Glass igloos in Rovaniemi: which rooms have a glass roof, where they are and when they open

Inside Santa Claus Village: two properties with glass roofs

Santa's Igloos Arctic Circle has 71 glass igloos inside Santa Claus Village: 49 Premium igloos, 10 with their own sauna, 10 with an alcove and 2 with a hot tub. Every igloo has a bathroom with a shower, a heated glass ceiling and an aurora alarm, and the Arctic Eye restaurant is in the main building. In the alcove igloos only two of the four beds sit under the glass, which matters for a family of four.

Glass Resort, also inside the village, sells apartments rather than igloos. Its 24 Premium glass apartments have an upstairs loft with a glass ceiling, a private sauna and a private outdoor spa. It is about 3 km from the airport, and the Santa Claus Office is a short walk away.

Both are a walk from the Santa Claus Office and about 8 to 10 km from the city centre, so a dinner in town usually means a taxi each way.

Out of town: darker surroundings, longer transfers

Apukka Resort sits about 18 km or 20 minutes from the city centre and 8 km or 10 minutes from Santa Claus Village. Its glass-roof suites and cabins have heated glass that keeps frost and snow off, and the resort's 2026 to 2027 season runs from 1 August to 4 April.

Halo Igloos is about 18 km from the centre and 10 km from the village, with 26 glass igloos on its hillside site. SkyView Igloo Resort pairs a 360° glass-roof bedroom with a private sauna and an outdoor hot tub, and opens from late August to early April.

Arctic SnowHotel and Glass Igloos is in Sinettä, 26 km or about a 30-minute drive away. Its glass igloos open from the beginning of September to the end of March, not all year, and the separate snow hotel opens on 15 December 2026 and runs to 31 March.

Further out there is less artificial light overhead, but every visit to the Santa Claus Office or the city becomes a drive. Weigh the darker sky against the number of times you will cross town during the stay.

Large windows are not a glass roof

Some well-known rooms near the village are sold on their views of the sky but do not have a glass roof. Nova Skyland Hotel's rooms have large windows facing nature and a private sauna, and Arctic TreeHouse Hotel's suites have floor-to-ceiling panoramic windows. Both have their own appeal; neither describes glass over the bed the way an igloo does.

Inside igloo properties the detail matters too, as the alcove igloos at Santa's Igloos show. Read the unit description, not just the property name, and look for the words glass roof or glass ceiling before you pay.

What a night actually costs

Glass-roof rooms are typically among the most expensive in the Rovaniemi region, and the figure changes constantly with the date, the season and the unit type, so any single number printed here would be out of date quickly. The only reliable way to judge the cost is to compare the live total for your exact dates against a city-centre room for the same nights.

A common way to manage the total is to book one glass-roof night for the experience and keep the rest of the trip in a city-centre hotel, which usually costs less per night. That still gives the trip one night under the glass without pricing every night at the same level, and it cuts the number of transfers to an out-of-town lodge.

A glass roof helps only on a clear night

A glass roof lets you watch the sky from bed, but only if the sky is clear over that exact spot and the aurora is active; on a cloudy night the roof shows the same cloud as any window in town. It also does not move, so unlike a guided aurora tour that can drive toward clearer sky, a glass igloo is committed to whatever the weather does directly above it.

Treat a glass igloo as a comfortable way to end an evening rather than a replacement for an aurora tour. A tour that searches for clear sky improves the chance on a mixed night, but neither the room nor the tour can promise a sighting, and Apukka says so plainly on its own site. Heated glass, which Apukka and Santa's Igloos both describe, keeps the view free of frost and snow; it does not change the weather.

What to ask before you book

Glass-roof units vary more than standard hotel rooms, and the property's own unit description answers most of these questions. Ask the property directly about anything the description leaves out before you pay.

• Does the glass cover every bed you will use, or only part of the unit?
• Is there a shower in the unit, or only a toilet with showers in another building?
• Is the glass heated or de-iced, and who switches it on during the night?
• Is the property open on your dates? Several close in spring or summer.
• Are children allowed in this unit type, and are there extra-bed rules?

Why December dates go first

December is Rovaniemi's busiest month for Santa Claus Village and the rooms around it, so glass-roof availability for December dates usually disappears earliest, especially near Christmas. If the room matters more than the exact date, checking November or January alongside December widens the options, and booking the room before the flights is the safer order for a trip built around one specific night.

Season dates also limit the window out of town: Arctic SnowHotel's glass igloos close at the end of March, SkyView stays open until early April and Apukka's season ends on 4 April 2027.