6 Best Hotels in Lapland, Finland

What started as a roadside restaurant grew into a cozy scattering of wood cabins and eventually a sprawling resort with a variety of lodgings from traditional log cabins to glass igloos, snow igloos, and apartment-sized chalets with hemispherical glass extensions for aurora viewing, all of them at premium prices. There’s a Christmas theme to the newer West Village, with a quaint Santa’s home cabin and colorful wood carvings. Restaurants, smoke saunas, a reindeer farm, winter equipment rentals, aurora alerts, and a souvenir shop are part of the setup too. Half-board packages are available. Accommodation options vary seasonally.

On a north-facing slope halfway between the city of Rovaniemi and its airport, the luxurious accommodations here are strategically placed to catch views of the northern lights from the wide windows in each oblong, pine-shingled unit. Each suite has a sumptuous bed and underfloor heating (with an added "nest bed" ideal for younger guests in some units); seven have kitchenettes. The lobby bar and Rakas restaurant serve good lunch and dinner menus as well as a comprehensive breakfast spread, and the reception area has a souvenir shop and cheery fireplace; all are a short walk from the accommodations (i.e., you need to dress well in winter to get to breakfast). Fat bikes, snowshoes, and walking poles are among the items available free to guests for exploring the trails through the forest leading to some wonderful viewpoints above the resort. The underground SantaPark theme park, under the same ownership, is a five-minute walk from reception, and the Santa Claus Village on the Arctic Circle is 2 km (about a mile) away.

This spa center in rural Lapland, close to the Urho Kekkonen National Park and its numerous hiking and skiing options, offers rooms with casual Scandinavian style and more rustic cabins with fireplaces, as well as a glass-dome swimming area crammed with foliage, fountains, waterslides, wave machines, and a hot tub. The solarium, saunas, and Turkish baths are adjacent. Guest rooms have blond- and dark-wood fittings and slate-blue carpets. The Angry Birds Activity Park is another family attraction. Buses to and from Rovaniemi stop at the hotel.

Nicely placed in Inari village on the shore of Inarijärvi Lake, Finland's largest lake, this hotel is a good base for exploring the region or for stopping off and recharging after or between explorations of Lapland's more remote areas. It has a good restaurant and is within walking distance of the Sami museum Siida, as well as bars, tourist shops, and a supermarket. The hotel, owned by the Visit Inari safari and tour company, also provides fat bike rentals, useful for local explorations, on and off track. Almost half the rooms are fitted with their own sauna.

Modern and well-equipped for couples and families, this hotel is 1 km (½ mile) from the center of Ivalo, right on the Ivalo River. The decor is predominately wood, with a cheering fireplace close to reception. The rooms are spacious and modern, with oatmeal carpets and lots of blond birchwood trimming; ask for one by the river. The restaurant serves continental fare as well as delicious Lappish dishes.

At the edge of the enormous Urho Kekkonen National Park, with its endless ski tracks and hiking trails, this hotel offers comfortable, well-heated rooms with balconies and a handful of studios with saunas. The Kaltio restaurant provides a selection of Lappish specialties, and barbecues in a traditional Lappish kota (tepee) are also available.