Customer Review

One of the best holidays we have ever been on, loved every minute. Everyone was great, we loved the place. We just loved being out on the sleds with the dogs, so quiet and such fun! The natural situation of the hotel and the unspoilt environment make the holiday.

This was absolutely the most spectacular trip we've ever taken. The only part that we didn't like is that we eventually had to leave! The Aurora was by far the best part of the trip. We had three really good nights of Aurora activity, so we left more than satisfied. We really enjoyed the dog sledding and the reindeer trip as well. I expected the reindeer herder to be a little cheesy and fake (sort of petting zoo), but completely blew me away. I didn't dislike any of the activities, but if I have to pick something, it would be the Sámi museum. The museum was very nice, but I was exhausted after the dog sledding and really wanted a nap instead! Seriously, there is not a single thing about this trip I would do differently. I thought the extra day and a half we had due to the flights being full turned out great and gave us a chance to enjoy the holiday that much more.

The dog safari was so much fun. We hope to do a longer trip someday. Food at Kultihovi was fantastic as were the staff. Antti and Johanna were the best and we enjoyed being with them both in the trips and at the hotel. Rita and Anne were terrific.

We had a great time and enjoyed all the activities. Seeing the Northern Lights was probably the highlight but if we hadn't seen the Lights we would still have considered it a terrific holiday.

We had a great time & loved the accommodation & activities. The staff & instructors were very helpful & knowledgeable. We both enjoyed the Husky Dog Sled trip - great fun - good guide - dogs adorable. I enjoyed driving Snow Mobiles (petrol head!). My wife loved cross-country skiing (fitness fanatic).

Watching the Aurora was the most enjoyable. We saw it on three nights out of four, which was wonderful. Each night was completely different, and one night was so spectacular we were completely stunned. It was so close we could almost reach up and touch it!

Fabulous holiday thanks to the amazing help and advice received from Barry when choosing and booking the trip!!!!!!! The whole trip was amazing and we have recommended it to friends and family.

We have taken several trips, and this, by far was right at the top! The dog sledding adventure was beyond expectations, as well as the light show. Sitting around the fires at night, talking to the other guests, drinking berry juice was great and we all talked about how nice that was. Everything was great from the moment of my first inquiry, to touchdown back at Heathrow. Loved this holiday! The local guides, Jonah, and the big Finnish gentleman, who took us out to the Aurora huts at night were fantastic. Both were warm, friendly, had great stories, humour, and had a shy presence, which was truly a gift for us! We experienced, first hand, what growing up and living in such a beautiful place is for them.

Excellent activity guides and Karen and Graham were knowledgeable and helpful without being pushy. Visiting the huskies and sledging with them through the forest was a really memorable and magical experience.

My fiancé and I have spent six nights at the Nellim Wilderness Hotel on the 12th Jan-18th Jan, I have to say this is definitely the best holiday we've ever been on. We'd enquired and paid a deposit for this holiday back in summer 2014 and had chosen the 'very active' package to Nellim. Since the very first email to Aurora Zone team, they have been very responsive, helpful and informative with all our enquires throughout this whole time. We especially thank Dawn for being so helpful and lovely during the past six months. When we first arrived at Ivalo Airport, we were greeted by a very friendly guide named Quincy and were immediately transferred to the hotel in a very comfortable car. I do highly recommend getting an upgrade to the cabin, it is just too nice to have your own fireplace and sauna, the cabin was super cosy, clean and warm. Throughout all the activities that we've done, I felt incredibly safe as all the guides were very experienced and all the activity tracks were very well planned and maintained. I have never done cross-country skiing, snowshoeing and dog sledding before but there wasn't even a sense of fear during the activities. You can ask anything as the guides were so friendly and helpful. This was definitely the hardest trip to leave as we've bonded such a great relationship with everyone at the hotel, and thank you so much Aurora Zone for organising such amazing holiday packages for us. I highly recommend the Nellim package to anyone who loves a bit of a challenge and love to have lots of fun. We will definitely go back again in the future.

Most enjoyable was dog sledding. Always wanted to do it, it was awesome. Would go back again just to do dog sledding and snowmobiling AND we saw the Northern Lights on the last night.

One of our most memorable holidays to date. The last full day was spectacular and is in my top five experiences - husky safari and amazing Northern Lights show in the evening.

