Kittilä has granted 233 building permits this year, more than half for tourist accommodation. What is being built, and the new places to stay this winter.
Building permits linked to tourism have also hit a record in Rovaniemi, and some holiday villages go from permit to first guests in a few months.
Kittilä, the municipality where Levi and Ylläsjärvi are, has granted 233 building permits so far this year, compared with fewer than 200 last year. According to Kittilä building inspector Laura Fagerholm, more than half of the permits are for accommodation that serves tourism.
One permit can cover several buildings. In Rovaniemi, several projects have a single permit for a whole group of small cabins or glass igloos.
Halo Igloos, a family company from Oulu, built a whole holiday village at Vikaköngäs in Rovaniemi in a few months. According to its operations director Jari Virtanen, the units arrive finished from the company’s own factory in Rantsila, and a growing share of such units is now made in Finland.
Juha Mäntynen, regional director for Northern Finland at the Confederation of Finnish Construction Industries, says tourism projects have brought builders to Lapland from as far away as southern Finland. The winter season now starts as early as October or November, which keeps schedules tight.
Lapland’s hotels fill up in the peak season. According to Statistics Finland, 79% of hotel rooms in Lapland were occupied in December 2025, and the average room price in Lapland in 2025, 207 euros, was the highest of any Finnish region. Lapland is also the only region of Finland where foreign guests account for more overnight stays than Finnish guests.
Openings announced for winter 2026–27 include Santa’s Hotel Noelle in Rovaniemi, with 101 rooms on 7 floors, the glass igloo sites Halo Riverside at Vikaköngäs and Aava Glass Igloos at Ollerovaara, Arcora Boutique Hotel & Villas in Muonio and North Resort at Miekojärvi. Ask the property for its opening date before you book, as first dates can still move.
Glass igloos, cabins, hotels and the other types of places to stay in Lapland, and what each is like, are on our property types page.