Harads: Two Hotels, One River
Two hotels in Harads take their shape from the landscape: Treehotel among the pines, Arctic Bath on the Lule River.
Harads is a village of around 500 people on the Lule River in Norrbotten, Sweden's northernmost county, not far from the Arctic Circle. Luleå Airport is about 70 minutes away by road. Pine forest runs down to the river, and the two hotels are about five minutes apart by car.
Treehotel came first. Kent and Britta Lindvall opened it in 2010, with check-in and the restaurant in the village's historic Guesthouse; since 2022 it has been owned by Jonas Olsson and Hannah Wennebro Olsson. Arctic Bath on the river was designed by the architects Bertil Harström and Johan Kauppi. Harström also drew two of the treerooms, the Bird's Nest and the UFO.
Treehotel: nine rooms in the pines
There are nine treerooms, each by a different architecture practice. Tham & Videgård's Mirrorcube reflects the forest around it. Snøhetta's 7th Room, the largest, has two bedrooms and a netted terrace suspended ten metres above the forest floor. BIG's Biosphere is wrapped in nesting boxes meant for birds and bats. Oasis by Nadén & Lind, the newest, sits close to the forest floor and has its own sauna and hot tub.
You check in at the Guesthouse and walk about 500 metres through the forest to your room. The treerooms also differ in practical ways: the Bird's Nest and the UFO are reached by ladder, and only some rooms have their own shower, so guests in the others use a shower building nearby. All meals have to be booked at least 14 days before arrival.
Arctic Bath: the ring on the river
Arctic Bath is a spa hotel on the water. Its circular main building floats on the Lule River in summer and freezes into the ice in winter, and its outer ring of stacked logs recalls the timber floating that once carried felled trunks downriver. At the centre is an open-air cold bath, with saunas and hot baths around it. The same building holds the restaurant, a lounge and a bar.
The routine is heat, cold plunge, rest, and again; for cold dips there is also the river itself. On top of that the spa has treatment rooms and its own list of treatments. There are twelve places to stay: six cabins floating by the shore, each with its own deck, and on land three suites and three family cabins for up to five guests. The MICHELIN Guide has given the hotel a MICHELIN Key.
Treehotel or Arctic Bath?
The two hotels look nothing alike, and they suit different trips. Choose Treehotel if the room itself is the reason to go: pick the design you want, and check ladders and showers before you book. Choose Arctic Bath if you want the days to revolve around the spa, with a cabin on the river. If you combine them, book dinners early: Arctic Bath's restaurant takes outside guests only when the hotel is not full, with at least seven days' notice, and Treehotel's tasting menu has to be reserved in advance.
Practical
Getting there: fly to Luleå; the drive takes a little over an hour, and transfers can be booked. When to go: northern lights are possible on clear, dark nights from roughly September to March, but never guaranteed. Around midsummer the nights stay light. In winter Arctic Bath is held in the river ice and the days are short; in summer it floats on open water.
