Visit to Santa Land in Rovaniemi

[LionCity]

My family and I will be flying to Frankfurt and head towards Rovaniemi (via Helsinki) in Finland to visit Santa Village in early April. We will then head back to Frankfurt or Zurich to continue to the Black Forest region for medical treatment for my girl after that. After treatment, we will head back to Frankfurt for a flight back to Singapore on SQ 25..

The best way to get to Black Forest is actually via Zurich as it takes only a relatively short taxi ride from the airport.

My wife will be in F Class (Mileage) and My daughter and I will be C Cabin on SQ 25/26 (Fare paying).

Questions:

1. We are just wondering what will be the best way to travel to fly internally in Europe at a reasonable cost. Some said to use air coupons. Or should we ask the travel agent to book on a codeshare flight return using Fra as the hub on both legs?

2. If we go to Fra or Zurich are there lots of things for a young Family to do with a 5 year old girl? Or is there anything else interesting that could do in other nearby City of Germany?

3. A 3rd alternative is to go to Prague and then go to the Black Forest. We heard it is quite nice.

Hope to hear your suggestions on the above. Thanks.

[KeithMEL]

1) Taking a stab in the dark, you might want to explore Star Alliance Europe Air Pass. However I am not very sure what *A carriers (if any) fly into Rovaniemi. You are eligible for the air pass as you're flying into and out of Europe on Star Alliance carriers.

LX also seems to offer reasonably cheap fares within Europe.

Can't help with 2 or 3, sorry.

My thoughts are with your daughter. All the best!

[9V-JKL]

The *A European Airpass is a good idea but you need 2 stop-overs for it to be eligible.

Prague is beautiful and in my opinion, a MUST-SEE place in this lifetime. At this point of time, its still relatively inexpensive compared to Western Europe so I would recommend it.

Praying also that your daughter will recover

[jjpb3]

Lots of things in Frankfurt? Probably not, as it's a very finance-focused city, IMO. You could take a ride down the Rhine, I think.

Zurich's Altstadt is very pretty, and its size is very manageable for a family with a little girl in tow. Prague is even more beautiful. I haven't really considered either from the point of view of a young child, but I suspect I'd pick Zurich over Prague if I had my little niece with me. The adult foot traffic in Prague can get pretty dense, and in Zurich, you can also take your little girl to see some very scenic towns up in the Alps using the super-efficient Swiss railway system. Swiss chocolates would be a child's dream (and a parent's dental bill nightmare ).

For these reasons, I'd choose ZRH over FRA for my hub. It should be easy enough to get from HEL to ZRH using LX or AY (LX hands out chocolates after the meal, so that might swing your daughter's vote ). (Sorry, I'm unfamiliar with the LCC options between HEL and ZRH).

Best wishes to your daughter and her parents.

[LionCity]

Thanks Everyone for your Kind Thoughts. My girl has a chronic condition and it can only be managed through gentle daily massages known as Lymphatic Drainage. In fact, most doctors in Singapore do not know about this condition.

The clinic in the Forest Region that specialized in such care. the clinic is either the best or the top 2 in the world. Really nice people there. The therapists are really good and normally we stay for about two weeks.

We tried to bring her up every year on direct trips. So this time, we thought we should have a side trip.

Zurich would have been better in terms of transit as we only need a taxi ride but the mileage redemption have doubled for that particular sector.

Good to have the insight on Prague. Probably we will just head to Switzerland.

Thanks!

[phaleesy]

Your questions
1. Finnair and SAS (blue1) fly to Rovaniemi. I think there are a couple of charter flights from LGW to Lapland during the ski season. But I don't know how one could book these flights separate from the ski packages.

2. ZRH is great for pottering about. The old town is quaint. Pretty and colourful buildings. You can also take the train up to the hills for more walking. If you're feeling even more energetic, you could climb up the tower on the top of the hills for a even better view of the city. Haven't had time to post the pictures myself but you should be able to see some of the photos posted on TOF during one of the recent ZRH Dos. In fact, I think CGK, SQFan and jjpb3 might have some of the photos posted here.

There are some interesting museums in the city. I don't know what would interest 5 yr olds but we went to a medical museum at the univ which was pretty educational. Just get the value-for-money ZRH pass which gets you free entry into most of the museums.

3. The buildings in Prague are beautiful. I don't know how much has changed in the last 12 years (since I've been there) but I personally find the street stalls everywhere very tacky. There were too many people in the city. It was very very touristy.

Extras
4. I presume the whole family would be going on a husky safari? It's great fun and a definite must-do! Mum and kid could sit on the front and dad drives or maybe mom would prefer to drive. Anyway, the dogs are so well-trained, so the driver does not have to do much except hang on.

Reindeer sleigh rides are very mild and fairly fun. Kids should love that. You'd get to feed and play with them at the farms.

Snowmobiling can be fairly difficult (esp with a kid). It's like being on a quad bike. I thought it'd be easy, just like sitting on a lawnmower but it wasn't! We managed to crash off course three times.

5. Are there no physiotherapists in Singapore who are trained to do lymphatic drainage massage? I don't think it's in the curriculum of medical doctors. But UK or Aussie trained physiotherapists might be able to do it. Just a thought.

[CGK]

Just for what to do at ZRH. I remember seeing a mom and a kid, taking that moo train from the main terminal to the E terminal back and forth. (Hmm I revealed myself doing the same. )

I think it's better to save the miles, i.e. if from ZRH double miles, aka 77W redemption, just go through FRA on 744.

[LionCity]

Thanks for the feedback. Unfortunately, in Singapore many doctors don't seems to believe in physiotherapy and I think there is a real need to promote it.

Good to know that you could go with the huskies and the reindeer. Sounds like fun. Will try to do it when up there.

[phaleesy]

Unfortunately, in Singapore many doctors don't seems to believe in physiotherapy and I think there is a real need to promote it.

I don't think it's an issue to do with doctors. It's up to the physiotherapists to promote themselves. They're allied healthcare staff and are meant to work with the rest of the medical team in managing patients.

I've just looked at the website for the Singapore Physiotherapy Assocation. Seems that they're more used to doing the run-of-the-mill stuff. But there's no harm in looking into it. There are many expats and overseas grads in this field who might be able to help.