information. He told us that some of our activities (husky rides and snowmobiles) would be cancelled, due to lack of snow. This was a more than we were aware of, as NLV had previously told our travel agent that we could still do snowmobiling 15 minutes’ drive away, but that was not the case, due to height restrictions (over 1.4m I believe). He simply did not care when I told him that I was disappointed with the lack of activities on offer. The only alternative activities offered to us were a 3-hour long (7km?) hike, or aurora hunting from 8 til 11pm, neither of which I felt were suitable for our 8 and 5 year old children. Another family told us that they had been offered cross-country ski-ing, but this was not offered to us and again, not an ideal activity for young children. I asked the member of staff several times what the activities involved, how much walking there was, if there were any stops, refreshments offered etc. He just didn’t know! I referred him to the NLV website, which I had brought up on my phone, and showed him that there was very little information on there about activities, very few photos, no reviews etc. How can the reception team have next to no information on the activities to advise guests, and inform their choices?! Basic information they should have received from their training. I asked him if there was any on-site shop, he replied no. Any shop nearby, I asked? He replied the nearest one was at least a 10 minute’ drive away. At that point, he should have advised me about the shuttle bus they run from the resort, but he did not. I found this out by chance on our last day, from another guest. I was disappointed, as we would have liked to have explore the local area to visit some shops or cafes, but had now missed our chance. There was a small childrens’ snowmobiling track on-site, with tape around it, which was very underwhelming. A staff member showed us how to work the snowmobiles, then just left us to man them ourselves for the majority of the 30 minute session, without supervision. Yes NLV, I know patently well you can’t control the weather 🙄 as they so helpfully told me over email. My complaint is that the alternative activities offered were unacceptable to a young family. Moreover, the unbothered, unaffected attitude o