Guide · Glass roofs

Glass igloo in Finland for the northern lights: Saariselkä stays

Sleeping under a glass roof is one way to keep watch for the aurora in Lapland. Here is what each hotel near Saariselkä says about its rooms, and when a night out under the open sky still makes sense.

Check availabilityfrom $160 · free cancellation possible

Editorial team, saariselkanorthernlights.comUpdated October 19, 2026Reading time about 7 minutes21 sources

The tour behind this guide Saariselkä Aurora Hunt with Photos 4.7 (415 reviews) 3 hoursPickup in SaariselkäPhotos with a pro camera from$160per person Check availabilityCancel at no charge until 24 hrs before pickup

The short version

01Kakslauttanen: Glass igloos kept at room temperature, open from about the third week of August to the end of April.¹ ²
02Northern Lights Village: A laser-heated glass roof sits directly above the bed in its Aurora Cabins.³
03Star Arctic: A three-panel glass roof over the bed, on the top of Kaunispää.⁴ ⁵
04Booking: None of these rooms can be booked on this site; the aurora hunt sold here can.
05Clouds: Under dense cloud no roof shows the aurora, wherever you sleep.⁶

What a glass roof gives you on an aurora night

A glass roof turns the waiting into something gentler. Instead of standing in the snow, you lie in a warm bed and watch the sky above you, ready for the moment a pale band begins to move. The hotels around Saariselkä sell exactly that idea. Kakslauttanen describes its glass igloos as a place to watch the northern lights in the warmth of room temperature, and Northern Lights Village puts a heated glass roof directly over the bed.¹ ³

The setting works in your favor. Lapland North, the tourism region that includes Saariselkä, says it lies directly under the Aurora Oval.⁷ FMI puts the chance of aurora on a dark, cloudless night at Lapland resorts such as Saariselkä at roughly 50 % of nights.⁸ A glass room does not change those odds, but it lets you keep watch for hours without getting cold, and it suits travelers who would rather not spend the evening in a vehicle.

There are limits worth knowing before you book. A roof looks upward, while FMI suggests finding an unrestricted view at least toward the northern horizon.⁹ Frost or snow on the glass can blur the view on some nights, and light from neighboring rooms or paths may soften a faint display. One practical answer is to pair a glass room with one evening outdoors, where you can step away from lit paths and choose the direction you face.

One evening

A night under glass, hour by hour

Afternoon

Check the cloud map

Dense cloud hides the aurora completely; the cloud forecast matters more than the room.⁶
9pm

Lights off, curtains open

Visit Finland's usual viewing window opens around 9pm.¹⁰
After dark

Let your eyes adjust

About half an hour in darkness helps night vision, FMI advises.¹¹
Around midnight

Watch the northern sky

FMI says displays are typical at midnight and a couple of hours either side.¹²
2am

Last look before sleep

The window Visit Finland gives runs until about 2am.¹⁰

Kakslauttanen: igloos kept at room temperature

Kakslauttanen Arctic Resort lies in the Saariselkä area, and its own pages place it 250 km above the Arctic Circle with very little light pollution.¹³ The nearest airport is Ivalo, which the resort describes as a 30-minute shuttle bus ride away.¹⁴ For a first trip to Lapland that is a short transfer after the flight north, and the resort sits in the forest outside the village rather than among its hotels and shops.

The resort says you can admire the northern lights and the starry sky from inside its glass igloos in the comfort of room temperature.¹ Its East Small Glass Igloos have 2 single beds, and the resort lists a small toilet and wash basin inside each one, plus shower and sauna.¹ Room types differ, and the description on the hotel's own page is the one to trust when you compare beds, bathrooms and the view from the glass.

Season matters too. Kakslauttanen keeps its glass igloos open right through the northern lights season, which it gives as running from around the third week of August to around the end of April.² NOAA normals for Saariselkä show how much the light swings across that span: Saariselkä records no sun at all in mid-December and 15.7 hrs of it by mid-April.¹⁵ The edges of the season leave fewer dark hours to watch from bed.

