One thing has been on my bucket list for a long time; I have dreamed of seeing the Northern Lights for many years and when we moved to Sweden, we knew we were a little bit closer to achieving that dream.

There are so many amazing places to see them in Scandinavia and just weeks before we traveled, we missed them in our own home town in Sweden. However Finland is particularly famous for their glass igloo resorts which we really wanted to try. After doing a lot of research we settled on the Glass Resort just next to the Santa Claus Village in Rovaniemi.

The Glass Resort is a new resort made up of 24 glass apartments a mere 15 minutes from Rovaniemi airport. If you book directly, you get free return airport transfers.

Each apartment is modernly furnished with a kitchen area and a spacious seating/dining area.

The sleeping area is on a purpose built second floor which has a glass ceiling to watch the stars and enjoy the Northern Lights if you are lucky enough to see them.

The biggest attraction to this resort is that each apartment comes with its own private sauna and outdoor hot tub which you can use anytime during your stay.

Even though the apartments are close together, you have unlimited privacy and it feels like you are very much out in the wilderness.

We chose to stay at the Glass Resort for many reasons. One it was a good place to see the Northern Lights. Its proximity to the Santa Claus Village meant we were close to other cafes and restaurants giving us plenty of food options and we also wanted a place to relax and enjoy ourselves as the Sportlov break fell in between our birthdays. Luckily for us it proved to meet all our needs and more.

The overnight package comes with breakfast included which we enjoyed each morning. It was a breakfast buffet not that dissimilar to what we have found common in Sweden. On the day of checkout we were offered a breakfast pack to take away as we were leaving at 7:30am. To our surprise it was an empty take away box which we were allow to fill with whatever we wanted from the breakfast buffet before we left. It was much appreciated as Rovaniemi is a rather small airport with limited food options.

During our stay we visited the Santa Claus Village which was a strange and unusual experience in March. The Christmas decorations and music are still out in full force and it is filled with souvenir shops that are largely made up of Christmas decorations and gifts.

There are plenty of eateries which offered a variety of food but one in particular, Santa’s pizza and burger house was quite popular due to its lunch time buffet and take away service.

There are also plenty of activities to entertain you at the village, including reindeer and husky sled rides as well as Aurora and snowmobile tours. You can meet Mr and Mrs Claus in person as well as sending a postcard from his very own postoffice.

It is full of reminders that you are in fact in the Arctic Circle deep in Lapland which is a fun fact in it self. Luckily we experienced only mild temperatures ranging between 2 and -2 degrees celsius although at times it did feel like -8.

Even though we were thankful for the mild temperatures it did hamper our chances of seeing the Northern lights, the whole reason for our trip. Luckily on our last night the temperatures dropped and we were exposed to a beautiful sunset.

This meant we were in with a good chance of seeing the Aurora Borealis.

I’m not ashamed to admit it but I watched the sky that night like a child looking for Santa on Christmas Eve. Around 10pm I could see faint lines of green start to appear across the sky like weird clouds. It wasn’t very obvious but when I started to use my cameras, they lit up like a firework.

It was so magical and sealed this trip as one of our most amazing experiences.

The Glass Resort was the perfect place for our once in a lifetime trip. The glass apartments are private, warm and filled with everything you need for a relaxing break including your very own Nespresso machine.

Rovaniemi itself is a mere 90 minute flight from Helsinki and most resorts are between 15-20mins away from the airport. As a result it is a really easy place to visit. There are so many glass igloo/apartment resorts in the area and a great place for couples and families.

Now after experiencing Finland we can’t wait to explore even more of Scandinavia with Iceland and Norway being next on our list as well as more of Sweden. We clearly have a lot of planning to do…

SP x