Hotel review: Levi Panorama, Lapland

When you’re booking Lapland holidays, it’s usually the activities which take priority as you plan, as well as the practicalities of trips to Lapland from what to pack to when to go. Where to stay in Lapland can often end up being further down the list.

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And it’s true that you’ll probably be packing your days in Lapland with everything from husky sledding to snowmobiling, not to mention playing in the snow and perhaps a meeting with Mr Claus if you’re visiting in December.

But while your excursions might be the same wherever you stay, your choice of hotel in Lapland makes a big difference when you’re travelling with kids. After our four-night Santa Break with Inghams, here’s my review of Hotel Levi Panorama in Lapland.

Hotel Levi Panorama, Lapland: Vital statistics

Set on the side of the mountain, the Levi fell as it’s known, the four-star Hotel Levi Panorama is around 4km by road from the town centre – or a short journey by gondola.

There are 170 rooms in the hotel, both in the main building and apartments in the Levi Panorama Chalets next door, as well as a restaurant and bar in the main building.

There’s a choice of Standard or slightly bigger Superior rooms, both sleeping two to four people. The apartments have their own private sauna and kitchen and can sleep up to six people.

Three nights costs from £1119 per person (based on two adults and two children sharing a family room half board) in December 2024 with Inghams Santa Breaks, including return flights to Lapland from the UK and transfers (as well as thermal suits and boots, a private meeting with Santa on a visit to Santa’s workshop and a farewell dinner with Santa).

Hotel Levi Panorama, Lapland: The good

Comfortable rooms 

After a day playing in the snow or exploring in the cold, my priorities were definitely being comfy and getting warm, and that’s exactly what we got in the hotel.

A sofa and chair to relax on, as well as our twin beds, a fluffy throw draped over the end, plus it always seemed warm without being too hot (there was a thermostat for heating if you did want to adjust the temperature).

And despite thinking that the duvet looked a little thin, it was deliciously snug at night.

Add in all the essentials like a kettle, mini bar, safety deposit box and spacious shower with toiletries and it was a great cosy retreat from the snow. There was even enough cupboard space to stash two unwieldly thermal suits without problem.

The drying cupboard

Putting damp clothes on is never good. Putting damp clothes on when the temperature is well below freezing would be miserable.

So I loved the drying cupboard tucked away in the corner of our room – after peeling off all our layers, those wet hats, gloves and anything else we’d managed to get covered in snow could simply be put inside, turn a few switches and in a surprisingly short amount of time, it was toasty dry.

I’ve been idly wondering if there’s room for one in my own home. (Only available in the Superior rooms)

The unspoiled snow

The bonus of being out of town on the side of the hill is having drifts and drifts of snow all to yourself.

Walk just a minute or two and there are snow-laden trees, hills of more snow and most of it without a single footprint on the smooth surface. At least until we got there.

The lampost at the bottom of one snowy wooded slope persuaded my daughter she was about to walk into Narnia.

And the best thing is that despite feeling like you’re miles from civilisation, it’s not far to get back and warm up when you’ve finished playing.

The views

As well as all that unspoiled snow, you can wander around the corner from the hotel’s front door and gaze down onto Levi.

Lights twinkle at night or you can stare down the snowy slope to the town during Lapland’s few hours of winter daylight.

Some rooms have a view out onto the slopes as well (although if you are ready to sit out on a balcony, you’re braver than I was) – and even the restaurant overlooks the ski slope.

The gondola

Before we stayed at Levi Panorama hotel, I was in two minds about the fact that it’s linked to Levi itself by a gondola. Would this quickly become annoying to have to hang around waiting for it, I wondered? Quite the opposite, it turned out.

Quick and efficient, we never had to wait more than about a minute, never found the queues too long to get a place in one of the three cable cars (even on one of the busiest weekends of the year) and got the thrill of gliding up and down the slope on our way to and from Levi.

It’s worth knowing that the gondola only runs between 9.30am and 9pm (although there is a shuttle bus which runs outside those hours, albeit on a rather longer route to another sister hotel and into town) but with a six-year-old, I wasn’t staying out late in any case.

You also get a free ticket to use the gondola during your stay – the shuttle bus has a charge of a few Euros.