As each base states it

How far north each base says it sits

km north of the Arctic Circle

Distances as each hotel or resort states them on its own pages; Levi's figure comes from Visit Levi. Measured by latitude alone the gaps are shorter; these figures sit closer to distances by road.⁵ ¹³ ¹⁶

Side by side

Three glass-roofed stays and the hunt

Stay	Glass roof	Where	Ivalo Airport
Kakslauttanen	Glass igloos at room temperature	250 km above the Arctic Circle	30-minute shuttle
Northern Lights Village	Laser-heated, above the bed	In the village	Not stated on its page
Star Arctic Hotel	Three-panel, above the bed	Top of Kaunispää	25 km
Aurora hunt sold here	None, you go out to the sky	Pickup within 15 km of the center	Not part of the tour

As each hotel states it on its own pages; only the aurora hunt is bookable on this site.⁵ ¹³ ¹⁷ ¹⁴ ³ ⁴

Three stays

Glass roofs in the hotels' own words

Classic igloo

Kakslauttanen

Glass igloos in the forest

Room: Glass igloo
Warmth: Room temperature
Season: Late Aug to end of Apr

See the aurora hunt

Village base

Northern Lights Village

Cabins in the village

Room: Aurora Cabin
Roof: Laser-heated glass
Where: Directly over the bed

See the aurora hunt

Fell-top view

Star Arctic Hotel

On top of Kaunispää

Room: Aurora Glass Cabin
Roof: Three-panel glass
Airport: 25 km to Ivalo

See the aurora hunt

Decision helper

Glass roof, a guided hunt, or both?

Choose the row that matches your stay

I want to watch from a warm bed I want the widest sky I get one clear-weather chance I arrive in late April I stay outside Saariselkä

A glass-roofed room

Kakslauttanen describes room-temperature igloos, and Northern Lights Village heats the glass above the bed.¹ ³

A fell-top cabin

Star Arctic sits on top of Kaunispää, with a glass roof over the bed.⁵ ⁴

A guided hunt

The tour sold here drives to locations chosen for clear skies and includes photos.

Check the season first

Kakslauttanen's igloo season ends around the end of April.²

Check the pickup radius

The hunt sold here does not pick up beyond 15 km of Saariselkä center.

The laser-heated glass-roof opens up into the northern sky, directly above the bed.

Northern Lights Village SaariselkäSource 3

Northern Lights Village and Star Arctic

Northern Lights Village is in Saariselkä itself, and its rooms are built around one idea: a laser-heated glass roof that opens onto the northern sky directly above the bed.³ Northern Lights Village Saariselkä presents its Aurora Cabins and Polar Sky Suites as a way to take in the wintry, star-filled sky and the aurora while lying in a warm bed. If you want the glass roof and the village on your doorstep, this is the stay to read up on.

Star Arctic Hotel takes a different position, on the top of Kaunispää, the fell above the village, which it places 270 km north of the Arctic Circle.⁵ Its Aurora Glass Cabin has a three-panel glass roof directly above the bed, and the hotel notes that Highway 75 runs through the area and that Ivalo International Airport is only 25 km away.⁴ ¹⁷ A fell-top room opens up a wide sky, which helps on nights when the aurora stays low.

The distance figures come from the hotels themselves and they differ: Star Arctic gives 270 km north of the Arctic Circle, Kakslauttanen 250 km above it.⁵ ¹³ Treat them as each hotel's own description rather than a survey. What they share is the region: FMI names Saariselkä among the Lapland resorts where aurora shows on roughly 50 % of dark, cloudless nights.⁸ Room type, view and weather will shape your night more than a few kilometers of latitude.

Checklist

Before you book a night under glass

Ask the hotel

Which weeks the glass rooms are open
Beds and bathroom in your room type
Transfer time from Ivalo Airport
Which way the glass roof faces

For a night outside

Warm layers, a hat and gloves
Winter boots for standing in snow
A dim red light instead of a phone torch

The hunt sold here

Pickup within 15 km of Saariselkä center
Photos with a professional camera included
Warm drinks and snacks

Cost calculator

Add an aurora night to your stay

Starting totals for your group, before any hotel costs.

Aurora hunt by vanWith photosfrom $160 Minibus huntKakslauttanen pickupfrom $150 Snowmobile huntOpen fire stopfrom $253

People 2

Total from$320

each from $160

Check availabilityfree cancellation

Totals start from each listing's lowest per-person price on GetYourGuide, turned into your currency at the ECB rate; the booking screen shows the exact sum.

Video

I Stayed In A Glass Igloo In The Arctic Circle

The player stays empty until you press play.

When the roof is not enough

Clouds decide more than any roof. FMI is clear that the aurora is in the sky whatever the frost, but it cannot be seen from the ground under dense cloud cover.⁶ Visit Finland calls clouds the most common reason people miss the Northern Lights entirely.¹⁸ On an overcast night a glass igloo shows a grey ceiling, and staying put means waiting for a gap that may never open over your own patch of forest.

