Top 10 places to see Santa

The festive season is on its way, so if you want to get that letter to Father Christmas, here are the top ten places to see Santa in Britain and Europe

Santa Claus Village, Rovaniemi, Finland
Where better to see Santa than in his official hometown and headquarters in the Lappish capital of Rovaniemi, Finland. Visitors can take in Santa Claus’ Office and Main Post Office, where cards, letters and parcels are franked with a special Arctic Circle postmark. The official start of the Christmas period is November 22 and on December 23, you can catch up with Santa before he departs on his worldwide present drop. Nearby, SantaPark is a Christmas fantasy world built inside an underground cavern where elves bustle year round. Visitors can bake and decorate gingerbread, learn elf skills, or make Christmas decorations.
Entrance to the village is free. Entrance to SantaPark is €31 for adults and €25.50 for children three to 12, under-3s are free.
Thomson has four nights’ B&B at the Hotel Santa Claus from £494 per person, including flights from Gatwick on December 10

Hotel Kakslauttanen, Saariselkä, Finland
A three-hour sleigh ride north and you can see Santa while staying in an igloo. Hotel Kakslauttanen is located in the Saariselkä fells in Kekkonen National Park. The hotel’s magical setting is enhanced by its igloo accommodation, with glass roofs that allow you to see the stars and, if lucky, the Northern Lights or Santa himself. On the ground, there are winter safaris by reindeer, snowmobile, or husky, as well as a snow restaurant and Santa’s Celebration House, a magical log cabin.
Totstoo has four nights’ half-board from £3,416 for a family of four, excluding flights

Spinnaker Tower, Portsmouth, Hampshire
You might not be able to make the dizzy heights of a sleigh ride, but seeing Santa more than 100m above Portsmouth certainly gives a sense of his Christmas Eve journey. Father Christmas appears on the viewing platforms at the seaside tower on select December dates, plus there are festive treats available at the Waterfront Café and Café in the Clouds on View Deck.
Santa will be at Spinnaker Tower on December 6, 7, 13, 14, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22 and 23. Entrance to the tower is £8.95 for adults, £7.95 for concessions and £6.95 for children

Drusillas Park, Alfriston, East Sussex
St Nick’s appearance at this small zoo sees him in a themed cottage alongside Mother Christmas and a host of elves (meetings cost £6, including a present). Elsewhere on the park, there’s the chance to meet two of his reindeer, Twinkle and Tinsel, plus there are Winter Wonderland Illuminations from November 29 to January 4 with a light show at 4.30pm. There’s also the opportunity to hug a husky at the Ice Cave.
Santa appearances are on weekends from November 29 and daily from December 13-23. Entry prices to Drusillas Park vary depending on the date, see here for details

St Fagans National History Museum, Cardiff
See Santa with an old-fashioned afternoon tea thrown in. When the man in red shows up at the 1917 Oakdale Workmen’s Institute, tea is served with jelly, blancmange, sandwiches and cheese and pineapple on cocktail sticks. After tea, Santa meets the children and gives them a wooden toy each, while afternoons end in the library with a story-telling session from Mother Christmas.
Santa teas are on November 29 and 30, and December 6, 7, 13, 14, 20, 21 and 22. Prices are is £12 for one adult and one child, see here to book

Lapland UK, Whitmore Forest, Ascot, Berkshire
If you can’t get to Lapland, let Lapland come to you! Father Christmas’ Arctic homeland moves to Berkshire in the run-up to the festive season, and there are activities such as helping the elves in the toy factory, decorating gingerbread, ice-skating and meeting Santa’s reindeers and husky dogs, as well as the chance to see the big man himself.
Lapland UK is open from November 29 to December 24. Tickets cost from £49.50-£79.50. The runnymede-on-thames hotel has triple family rooms from £179 for the duration

The Official The Polar Express, Durham and Dartmoor
Inspired by the hit Warner Brothers film and the book by Chris Van Allsburg, there will be two officially licensed Polar Express rides on heritage trains in the lead up to Christmas. One is on County Durham’s Weardale Railway in the north, the other on the Dartmoor Railway in the south. Set to the sounds of the film soundtrack, pyjama-clad passengers get to see their favourite characters come to life as they head for the North Pole. On arrival Santa will board the train to greet the children and will give a special sleigh bell to all those who believe.
Trains depart at 5pm/5.30pm and 7.30pm in November and December. Tickets costs from £22 for adults and £17 for children aged two to 12. See here to book

The Slieve Donard Resort & Spa, County Down
For those in Northern Ireland, there’s the chance to jump on board an unofficial Polar Express train to see Santa at this luxury hotel an hour from Belfast. Father Christmas, Mrs Claus and the elves will be in residence at the hotel from December 17-22 and guests will get light refreshments at Percy French Station before hopping on board the ‘train’ to go and see them. The journey through the grounds promises, according to the hotel, to pass through ‘a world of festive treats and fun’ before stopping for storytelling with Mrs Claus and Christmas films, as well as letter writing with Santa’s elves in their workshop and the chance to meet Santa.
Polar Express tickets are £16 for children and £12 for adults, including a gift and photo with Santa. Family rooms for four are from £190 per night, B&B

Legoland Windsor
Father Christmas and his elves will be parking their sleigh at the Windsor Resort built by the famed little bricks for an extended Christmas season this year. As well as a visit to see Santa, there’s a free Lego gift for children, themed Christmas activities and Lego building under the watchful eye of elf helper Noel Holiday. Other attractions include 12 rides and the Lego Christmas tree, which reaches a whopping 8m high.
Santa will be appearing at Legoland Windsor on weekends from November 22 and from December 13 until Christmas Eve. Tickets to see Santa are from £25

Reindeer House, Cairngorm National Park, Scotland
You may not get the chance to see Santa, but you can see the next best thing: the UK’s only herd of free ranging reindeer at the Cairngorm National Park. There are some 150 of them in the herd, with visits leaving daily from the Reindeer House education centre at 11am. Once there, visitors can feed and stroke the reindeer. For those who want to see the man himself north of the border, Edinburgh’s Christmas has a host of events from a grotto and rides at SantaLand to the gravity defying circus, Scotch and Soda.
Tickets to see the reindeer are from £13 for adults and £7 for children. See here for more on Edinburgh’s Christmas