Go off grid and wake up in the trees with these once-in-a-lifetime stays. Here Vogue Scandinavia rounds up the best treehouses for your next nature escape
Join us on a tour of some of the best treetop hideaways in Scandinavia. These cosy and romantic boltholes are full of child-like wonder, with the benefits of privacy as well as a bird’s eye view of everything that’s going on. Be woken by birdsong, take woodlands walks and discover peace and beauty in nature, or ground yourself in the forest as a detox from hectic city life. It’s the perfect way to embrace the coming spring.
Hot tip: Danish accommodation platform Owayy.com also lists a variety of treehouse options around the region.
Konglen, Bergen - Norway
Photo: The Arctic Treehouse
This covetable hideaway is tethered to the trees on Mount Fløyen in Bergen. Three metres above the ground, it holds a sleeping space for up to two adults and two children, along with views of the trees, the mountain and the local wildlife. You’ll even spot the sea in the distance. The spruce wood treehouse opened this winter and was built using boat-building principles and sways a little in the wind. Staying here is an adventure - bring sleeping bags and pillowcases, and don’t forget your hiking boots. As the funicular is currently being renovated, the only way to reach it is to walk up the mountain.
Løvtag, near Randers - Denmark
Photo: Søren Larsen
Photo: Søren Larsen
Denmark’s premier treetop hotel is Løvtag, a collection of three cabins perched in the trees near the Mariager Fjord in Jutland. Designed by Sigurd Larsen, the comfortable cabins have all the comforts of a hotel room and offer a luxury take on forest life. Follow secret paths into the forest and listen to the sound of birdsong, or relax in your treetop cabin, six metres above the ground and built around a tree. Be sure to book well in advance - rooms sell out so quickly that they have a waiting list and keep an eye out for their future project, coming soon to Bornholm.
The Treehotel - Swedish Lapland
Photo: Tina Stafrén
Photo: Tina Stafrén
Not so much a hotel in the trees as an architect’s playground, The Treehotel has been running since 2010 and still remains one of the most unique places to stay in the whole of Scandinavia. Want to sleep in a bird’s nest? A flying saucer? A mirrored cube? You can find all that and more. A hundred kilometres from Luleå in northern Sweden, the hotel boasts seven huts in the trees designed by starchitects including Norway’s Snöhetta, Sweden’s Tham & Videgård Arkitekter, and Finnish/Icelandic/Norwegian studio Rintala Eggertsson Architects.
Woodnest, Hardangerfjord - Norway
Photo: Alek Pérez
Photo: Tor Hveem
Photo: Gjermund Photography
These two stunning treetop cabins are an incomparable start point for exploring the Hardanger region. Imagine: planning a hike to Trolltunga from this vantage point, with views of snow-capped mountains, the woods and the fjord. Built around a tree with a design again referencing the pine cone - a Norwegian forest symbol - these luxurious cabins have underfloor heating, handcrafted chairs by Eikund and minimal and sustainable design throughout. Built by a man who wanted to create a treehouse to propose to his then-girlfriend in, the first word that comes to mind is ‘wow’. (She said yes, by the way!)
Urnatur, Ödeshög - Sweden
Photo: Linus Bergman
Photo: Linus Bergman
This Swedish eco-lodge has cabins in the woods and treehouses that look straight from a children’s fairy tale. Abotu 60 km from Jönköping, the woodland hermitage gives a specialist take on countryside living, with a focus on simplicity, leaving a lighter footprint and communing with nature. There’s no electricity and few mod cons in the cabins - if you need light, you have to use a candle, which just adds to the romance of the hideaway. The treehouses include Air Castle, a romantic two-person cabin accessed by a wooden spiral staircase in the forest, with a private gazebo on the top to bring you closer to the trees.
The Arctic Treehouse, Rovaniemi - Finland
Photo: The Arctic Treehouse
Photo: The Arctic Treehouse
Up in the Arctic Circle in Finland, this treehouse hotel blends arctic nature with local Lappish traditions and modern Scandinavian design. A Green Key hotel, it has a solid focus on ecological values and uses renewable energy throughout. Relax in a nest-like suite with its own private sauna, fall in love with the view from the picture window, or cosy up on sheepskins next to a modern woodburner. Set on a hillside in the middle of the woods, the complex was designed to offer minimal light pollution and to maximise the nature experience.