I loved every minute, but the Northern Lights, which we saw on our last night, and the husky sledding, were my favourite. The hotel was warm and cosy, the staff friendly and helpful, and the food plentiful, varied and delicious. The setting was very pretty and the snow-covered lakes and forests were stunning. We were very well looked after by our excellent wilderness guides, who entertained us with stories and anecdotes, and whipped up a campfire and lunch in no time at all. Loved the berry juice.

(The) husky safari – gave a great sense of freedom. You felt like you were in control without actually having to have any skill. Dogs were adorable and the guide clearly loved what he did. Our four nights and the daily schedule seemed like the perfect amount of time and set of activities to really feel as though we'd experienced Lapland. Fantastic holiday, only marred by a wait at Helsinki on the way back (but we'll get over that!). All staff and guides at the lodge were extremely helpful, friendly and enthusiastic. When we booked we mentioned that Fran had an intolerance of onion - we were amazed when not only the lodge staff but also third party staff on activities were aware of this and went to significant lengths to accommodate this.

Most enjoyable apart from four nights of clear skies and excellent Aurora Borealis viewing - definately the husky sledge run, great fun.

Wow, what a brilliant holiday. Even the lights came out to play four nights out of six and were truly amazing - a wonderful experience seeing them. All arrangements were so smooth and on time. The hotel and room were excellent as was the food. The sauna was a great plus at the end of an exciting day of activities in -16 to -30C temperatures. At those temperatures even wearing our full ski wear we needed the provided additional snowsuits, gloves and boots. The hotel staff were excellent, accommodating and helpful especially when we disappeared to watch the lights as Christmas Eve dinner was about to be served. Their English was far better than our Finnish! Apart from the light displays the husky sledge ride was probably the number one activity followed closely by the skidoo activities. It was lovely to see the dogs working yet enthusiastic and apparently enjoying it as much as we were. The guides for all activities were knowledgeable and friendly and went out of their way to ensure we had the best experiences even going as far as extending the time of our activity to accommodate the lights showing up late. There were no negatives to this Christmas holiday except that it went by so fast. Couldn't fault it - everything worked smoothly from start to finish. The schedule was perfect. Lots to do and enough free time to see the Sámi centre, the village and have a nice riverside walk. If we had wanted we could have booked another activity such as ice fishing instead. The Aurora watch channel on the TV in our rooms and in the bar was particularly useful to save us running outside in the cold to check if the lights had appeared.

I was so impressed with the attention to detail regarding my wife being gluten free, even when we were out on excursions she was well catered for. The husky sledging (favourite activity), the dogs were so friendly. We enjoyed helping set up our team and loved fussing them. We will remember this trip for the rest of our lives.

Dawn was so helpful both during the booking process and afterwards. Delivered an excellent level of customer service and a true asset to The Aurora Zone. Thank you. Most enjoyable (activity): The husky ride it was fast fun and cute. Thank you so much for an amazing holiday - in particular to Dawn and team. I am pleased to let you know that my proposal was successful and I am now engaged.

The food was actually better than I expected. There was plenty of it and the quality was very good. If the choice was a little limited, it really didn't matter. Most enjoyable (activity): Like most people, the husky ride. Apart from anything else, the dogs were obviously loving it and just wanted to run. Least enjoyable (activity): I don't think there was one! I can't think of any improvements. This was a truly memorable holiday. It was cold, of course, -30C at the hotel and colder on the lakes, so we had to put a lot of clothes on just to go from the cabin to the hotel for meals. But it was worth it, and we were very lucky with glorious displays of the Northern Lights.

This holiday, including accommodation, activities and lodge staff surpassed all expectations and suffice to say we had an awe inspiring time! Every day was a wonderful, new experience that we will treasure forever!! The husky sledding was amazing! I also loved being able to have close contact with the dogs after the sledding. I absolutely loved all of it... can't fault any of it!  All the staff from chefs, front of house, waitresses, guides etc were incredible! They created such a wonderful environment; relaxed but professional, scoring 10+ out of 10!

Loved the whole experience from start to finish. Other than seeing the Aurora the local activity guides and hotel staff were the best part of the holiday. They made each activity and indeed the overall experience extremely enjoyable and looked after their guests extremely well. We loved the huskies, the snowmobiles and the bubble. We would highly recommend the holiday, the hotel and your company - thank you.