The helpful staff

Although our reps were on hand to answer a lot of our questions about the holidays, the hotel staff had the solution to anything else we needed to know.

And they’re evidently used to small children and their habit of losing gloves as my daughter’s weren’t the only ones which had been scooped up and put into the lost property box by breakfast of the first day.

Incidentally, you can also get tickets to visit Samiland next door at the hotel reception – although at 21 Euros for one adult and one child ticket, I’d have wanted to spend enough time there to make it worth the price, so we didn’t manage to fit that in.

The facilities on site

One bonus of staying in a bigger hotel is that you’ve got everything in one place (particularly useful when you’re half-way up a mountain), from the saunas – one for men, one for women and you are expected to be naked in them – to the restaurant and bar.

Unlike other hotels, we didn’t even need to go outside for dinner so could wander down from our room to the restaurant (you could even manage it from the apartments without having to put on your thermal suit).

The food is always a buffet, so it’s not always the most exciting spread but there’s always a choice (including vegan dishes) and always something for kids – plus a few dishes which did stand out, including some rather delicious salmon.

As with everywhere in Finland, alcohol isn’t cheap but there was a good choice if you wanted a drink. If you’re not staying full board (or even half board), there was also a bar with tables where you could order food as well as restaurants in Levi itself.

Free WiFi

Well, you want to share all those photos of the amazing snow on social media after all!

Hotel Levi Panorama, Lapland: The not so good

No bath

These days it’s far more common to have a shower than a bath in the bathroom in most hotels, and in Finland the focus is on a sauna rather than soaking in the tub in any case.

But as I couldn’t go into a sauna with a six-year-old, I did wish I could have sunk into a long hot bath at the end of the day.

The shower was nicely powerful but even at its highest temperature, it wasn’t as hot as I’d have liked either.

The fox in our room

Not an actual fox, obviously, but the rather cute soft toy waiting in a bag marked ‘take me home’. The catch was that it’d cost 15 Euros if you did take the fox home.

I’m sure my daughter wasn’t the only child who set her heart on owning it the second she spotted it, so while it’s not the biggest problem in the world, I felt put in a difficult position by the hotel – by all means sell them in the hotel shop, but I’d rather not start a once-in-a-lifetime Lapland trip feeling coerced into buying a cuddly animal.

The laavu

A traditional style cafe set around an open fire, it sounded like the perfect place to relax and warm up after a day out, with sausages cooked over an open fire plus crepes and drinks to enjoy looking out over the fell.

But I realised when we arrived that it’s only open from 12-4pm (and closed on Monday/Tuesday from January).

In some ways it makes sense as the short hours of light are over by 4pm – but it also meant that that’s when we were out exploring or on excursions.

The earliest we seemed to get back was 4pm, usually not before 5pm, so we never had chance to go in.

On the one day I thought we might have time to look inside, we couldn’t see it or any signs to it – and after venturing along a few snowy paths and up and down some slippery steps with a six-year-old as the light faded, we gave up before we found it (even though it’s only 300m from the hotel itself).

Just a shame not to have more chance to take advantage of it.

Hotel Levi Panorama, Lapland: The verdict

The perfect balance of being out in Lapland’s stunning landscape but still having Levi almost on the doorstep – for my daughter, it was an endless expanse of snow to be played with, fascinating skiers to watch and the thrill of riding in a cable car every day. A bus simply can’t compete!

And if the food wasn’t something to rave about, you don’t really visit Lapland for the cuisine: the practicality of having food included, something child-friendly, certainly made life simpler – and it helps to keep Finland’s famously high prices down (plus we treated ourselves to lunch in Levi for something a little more exciting once or twice).

Looking back, what I remember most vividly is being able to walk out of our hotel straight into a magical snowy landscape… and then wander back inside to the warmth and comfort of our room within minutes.

And when you’re travelling with a six-year-old, that’s exactly what I wanted.

PIN FOR LATER: REVIEW OF HOTEL LEVI PANORAMA, LAPLAND

Disclosure: My trip to Lapland and stay at Hotel Levi Panorama was courtesy of Inghams. All opinions in my Inghams Santa Break review and new-found love of drying cupboards are my own. This post contains affiliate links – any purchases you make are unaffected but I may receive a small commission

Images copyright MummyTravels

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