Kakslauttanen Arctic Resort –

Kakslauttanen Hotel (Igloo village/Arctic Resort) is the famous igloo village with the unique glass & snow igloo, located right at the edge of the wilderness. Wilderness sounds dangerous, but don’t worry about wolves or animals charging at you in the middle of the night, that’s not gonna happen!

How to get there:The bus ride from Rovaniemi to Kakslauttanen was about 3hrs (+/-15mins). You need to take the bus from the bus station (terminal), and it will arrive right in front of the resort along the way. The resort is NOT the final stop for the bus, so do let the bus captain know where you are alighting so he can remind you when the bus is arriving!

Did I mention that their bus terminal actually have a little cafe for passengers to grab a cup of coffee/snacks before the buses arrive? So don’t worry about getting hungry during the long bus ride.Along the way, the bus will make a stop at the next terminal, so good time to catch your toilet break!

The bus stops right outside the resort, a 100m walk away from the reception, where the restaurant is located. That’s where you do your check in as well!

The resort is divided into the east & west village, you will arrive at the east village (photos above) if you are taking bus like what we did, and thereafter the staff will arrange an internal transport to send you to the west village if you are staying there!

The difference between the east & west village is such that the all the queen suites are located in the east village, whereas most of the attraction like Santa’s house, horse stable, reindeer fence etc are. So in my opinion there seems to be more things to see in the West, and so we reserved a igloo at the west village! My buddy concluded that East village is the ‘atas’ village haha (the suites are pretty expensive).
The time needed to travel from the east & west village is only approximately 6 mins! They will send you to the west village reception where you get your igloo key.

We were given the No.1 glass igloo (sounds like the best right, no lah actually all the igloos are the same haha) 

Our igloo was a two-person igloo, which include a toilet & 2 single beds (yup that’s all), the sauna and public shower will be in a separate cabin just 2 mins walk away from the igloo, which you will see it later on in the post. If you prefer your own private shower, it will be available if you book the 4 person igloo which is bigger. This is what the interior looks like:

Yes, you can totally see what’s going on outside from your igloo, but don’t worry about privacy, if you notice there is the whole stretch of curtain covering the lower part which make sure people don’t see how ugly we look when we sleep :p & it’s REALLY dark at night, so don’t worry that people can see you from outside (I can only see my own reflection when I stare up the glass at night).

You REALLY have to come experience the feeling of just sitting in a glass igloo, & looking at the snow fall outside, especially for most of us living in the cities, it just feels so peaceful & the scenery is BEAUTIFUL.We reached there in the late afternoon & was hoping to catch the Aurora Borealis, but the staff told us that the activity was cancelled as it was CLOUDY AGAIN *sigh. So since there’s not much activities for us to do there then, we decided to explore around the village.

Be careful when you guys walk through the snow please, this is to tell you how deep the snow is, you can just sink into the snow anytime (but nah you can just pluck yourself out don’t worry too).

This is where you can shower if private bathroom is not included in your igloo (like ours). Sauna is available there too. I forgot to take photos of the shower room, but in case you are shy to use the public shower and want to know what it looks like, it’s actually a pretty ‘open’ concept shower area, with walls in between each ‘cubicle’, but there are no doors for each cubicle and the entrance of the shower, so if you are not comfortable with that, you probably have to be prepared to not shower for the night (Luckily it’s cold you wont’ sweat haha). OF COURSE, the female & male showers are on different side, so don’t worry 😀 

Kitty #randomname is the receptionist there, because the cabin is basically empty & kitty is the only one who was there to welcome us the moment we open the door, kitty is super friendly so if you see kitty please give it a big hug!

It started snowing in the evening, so it was FREEZING! (Yeah I smiled as if it’s no big deal, but because I just want to look nice in my photo. I’M ACTUALLY FREEZING TILL MY FACE BECAME NUMB.)

Along the way, you will see the teepee, reindeer fence etc. As we arrived pretty late at the resort, the attractions in the igloo are already closed. Unless you make a reservation, but a big group reservation that is, then the attractions will probably be reserved for your tour group.There’s nothing inside the teepee, just a resting area for people.

& reindeers again!

Breakfast & dinner are included for guests staying in the resort, it doesn’t matter whether you preferred to have your meals at the east or west village, so it’s totally your choice! (But the west village restaurant where we were at is much bigger)

& dinner is served! It was a 3 course dinner, started off with the salad with cheese.

I’m an absolute cheese lover, so I finished everything in a flash:P I even wanted to have buddy’s share (cause he offered me okie) but thinking about the calories, I rejected with tears (You know I’m just kidding, no tears lah).

The main course that day was chicken with rice. I was surprised that rice was served, but I then realized it was probably because there was a big Asian tour group there that day, so the main course was probably decided to suit their taste haha (Yeah many think all Asians prefer rice, but nah not me)But the main course was good! Although it was chicken breast, but the meat was tender and juicy, matches well with the vegetable and rice!

& dessert was pancake with raspberry sauce with whipped cream! I know, the photo is not doing justice for the really tasty pancake, but trust me that it was really soft & fluffy.

Daytime is really long in Finland, so we waited for a few hours before the sky turns dark to catch the night scenery.

This is how the village looks like as it turns dark, it’ll be really beautiful if all the igloos are light up. I keep looking at the sky far away & was telling my buddy we might have chance to see the Aurora Borealis, but looking at the photos now, I think I was having illusion haha.

Do explore around the village when it turns dark, although all the nearby attractions are closed, but the lights make all the places look really beautiful.

That’s Celebration House, part of Santa’s home! Can you feel Xmas~ (I know, it’s only May). But yeah you get what I mean!

Christmas would probably be a good season to visit here, to simmer in the festive mood, but since it’s the peak season, do prepare more money for all the activities (because they are not cheap even during non-peak season)!

Although we did not manage to catch the Aurora Borealis, the igloo stay was still indeed an extraordinary experience. It’s really a wonderful quiet place for you to rest your mind, leave your phones or whatever social media aside (Because there’s no wifi as well actually), lie on your bed and look up to the sky through the glass. Not everyone gets a chance to stay in the igloo yeah, so why not experience it once!

Do check out the website: http://www.kakslauttanen.fi/ for more information for a wonderful trip!

Just came back from another trip, do look out for the post soon! 🙂