The rooftop spa at SkyView Igloo Resort in Olleronvaara and Restaurant Aura, created with chef Tomi Björck, also serve guests who stay elsewhere.
Arctic Spa Culta opened on 16 October. A two-hour session costs 129 euros, and no more than 16 guests are let in at a time.
SkyView Igloo Resort in Olleronvaara, Rovaniemi, has opened a rooftop spa and a restaurant that also take visitors who are not staying at the resort. According to the company, the spa Arctic Spa Culta opened on 16 October, and on its roof there is a heated infinity pool and a panoramic sauna. Restaurant Aura was created together with chef Tomi Björck.
Lapin Kansa describes the site as a 20 million euro igloo resort that draws locals to Olleronvaara as well. According to the paper, the resort is led by chief executive Eerik Nurmi. The company itself calls its rooftop pool the only heated infinity pool in Lapland.
The spa runs five two-hour sessions a day, starting at 9, 12, 15, 18 and 21. There is room for no more than 16 guests at a time, eight women and eight men. The two last sessions are for adults only.
A session costs 129 euros per person. According to the company, the price includes a bottle of sparkling wine, Nordic snacks, a robe and access to the panoramic lounge by the fireplace. Besides the pool and the sauna there is a cold plunge and experience showers.
Northern ingredients and Asian flavours at Aura
Restaurant Aura is open daily, with breakfast from 7 to 11 and dinner from 17 to 23. The breakfast buffet costs 39 euros, and the restaurant says no table booking is needed for it. The buffet includes reindeer in several forms, fish and roe, and ramen eggs.
Björck says Aura serves northern ingredients with an international range of flavours. “A bit like the cold North creating Japanese umami and a small fire from Southeast Asia around itself,” he told Yle. The restaurant is not chasing a Michelin star: according to Björck, Aura does not even have tablecloths.
The five-course Menu Björck, made for the opening weeks, costs 89 euros per person and is served to the whole table. The restaurant says it is on the menu until 31 October, so only for a few more days.
Guests stay in two-storey glass igloos. The ground floor has a kitchen, a living area and a sofa bed, and the upper floor a bedroom under a glass roof, a private sauna and an outdoor hot tub. Up to four people can sleep there, and breakfast at Aura is included. There is no washing machine and no fireplace in the igloos.
The address is Olleronvaarantie 66. According to Visit Rovaniemi the city centre is about 10 kilometres away and the airport about 15 minutes away. The resort says it is a five-minute walk from the igloos to Lapland WinterPark.
Olleronvaara sits on the edge of town, so a dinner or a spa session is worth combining with something else. You can find the hotels in Rovaniemi by area, from the centre to the Arctic Circle, on our Rovaniemi page.