Take an Early Winter Trip to Finnish Lapland

No place does winter better than Finland, and the season for snow and ice sports begins in mid-November. By the December vacation weeks, a deep snowpack covers ski slopes and cross-country trails, as well as frozen lakes for dogsledding.

Families can enjoy winter sports or revel in the season at kid-friendly hotels, spas and luxury resorts complete with igloos and glass-roofed rooms for watching the stars and Northern Lights.

Rovaniemi, on the Arctic Circle (a short flight from Helsinki), is a good base for families who can meet Santa Claus, cross the famous Arctic Circle, and ride on dogsleds and even reindeer sleds.

Santa Claus Village is a good place to begin, where you can not only meet Santa and the elves, but also book adventures like reindeer sled rides. Right in the village are Santa’s Igloos Arctic Circle, a village of cabins with domed glass roofs.

At nearby modern Arktikum, kids can learn about the Arctic and the Sami, Lapland’s semi-nomadic peoples who herd reindeer. The mysteries of the Northern Lights are explained here, too, but there’s nothing like the thrill of watching them paint the sky at night.

An unforgettable experience for kids — and their parents — is a nighttime reindeer sleigh ride through a snow-covered Arctic forest for a chance to see the Northern Lights. The 2-mile Northern Lights Reindeer Sleigh Ride ends with warm drinks, pastries and local stories by the fire in a traditional kammi (Sami tent).