FAR Horizons has an extraordinary 18-day tour next March that embraces St Petersburg, Murmansk's celebrations marking the end of 40-days of total winter-darkness, Finland's Santa Claus Village, a cruise on an ice-breaker, and the chance to stay in a Snow Castle Hotel that's built a-fresh each year...
This extraordinary adventure departs Australia on March 20 2012 for 3-days in St Petersburg visiting the Peter and Paul Fortress, Peter the Great's Winter Palace, the Hermitage Art Gallery and the Palace of St Catherine at Pushkin.
Three days in Murmansk for the end-of-winter Festival of the North includes the start of a cross-country ski marathon, parachute jumping and reindeer racing, an ostrich farm – and a visit to the world's first nuclear-powered ice-breaker that's now a museum.
Guests are then driven through to Finland's Arctic Lapland for a walk on a frozen river, stay in a log cabin or an optional glass igloo, view the Northern Lights, visit Santa Claus Village Post Office that handles thousands of letters sent each year to "Santa Claus, North Pole," a snow-mobile safari, a husky farm, and a Gulf of Bosnia ice-breaker "cruise" through metre-thick ice…
Finally try a stay in a Snow Castle that's built out of fresh snow every November at Kemi rather than a traditional hotel, and end with three days sightseeing in Helsinki; prices start from $19,750pp twin-share ex-Sydney, Melbourne or Brisbane (from $19,650pp ex-Perth,) including return air and taxes, all meals, daily excursions, entry fees, guides and gratuities.
Phone 1800 083 141 or visit www.farhorizons.com.au; Business Class air is available as an optional extra.