Sleeping in Glass igloos under the shining stars and seeing the northern lights from the comfort of your bed was one of the dream come true and bucket list experiences I had in my recent visit to Lapland Finland. After a day in Helsinki we headed to northern light village in Ivalo which is a one and half hour flight away from Helsinki.
Surprisingly In Finland there are a lot of hotels which provide glass igloos and aurora cabin accommodations, my first choice was kakslauttanen arctic Resorts but it was fully booked during my visit so I choosed Northern Light village – only glass igloo rooms arctic resort and apparently its only 2 years old.
Read : One day Itinerary to Helsinki Finalnd.
In this article I have pinned down all my experiences and full review of northern light village, Hope you like it also let me know if you guy need more information.Xx
Location: Northern Lights Village is located 20 minutes drive away (26 km) from Ivalo airport in Saariselka village. The location of the property makes it special as it’s a bit away from all the city and light pollution in the wilderness. You can rent a car or reserve a hotel shuttle from Ivalo airport to get to the Northern Lights Village. I rented a car for the whole week as it’s easier to commute and do your own excursions, and even if there is quite a lot of snow, the roads are very well maintained.
Arrival: We arrived late in the evening which was pretty dark since Lapland has only 4 hours of day light. It was really cold ( colder than Helsinki) and snowing heavily, After arriving we parked car right outside the reception where they have free parking space for visitors. After a quick check-in we headed to our glass aurora cabin, located just 2 minutes walk from the main reception and hotel area. While walking in between rows of picture perfect glass igloos I felt like was walking in Narnia, everything was just perfect and exactly the way I imagined, even though I got lost and my boots got stuck in the thick layer of snow while searching for my cabin, but at the end it was well worth the effort.
Glass Igloos / Aurora Cabin: The reason I was at northern light village is very obvious as I wanted to live in glass igloos and of course to see the northern light. As I entered into my aurora cabin No 35 the first thing which got my attention was starry sky from glass roof right above the bed and I forgot how tired I was and just sat on bed for next few minutes admiring the beautiful sky, stars and everything. The aurora cabins are very cozy but bit smaller than I expected. The cabin was fully equipped with twin beds pushed together, a nice heated attached bathroom, side lamps, sofa set and a mini bar. The cabin was cleanly decorated with Scandinavian decor including a reindeer pelt hung on the wall near the comfy sofa. The glass ceiling was heated to melt the snow was another cool feature in the cabin. I was super excited to sleep under the sky and literally I couldn’t sleep the entire night gazing outside the glass roof dreaming for an aurora to show me its light but no luck as it started snowing and becoming cloudy.
Next morning , I woke up for breakfast and headed to the only in house restaurant in the resort call Kota where they serve Buffet breakfast, lunch and dinner. I was half-board so breakfast and dinner was part of the package. The breakfast was pretty simple though nothing out of the ordinary, but dinner was better as they have good selection of food from local cuisine to international cuisine. and it was there I tried sautéed reindeer for the very first time, which to me just tasted like lean beef.
During the day we decide to explore the property and wilderness around, and trust me in day light the northern light village looks breathtaking, and there is a lot to do from visiting the ice bar to feeding the reindeers at their Reindeer paddock and get lost in the wild forest around. It was one of kind experience walking in a almost silent snow covered forest.
In my second and last night I got little lucky and saw glimpse of northern light hiding behind the clouds, it wasn’t full shower but I am glad I was able to see northern lights from my glass igloos.
Ice Bar and restaurant: We also visited the super cool Ice bar and restaurant which is located right next to the main reception area. As per management the ice bar melts in summer so they have to rebuilt it every year. To visit the ice bar you have to buy a coupon for drinks from kota restaurant and for the dinner prior reservation is mandatory. They serve the drink in small ice glasses and I tried their local mint shot and and hot chocolate and during the half hour I was there I was almost shivering under 6 layers of clothes.
Ice suite: Northern light village also have Ice suites apart from glass aurora cabins. So if you fancy spending a night in ice bed in suite built entirely by snow and ice you can book your self an ice suit. Each ice suite is decorated with hand carved snow and ice sculpture equipped with king size bed made-up of ice slab and reindeer hides. Note there is no attached bathroom in the ice suit and also you can’t sleep more than one night as the temperature in ice suite varies between -2 to -8c , even if its colder outside.
Finnish Sauna: I was sad that I wasn’t able to see or experience the famous Finnish sauna in Helsinki but was amazed when I found that northern light village has their own built-in sauna and swimming pool. I mean you are in Finland and I am sure experiencing a Finnish sauna is on your list too, and besides I am a spa addict. 
The best part is that Northern light village offer wide range of activities so you don’t need to book any excursion from anywhere else. Aurora hunting, snowmobile, camp by the lake, husky safari, reindeer farmhouse, cross country ski , snow shoeing, and aurora photo workshop are the one of their fast selling winter activities.
So if you are planing a trip to Lapland and sleeping in Glass Igloos and staying in an aurora cabin is on your list of things to do, I highly recommend you to book Northern light village, trust me you won’t regret and you will have the perfect winter wonderland experience. For reservation and booking Click Here
Check out more pictures from northern light village;
Also read: One day Itinerary to Helsinki Finalnd
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🙂 P.S Travel Safe Stay Blessed 🙂
