Help required please

Hi everyone

For the last 3 years we have been to Pyha in Feb. I was gutted to discover that Crystal Ski no longer offer trips to Lapland.

I realise that I might not be able to get to Pyha again, so Saariselka would be another option that I would be interested in.

Can anyone tell me the best/most competitive holiday company to go with. Prices seem extortionate compared to previous trips.

Help, I can%26#39;t bear the thought of not going back.

Sobbing into my beer!

Julie

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Inghams are the only company to go to Saariselka other than the short Santa trips in Dec.Inghams prices have also rocketed this year. However it is very easy to book accommodation via the tourist office in Saari and fly Finnair via Helsinki straight into Ivalo 20 mins from resort rather than the 3 hour transfer from Kitila with Inghams. I have priced up New year week and doing it this way would save us (4 adults)£1500 on Inghams prices!

A bus from Saari meets all scheduled flights at Ivalo so no transfer problems there.

We have been to Saari 3 times already, first on a Santa trip into Ivalo so know how convenient that is, then twice with Inghams via Kitila and although the 3 hour transfer is eay, nice straight roads etc it is annoying when Ivalo airport is just down the road.I was shocked at Inghams £700 increase in price for the same week/same holiday as last year (and that was their earlybird prices) so started to investigate other avenues to get back there!

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Hi Julie,

We were shocked too.We went first time this new year with crystal to Phya..so sad eh??we are doing saaris this time on 27th from Manchester with Inghams.We got log cabins in early bird for about £580 each s/c but I dont know what price is now.we are all adults and dont do the santa thing just the skiing and boarding so it depends on your needs Good luck.Les.xxx

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There is a huge amount of accommodation available through the tourist office in Saari at all sorts of prices, the ones I am looking at range from 710 to 955 EUROS for New Year Week per cabin NOT per person and flights to Ivalo are around £275 each return for that week. I should think prices would be cheaper in Feb and some of the cabins are cheaper than this but I am going for a particular location. All in all way cheaper than Inghams inflated prices!

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PLEASE don%26#39;t call it Saari. It sounds ignorant, which I%26#39;m sure is not your intention.

Incidentally, saari means island.

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Sorry, no offence intended, just that a lot of people do abbreviate the word Saariselka!

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Hi Julie

Never did use Crystal myself when going to Pyha.......you could fly into Tampere(Ryan Air),get the night train to Rovaniemi and then either hire car or bus to Pyha. Cabins can be booked directly on the pyha web site. It takes travelling time out of the holiday and I would only really consider that route if I had 2 weeks plus. I am looking at that option or Yllas and I will now look at Saariselka, but not sure yet if we will be going this winter, it all seems more expensive this year. Having thought about it I think the best option maybe a package deal especially with young ones.

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They probably think it makes them sound cool.

How are things in Glou, by the way?

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It all certainly seems more expensive this year than last year. And the simple reason is the exchange rate between euro and pound. Only recently (meaning June/July 2009) the pound has gained back some of its value. The tour operators have done their pricing sometimes last winter based on the exchange rates of that time. See a 5 year graph of Euro/Pound exchange rate: kauppalehti.fi/5/…

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earthtraveller - who do you get your flights with and can you get them now?

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ignore me, must have just had a blond moment - I can see you go with finair