The ceiling above you is made of transparent thermal glass, and outside, at temperatures well below zero, the Finnish sky burns with green and purple. It is not a dream: it is the reality of a night at the Kakslauttanen Arctic Resort, the most famous glass igloo complex in Finland, located in the Saariselkä region, in the heart of Finnish Lapland, about 250 kilometers north of the Arctic Circle.
The resort was founded by Jussi Eiramo in the 1980s, when what is now an icon of Arctic tourism was little more than a rudimentary campsite. Eiramo had the insight to transform the site into a destination capable of offering something unique: the possibility of observing the Northern Lights comfortably lying in your bed, without having to brave the polar cold outdoors. Today the resort has dozens of thermal glass igloos — the most sought-after structures — as well as wooden cottages, hand-built snow igloos every winter, and one of the largest smoke saunas in the world, capable of accommodating up to 100 people.
The thermal glass domes: how they work
The glass igloos of Kakslauttanen are semi-spherical structures with a dome made of special thermal glass designed to withstand Arctic temperatures, which in this area can drop to -30°C or lower during the winter months. The glass is treated to prevent fogging and to maintain a comfortable temperature inside, so that guests can sleep without hats and gloves while having the starry sky — or the aurora — directly above their heads.
Inside you will find a double bed oriented towards the dome, a small private bathroom, and heating. The structure is essential in design, but functional: everything is designed not to distract from what is happening outside. At night, when the resort lights go out, the darkness of the surrounding pine and birch forest creates observational conditions that are difficult to replicate elsewhere in Europe.
The season of the auroras and when to go
The ideal window to see the northern lights in Kakslauttanen is from late August to late March, with the months of September, October, February, and March statistically considered the most favorable for the combination of clear skies and sufficiently long nights. In mid-winter, between December and January, the sun does not rise at all at this latitude — the so-called kaamos, the polar dark time — and the nights last almost 24 hours, but the chances of overcast skies increase.
A fundamental practical tip: book at least six to twelve months in advance, especially if you are aiming for the glass igloos. They are the most sought-after accommodations at the resort and sell out very quickly for peak periods such as Christmas, New Year's, and February. The price per night in a glass igloo starts at several hundred euros per night for a couple, reflecting both the uniqueness of the experience and the remote location of the accommodation.
How to get there and what to do during the day
The nearest airport is Ivalo, located about 30 kilometers from the resort. Ivalo is connected by direct flights from Helsinki operated by Finnair and other airlines, with a flight time of about an hour and a half from the Finnish capital. The resort offers an airport transfer service, which is the most convenient option considering that the winter roads of Lapland require experience driving on snow and ice.
During the day, the resort organizes husky sledding excursions, snowmobile safaris, and snowshoe walks in the surrounding forest. For those who want to venture further, the Urho Kekkonen National Park — one of the largest protected parks in Europe — is directly accessible from the Saariselkä area and offers winter landscapes of tundra and boreal forest that seem to come from another world.
The sauna experience and Finnish culture
No stay in Finland is complete without the sauna, and Kakslauttanen is no exception. The smoke sauna of the resort — one of the largest in the country — is a cultural experience as well as a physical one: traditional Finnish smoke saunas are heated for hours by burning wood, without a chimney, allowing the smoke to fill the space and then dissipate before use. The result is a soft and enveloping heat, very different from that of modern electric saunas.
Stepping out of the sauna and rolling in the fresh snow — or plunging into an icy lake, if available — is a practice that Finns consider normal and rejuvenating. Experiencing this sequence at least once, perhaps with the aurora dancing overhead, transforms a vacation into something to be remembered for years.
