Treehotel
in SwedenWhich room, and when to go

What the Treehotel is

The Treehotel is a set of separate rooms built in the pine forest above the Lule river at Harads, a village in Boden municipality in Norrbotten. Each was designed by a different architect, and the hotel says they hang between four and ten metres up. You check in at the Guesthouse, a 1930s building in the village where the restaurant is, and walk about 500 metres along a forest trail to the rooms. Staff will carry your bags or drive you if you would rather not walk.

It opened to guests in July 2010, founded by Kent and Britta Lindvall, who ran Brittas Pensionat, the guesthouse in the village. Since 2022 it has been owned by Jonas Olsson and Hannah Wennebro Olsson. The idea is often traced to Trädälskaren, “The Tree Lover”, a 2008 documentary by Jonas Selberg Augustsén about friends building a treehouse by the Lule river. The news agency TT and design magazines have said the film inspired the hotel; the hotel’s own pages do not mention it.

The nine rooms

The first four, built in 2010, are the Mirrorcube by Tham & Videgård, a four-metre cube of mirrored glass for two; the Bird’s Nest by Inredningsgruppen, for four, reached only by ladder; the Cabin by Cyrén & Cyrén, for two; and the Blue Cone by Sandellsandberg, for four, with a ramp. The UFO, also by Inredningsgruppen, followed in 2011 and sleeps five, again by ladder only.

Then came the Dragonfly by Rintala Eggertsson in 2013, for four; the 7th Room by Snøhetta in 2016, for five, with two bedrooms, a lounge and a fireplace; and the Biosphere by BIG in 2022, for two, reached by a suspended bridge. The newest, Oasis by Nadén & Lind, is listed for 2026 for five, with a sauna and hot tub. The hotel still shows it in architects’ renderings, so check it is open for your dates before you plan around it.

Choose the room first, and the dates second. The rooms differ more than the seasons do.

Ladders, bridges and bathrooms

Every room has its own toilet, an electric incinerating one, so no one walks through the forest at night for that. Showers are another matter. Only the Dragonfly, the Biosphere, the Blue Cone and the 7th Room have their own, and Oasis is listed with one; guests in the other rooms use the showers and saunas in a building nearby, with towels, robes and toiletries provided. There is Wi-Fi in every room, and a buffet breakfast is included with all of them.

Access is the other thing to check. The hotel rates the Mirrorcube, the Blue Cone, the Dragonfly, the 7th Room and Oasis as easy; the Cabin and the Biosphere as moderate; and the Bird’s Nest and the UFO as adventurous, because the only way in is a ladder. Large bags for those two stay in the luggage room at check-in. The Blue Cone is the room built for reduced mobility, with a long ramp and a larger bathroom, and it is also the only room listed as taking pets.

Dinner, and the forest around it

Dinner is at Table by Treehotel, on the ground floor of the Guesthouse. There are two ways to eat: a three-course dinner, or a longer tasting evening of about three hours, which has to be booked before you arrive. Tell the kitchen about allergies in advance; children get a flexible menu.

The days are spent outside, and most of the hotel’s activities need booking at least a week ahead. In winter there are husky rides and a full day of dog sledding, snowmobiles, ice fishing on a forest lake and dinner on the frozen river. All year there is a forest spa with sauna and hot tub, and horse riding near Boden. In summer there is kayaking on the Lule river and fishing on a private lake. Some outings include a transfer of half an hour or more each way, so they fill a morning or an afternoon rather than an hour.

Winter or summer

The hotel divides its year into four: autumn from 1 September to 20 November, winter to the end of March, spring through May, and summer through August. The snow activities run from December into March or April, depending on the snow, and dinner on the river ice from December to mid-April. That is the window most people picture, and for a first visit we would choose it: February and March add daylight to the snow, at about eight hours a day in February and eleven and a half in March.

Summer is a different trip, and an easier one. In June the sun is up for more than twenty-three hours a day on average at Harads, and from May to August the sky never reaches full darkness. The hotel sells a midnight paddle on the river in June and July and says the sun never truly sets. It does, just: Harads is south of the Arctic Circle, and only a sliver of the sun can stay above a perfect horizon around the solstice. For the whole sun at midnight you need to go further north, which our midnight sun guide sets out place by place.

The northern lights

There is enough darkness for the aurora from early September, and real long nights from October to March. The hotel runs a private aurora hunt from October to March, from 20:00 to 23:00, driving to wherever the sky is clear, with a fire if the forecast is poor; none of its aurora pages promises a sighting. Under the pines you see very little sky, so watch from the river or the open lake, or let a guide with a vehicle find the gap, as on our private aurora night.

Harads is a good place to see the lights if you are already there for the room. If the lights are the reason for the trip, our northern lights guide explains where we would base you, and why.

Getting there

Fly to Luleå, about an hour and twenty minutes from Stockholm; by the hotel’s reckoning the airport is about 70 minutes by car from Harads. The nearest railway station is Boden, about 35 minutes away. The hotel can arrange a transfer from the plane or the train, or a helicopter on request, or you can hire a car. The public option is regional bus line 44, between Luleå, Boden, Jokkmokk and Gällivare; check the current timetable.

SJ’s night train from Stockholm changes on 13 December 2026, when it starts running through to Kiruna and Narvik without a change at Boden. Check the stops for your dates before you rely on it. Jokkmokk and the Arctic Circle are an easy day out from Harads, and the Luleå archipelago starts where you land.

Treehotel and ICEHOTEL on one trip

They are often put together, and they work well as a pair, but they are not neighbours. ICEHOTEL is at Jukkasjärvi, outside Kiruna, several hours’ drive north of Harads, so plan it as a second base with its own airport rather than as a day trip. The two are very different nights: at the Treehotel you sleep in a warm room with heating under the floor; at ICEHOTEL you sleep at around minus five, which is why we book one cold night there and warm rooms around it. Our ICEHOTEL guide has the detail. Flying into Luleå and home from Kiruna saves the drive back.

If the dogs are the part you are most looking forward to, our Dogs’ Week near Jukkasjärvi gives them five nights rather than a morning.