From seeing the invisible to swimming for miles, these marvellous mammals are full of tricks. Find out some fun facts below!

We know Easter weekend will be a little different for us all this year and although our original plans will have changed, there’s no reason why we can’t make new traditions together as a family! 

Here is some inspiration from family traditions across Scandinavia...

If you’re travelling to Finnish Lapland over Christmas, you’re probably wondering how you might be spending the big day. Excitingly, as the official homeland of Father Christmas, you’ll be in one of the most festive places in the world. What’s more, there are some spectacular Finnish traditions that will help you celebrate just as the locals do. Here, we take a look at some of the biggest and best. 

We know what you are thinking! It’s not even summer, so why are we discussing the winter season? Well, we’re going to let you into a little secret - now is probably one of the best times of year to begin planning your festive family holiday before our handpicked hotels and flights are all snapped up!

Sadly, the school holidays are over and it’s time to get back to reality. But why not give into some wanderlust thoughts and start thinking about your family winter break!

Here are Activities Abroad’s 10 unmissable winter experiences you need to have this year:

Lapland offers so much to families wanting to revel in all the joys that come with an escape to a winter wonderland. With so much choice, we understand that it can be hard to narrow down exactly what you want to do on your family break. So, in order to help you plan your next Arctic escape, we caught up with one of our Travel Experts, Laura to get her top three experiences to have this winter with your family:

If you are anything like us then you have probably been longing for the chance to escape the heat of summer and cool down! Now it might still be the summer holidays but the good news is that winter is around the corner and here at Activities Abroad we think that there are plenty of reasons to get excited about the colder months!

Here at Activities Abroad we have always viewed rivers, lakes, canyons and oceans as natural playgrounds. Over the course of nearly two decades, we’ve travelled the world seeking out, and, very importantly, trying out the very best water-based experiences.

This got us to thinking about which are our absolute favourites so we asked our Family Travel Experts to come up with their particular choices. This resulted in a very comprehensive list so we decided to whittle it down to one per country.

Having worked at Activites Abroad for almost 9 years I have always dreamt about taking my family to Lapland.  I am very lucky to be able to visit many of the wonderful destinations that we offer as part of my role as Product and Operations Manager and I consider many of our local partners as friends rather than just business associates.

We recently caught up with Laura from our marketing team to find out about her experience meeting reindeer in Finnish Lapland, here's what she had to say:

So, I’m a little bit of an animal lover (ok - major animal lover) and when I heard I was going to Finnish Lapland and getting the chance to meet reindeer, I couldn’t have been more excited!

We love Finland here at Activities Abroad and we can’t wait to celebrate 100 years of independence with them - but what makes this amazing country one of our favourite places to go on holiday?

Here are five reasons we think you should make Finnish Lapland your next family getaway:

After my helmet was fitted, I beamed around at the others in the group before heading outside to cool down whilst I waited for the rest of the group to have their helmets fitted too.

Once we were all outside our guide Laura called to get our attention and introduced herself and the other guide before taking us over to a row of large red and black snowmobiles. We all listened attentively whilst she showed us the controls and the hand signals we would use on the safari. Once we were all confident and found our snowmobiles we set off in single file, moving through the snowy landscape.

Arriving at the reindeer farm we were met by a fellow in a startling blue cloak decorated with a bright red trim. On his head sat a giant fur hat with flaps similar to that of a deerstalker; his feet were as interesting as the rest of his outfit as, casting my eyes down, I noticed he wore furry shoes that could have been furry slippers that curled around at the toe.

He welcomed us by opening his arms and standing very straight and tall and introducing himself as Joonas; telling us that he is a reindeer herder before he led us towards his reindeer, about 30 metres away. The reindeer stood fairly still as we approached, moving their heads only to check who we were. They were then harnessed up and attached to a sleigh and behind that reindeer’s sleigh was another reindeer and then another sleigh and so on; so standing in front of us was a ridiculously cute reindeer train!

Experiencing a snow holiday with Activities Abroad is more than just your normal family ski escape. Combine fantastic snow with bucket list experiences, endless fun away from crowded resorts and magical family experiences.

Here are our top three places to experience a snow holiday:

With the festive season creeping up on us, it’s not too early to turn your attention to the February half-term holiday in order to make the most of this precious time with loved ones.

Take a look at this roundup of my favourite holidays departing during the next school half-term:

Over the winter months our Activities Abroad representative Ben has been working in Nellim. As the season draws to a close we asked Ben to share his favourite experiences of the winter season.

Jo and Amy our Product and Sales managers are currently in Finland checking on preparations for our family Christmas holidays.

As they touched down in Rovaniemi it was clear winter had arrived and there was even a couple of inches of snow on the ground making everything look extra special!

Ali founded Activities Abroad a long, long time ago after returning to the UK after a year-long bike ride across Europe. Aged 30-something, he was sitting in his parents’ house with no job, no money and absolutely no prospects and thinking, “What am I going to do for the rest of my life?”