Most enjoyable activity: Snowshoe trek for two reasons: an amazing Aurora display on our very first night and Tim, our guide, who was knowledgeable, passionate and took excellent care of us. Least enjoyable: Nothing! It was an amazing trip, the trip of a lifetime! The guidance, advice and enthusiasm from your company was invaluable.

Most enjoyable activities were Huskies and Snowmobiles! We loved meeting the huskies and riding with them. Especially the snuggles afterwards. Driving the snowmobiles was fun too. There was no least enjoyable activity - (we) loved it all.

I really enjoyed the team and the support I had. The flights worked pretty well, and we had great support from people in Abisko and Kiruna. The staff at the Abisko Mountain Lodge were polite, and very willing to help. I had a simple, but still wonderful lodging. The food was incredible and it has been a while since I ate so well. I think that our guide, Tim Nordström, also did a great job with Aurora "hunting" and ice fishing. I have no complaints. Definitely, this is a holiday I would recommend to everyone.  Definitely, the most enjoyable activity was looking for the Aurora since that was my primary goal. I was downhearted at first because the weather was really bad in Kiruna and it remained so until we got to Abisko. When we got there, the weather shifted completely to clear skies and we were able to see the Aurora the same night. This reminded me of the fame of Abisko regarding the changes to see the Aurora there. In any case, we were really lucky since others were there for several days and could not see it. We were able to see it well for at least two nights. We had a show for about two hours on our first night and only half an hour on our second night. The third night was really cloudy and we could not see much, otherwise, it would have been incredible, since the cameras were able to detect the lights behind the clouds. I enjoyed all activities.

All the guides and the rep looked after us really well and were very knowledgeable. Most enjoyable activity was the husky dog sled. Such good, fun and eager dogs. We thought the number of people in the activity groups was ideal for us. Thank you for a great holiday!

Fabulous experience from the pre-booking through to the final farewells. The office staff in the UK were amazing giving good advice even before I made a booking; the ground team in Finland seemed pleasant, but they perhaps were the people I felt we had least connection with. The husky sled riding/driving (was) an exhilarating experience, with good knowledgeable guides. Wish I had thought to film it on my camera instead of taking stills. Believe this will sell the experience even more. For me the snowshoe walking was hard going & tiring. However I was pleased to participate in all the activities and really appreciate the accommodations the guides made.

It is hard to choose as the whole trip was amazing but the husky trip was something that we will never forget. We were fortunate enough to be the only two on the trip which meant we spent the whole day in the national park learning everything we wanted to know about the area, the huskies and the way of life. The guide cooked a delicious lunch of reindeer and we sat and watched the sun go down. To top it off as we were coming home we saw the Northern Lights and managed to get some great pictures with the husky dogs. We had a trip of a lifetime and everything was very well organised.

We had an amazing time. The hotel staff and activity guides were excellent - they explained things clearly and made us extremely welcome, sharing some local traditions and knowledge with a joke or two. Once they knew about my allergy to strawberries, they made sure that there was hot chocolate for me instead of the local gloki - which is made with strawberries! The huskies were a real treat. None of us knew what to expect and the dogs seemed very well looked after and willing to run. Also, a special mention for Jukka - who was with us for four of our activities. He was very informative and looked after us well.  Honestly, this was the best holiday we have had! The food, accommodation, the special warm suits, the hotel staff and the activity guides were all excellent! We didn't want to come home and are already talking about if we can go back.

Absolutely fantastic - Nellim was beautiful and the staff were brilliant.  We loved the snowmobiling but it was all fantastic. Ice fishing (and cooking the winnings) was brilliant too.

Well what can only be described as the most magical breathtaking beautiful experience ever! Possibly the most beautiful place I've been. We were here for five days, the hotel was stunning, the food was delicious, the staff very welcoming and friendly. Our two reps Karen and Graham were fantastic, always there if you needed them. Huge choice of activities and the husky sleigh was easily my favourite. Snowboarding, snowmobile sleigh Aurora hunt... everything was spectacular! I would definitely recommend this trip to anyone as it's a trip of a lifetime... and the biggest bonus was we saw the Northern Lights on the 3rd night.... breathtaking! Thank you Karen and Graham... I'll see you next year :)