In a Swedish forest just an hour driving from Luleå lies Treehotel, the creation of Kent and Britta Lindvall. Treehotel features 7 unique tree cabins promising an experience out of this world. Check-in happens at Britta’s Pensionat, a cozy guesthouse with 50’s interior. Britta made me feel welcome straight away and I wouldn’t have minded staying in one of the rooms of the guesthouse, but that’s not why I came for. Deep in the forest lies one of Europe’s most jaw-dropping places to stay: Treehotel.
Britta encouraged me to leave the luggage at the Pensionat and just take a small bag with me for the night. After all, it’s about leaving the materialistic world behind and be one with nature; and considering it’s a treehouse I’m staying in, I expect it to be cramped. It turned out it wasn’t but more on that later!
I left the guesthouse and went for a short walk into the forest until I saw the first treehouses appear. I nearly walked passed The Mirrorcube without noticing. The giant mirrored box high up in the trees is so well designed that it has no trouble blending in with nature.
Other cabins are a tad bit more in-your-face, like the absurdly named The Blue Cone. It’s designed as some sort of luxury garden shed, a wooden structure where simplicity is key.
The UFO is one of the most strikingly designed cabins at Treehotel. It has room for 2 adults and 3 kids. All of them can make their childhood dreams come true in the UFO.
The Bird’s Nest is exactly that, a cabin up in the trees covered in jagged branches. The chaotic exterior stands in stark contrast with the minimalistic wooden interior.
The Cabin
I opted for The Cabin, the least extravagant treehouse of the lot. The high position above the ground and the giant window looking out over the forest by the Lule river appealed the most to me. The path led under the cabin and turned uphill towards the walking bridge near the back of the cabin. That bridge takes you to the rooftop terrace where the entrance to the Cabin is located. Yes, you read that correct, this treehouse has a rooftop terrace! I’m blown away already. Sadly enough I couldn’t sit outside because of all the mosquitoes that apparently hadn’t seen a human in years.
The interior turned out to be not cramped at all. There was room for a double bed, a bar with coffee and tea making facilities and a seating area where I enjoyed the complimentary wine.
The bathroom
The cabin even had a small bathroom with toilet and sink. Running water is limited to a glass carafe above the sink is what you get for the night but it’s enough to refresh yourself a little bit. Showering happens in a separate building. Toilet facilities are limited, but nothing to worry about. My cabin had an eco-toilet. In simple terms, you poop in a paper bag inside the toilet, close the lid after you’re done and the toilet starts doing its thing to burn the waste into ash. The ash of a couple of days will be no bigger than the size of a thumble and is fertile for the environment at all! Super eco!
After using the private sauna in a separate building nearby, all I had to do was lie down in bed and let the wind in the trees rock me asleep. No way to close the curtains and darken the room a little bit though. I came to realize staying here in summer was not the best idea I’ve had. I can only imagine what an incredible experience it must be to see the northern lights from the cabin!
Price for most of the cabins is 4900 SEK, around 510 euros, which puts it in line with other unique luxury accommodations in the Nordic countries, like Hotel Ranga in Iceland for example.
Is it worth it? Hell yeah! I wish I will return one day and bring a few friends so we can try out their newest, gigantic 100 square-meters big addition: The 7th room.
Have you stayed in a treehouse hotel before? What other unique accommodations have you resided in?
Ben