This is where a guided hunt earns its place. The tour booked through this site is a 3-hour aurora hunt by minivan from Saariselkä, and its seller lists expertise and planning, transportation and knowledge of the best locations among the inclusions. The guide plans the evening around clear skies, and you stand outside where the whole horizon is open, not only the patch of sky framed by your roof.

Pickup works for guests staying around the village. The hunt includes pickup from the Saariselkä area, and its record excludes pickup from places more than 15 km from Saariselkä center. If you stay further out, one alternative is a minibus hunt that lists pickup in Saariselkä and Kakslauttanen and free pickup within a 20 km radius, from $150. Check your hotel's distance before you book either.

Planning a glass-roof night around the dark hours

The best hours fall late in the evening. Visit Finland gives the usual viewing window as between 9pm and 2am, and FMI says displays are typical at midnight and a couple of hours either side.¹⁰ ¹² Plan dinner early, keep the room lights off from late evening and check the sky at intervals rather than staring at it without a break. A quiet alarm for midnight is a simple way not to sleep through the main window.

Your eyes need time as well. FMI notes that human night vision is not very good and advises staying in the dark for about half an hour while the eye adapts.¹¹ A bright phone screen undoes that in seconds; dim it or keep it face down. The same habit pays off in bed: a dark room lets you notice a faint arc that a lit one would hide, and it keeps reflections off the inside of the glass.

Darkness itself changes through the season. Mid-February gives Saariselkä 7.6 hrs of sun and mid-March 11.5 hrs, against none at mid-December.¹⁵ Lapland North places the polar night in December and January.¹⁹ Kakslauttanen describes kaamos as a time when the sun does not rise at all, yet it is light from 10 in the morning till 15 in the afternoon, in the resort's own words.²⁰

Which glass roof suits which traveler

If the round glass igloo is the picture in your head, a Kakslauttanen glass igloo is the stay to look at first, and the resort's own pages describe room-temperature warmth and small igloos with 2 single beds.¹ It suits couples or friends who want a private room with a sky view and do not mind the shuttle from Ivalo.¹⁴ Read the room details closely and ask the hotel anything its page leaves open.

If you would rather stay in Saariselkä itself, the glass-roofed cabins of Northern Lights Village keep you inside the area where the hunt sold here picks up.³ If a wide view matters more, the glass cabin on Kaunispää gives you a fell top, and Visit Finland notes the summit can be reached on foot, on skis, by car or by ski lift.²¹ Each choice trades something: village convenience, forest calm or an open horizon.

If the budget or your dates do not allow a glass room, the sky is still there for you. An ordinary room plus one guided evening covers what a glass roof cannot: a choice of direction and a way around the clouds. The aurora hunt sold here costs from $160; cancelling is free with 24 hours of notice, and a place can be reserved now and paid for later. Book it for an early night of your stay to keep room for a second try.

Plan your night

A guide, a minivan and a camera for the dark

Claim a seat in the minivan now, pay nearer the night, and back out free until 24 hours before.

Check datesfrom $160 · free cancellation possible 4.7 · 415 verified ratings

You ask,we answer.

Can I book a glass igloo on this site?

No. This site books an aurora hunt by minivan from Saariselkä, not hotel rooms; reserve a glass igloo or cabin directly with the hotel.

Are the glass igloos warm inside?

Kakslauttanen says yes. The resort describes watching the northern lights from its glass igloos in the comforting warmth of room temperature.¹

When are the igloos open?

From late August to the end of April. Kakslauttanen gives its season as around the third week of August to around the end of April.²

Is a glass igloo the same as an aurora cabin?

Close, but built differently. A northern lights cabin in Finland often means a cabin with a glass roof over the bed, as at Northern Lights Village or Star Arctic.³ ⁴

How far is Ivalo Airport?

Around half an hour away. Kakslauttanen calls it a 30-minute shuttle ride, and Star Arctic says it is 25 km away.¹⁴ ¹⁷

What happens if it is cloudy?

The roof shows cloud. FMI says the aurora cannot be seen from the ground under dense cloud; a guided hunt drives to look for clearer sky instead.⁶

Does the hunt pick up from my hotel?

Within the Saariselkä area. Pickup is included in the Saariselkä area, but not from places more than 15 km from Saariselkä center.

Sources