Arctic TreeHouse Hotel

On Syväsenvaara hill on the Arctic Circle, a few minutes from Rovaniemi airport, the Arctic TreeHouse Hotel opened in 2016 with thirty-two shingle-clad units lifted above the slope on black stilts. Studio Puisto, the Helsinki practice, had each one built indoors down to the fitted furniture and lifted onto its pillars straight from the truck, so the rocks, moss and pines were left largely undisturbed. The hotel has since grown to around sixty rooms, including five Arctic GlassHouses with private saunas and three ArcticScene Executive Suites with glazed terraces and fireplaces, and in 2026 it marks its tenth year.

Every unit faces north through a full-height window, which is the point: from the bed you look into the forest and, on clear winter nights, at the aurora with little light pollution behind you. Reception, the lounge and Rakas, the restaurant, share a low, five-pointed building on the ridge.

The hotel belongs to SantaPark Arctic World, the company behind the SantaPark attraction next door, which explains both the heated sledge airport transfer and the ease of a stay with children: connecting suites with kitchenettes, babysitting by arrangement and Santa Claus Village within walking distance. Green Key certification, the Sustainable Travel Finland label, green roofs and minimal outdoor lighting back up the low-impact claims.