Whizzing down an ice slide in a snow hotel, driving a snowmobile through a moonlit forest and floating in a survival suit on a frozen lake.

That was just a day in the life of my foray into Finnish Lapland.

Other laughter-filled activities included driving husky and reindeer-drawn sleighs, ice karting and plunging from hot saunas into snow.

Stepping off the plane at Kittilä Airport was like entering Narnia - a glittering, metre-deep snow blanket covered everything.

My group of seven adults felt like children as we stomped out fresh footsteps to our Äkäs Alp apartments in Ylläs, which each had its own lounge, kitchen and, of course, a sauna – a key part of Finnish life.

Our first à la carte dinner in the Äkäs Hotel restaurant of locally-sourced mushroom soup, salmon fillets and cloudberry dessert, heralded a week of tasty food to come.

The next morning, dressed in thermal suits and boots, we travelled to Husky Point, Hannukainen and were soon being pulled along by six enthusiastic dogs, who regularly took bites out of the refreshing snow.

After an exhilarating ride, we petted the now contented dogs and saw the unexpected sight of a fat cat, called Bacon, who lives in the farm food store.

Hot berry juice and lunch fuelled us up for exploring the nearby ski slopes. Our guide Saara warned us that the heavy snowfall meant poor visibility but our enthusiasm could not be dampened.

The wide piste was empty and just as well because with the whiteout and frozen goggles we were careening along, disorientated but laughing as we crash-landed in the snow.

Halfway down, the visibility improved and our instructor encouraged us to go off piste onto the deeper snow, which led to more crashes and laughter.

That evening a snow tractor took us to a mountain-top restaurant, with a log fire, where we enjoyed our first taste of reindeer.

Day two took us to a traditional Sami farm at Venejarvi, for a Super Reindeer Safari. Our reindeer Rocky was less enthusiastic than the huskies but occasionally sprinted impressively on the beautiful 6km trip and more than earned his green moss treat.

A fish lunch at Yllaksen Kaivahuone warmed us up for ice floating at the Yllas Adventures safari house.

The idea is that wearing survival dry suits you lie in the lake and hopefully see the Northern Lights - the natural light display caused by the collision of energetic charged particles with atoms in the high altitude atmosphere.

It was too cloudy when we were there but feeling like huge buoyant jelly babies we had great fun floundering around.

After sipping hot berry juice in the sauna, we set off on a Snowmobile Safari to our ice hotel accommodation – Lainio Snow Village.

Every year, approximately 1,000 lorry loads of snow are used to create the attraction. A mixture of ice and snow are crafted into breathtaking carvings, sculptures and furniture for the ice restaurant, hotel, wedding chapel and conference facilities. Only the mattresses in the beds are ‘normal’.

Guests are only allowed to stay for one night which is very wise because, despite the thermal sleeping bags, it was, unsurprisingly, freezing!

We were locked in at 10pm and my group couldn’t resist a huge ice slide that was ‘strictly for children’ and icy crazy golf.

After a wake-up call of hot berry juice and certificates to say we had survived, we travelled to the party town of Levi, where the rooms at the Spa Hotel Levitunturi seemed unbelievably warm and luxurious.

A fun morning was spent ice karting, then we visited four luxury glass igloos and the idyllic small-wedding venue of the Kammi on a mountaintop, with cosy insides and unrestricted views.

The Golden Crown attraction is set to expand to 12 igloos this summer in recognition of their huge popularity.

Temperatures dropped to -23 degrees but, warm in our thermal suits, we sampled Levi’s world-class slopes, where there is great skiing from November to April.

After a smoke sauna and outdoor jacuzzi, we tucked into a Lappish Heavenly Feast at Taivaanvalkeat restaurant in Köngäsdinner.

On our last night we embraced Levi’s legendary nightlife and danced and sang karaoke until the clubs closed.

Feeling a little worse for wear, we got up early to experience our hotel’s Spa and Waterworld before our flight home. The 17 pools of all sizes ranged from hot to freezing cold temperatures – some had massaging bubble jets, others gave tropical rain showers.

The perfect end to the holiday of a lifetime.

Factfile

Inghams specialist tour operator provides a choice of three or four night Santa Breaks in Levi and Ylläs or seven night Winter Wonderland holidays in Saariselka, Levi and Ylläs.

Book from November to April, with direct flights from London, Birmingham and Manchester airports.

Find the latest deals at inghams.co.uk/santa-holidays/