Halo Riverside Resort: A New Glass Igloo Experience in Rovaniemi, Finnish Lapland

Halo Riverside Resort, Restaurant & Arctic Sky Deck

There's a particular kind of quiet in Finnish Lapland. Snow muffles every sound, the river keeps moving under the ice, and at night the sky feels close enough to touch. Halo Igloos built its newest resort around that feeling.

Halo Riverside Resort, opening in October 2026, is the newest addition to the Halo Igloos family — 39 premium glass igloos on the banks of the Vikaköngäs rapids, just outside Rovaniemi and only 1 km from Halo Hillside Resort. It's built for travelers who want the real Lapland — Northern Lights, forest, silence — without giving up comfort, privacy, or a proper sauna.

Where Comfort Meets the Arctic Wild

Halo Riverside sits in the Vikaköngäs area, about 18 minutes from central Rovaniemi and roughly 12 minutes from the Arctic Circle and Santa Claus Village. Close enough for a day trip into town, far enough to feel like you've properly escaped it.

The surrounding landscape does a lot of the work here. Forests, hiking trails, and the river itself change character with the seasons — frosted and silent in winter, bursting with color in autumn, alive with birdsong and light in summer. Whatever time of year you visit, the setting isn't just scenery. It's the whole point.

39 Glass Igloos, Built Around the View

Each Riverside Igloo is about 23.5 m², designed for two guests with room for extra guests depending on configuration — up to four people, with a maximum of three adults. You can choose a river view or forest view igloo, and both come with the same standout feature: a heated panoramic glass roof, so you can watch the sky without leaving your bed.

That matters more than it might sound. Chasing the Northern Lights usually means standing outside in sub-zero temperatures for hours, hoping. At Riverside, you can watch from under a blanket instead.

Inside, each igloo includes:

Queen-size bed under the glass roof
Kitchenette
Spacious bathroom
Private sauna

Outside, every igloo has its own terrace with a private heated hot tub— arguably the best seat in Lapland for watching snow fall or the sky light up green.

Your Own Sauna, Every Night

The sauna isn't an amenity you book — it's yours, in your igloo, for the whole stay. After a day of husky rides, snowshoeing,or exploring Rovaniemi, you come back, heat up the sauna, and then step straight into the jacuzzi outside. Hot water, cold air, snow underfoot — it's a very Finnish way to end the day, and you don't have to share it with anyone.

A Sauna Complex, Beyond the Private Igloo Saunas

Riverside also features its own sauna complex, for guests who want the full traditional Finnish experience beyond their private igloo sauna. It includes two electric saunas and one wood-heated sauna — an authentic touch that stays true to how saunas have been enjoyed in Finland for generations.

The complex is also available for private bookings, making it a good fit for groups, celebrations, or anyone wanting the sauna experience to themselves.

Halo Igloos Riverside, Sauna Complex & Ice Swimming

Arctic Sky Deck: Home to Halo Sky Odyssey

Beyond the igloos themselves, Halo Riverside is home to the Arctic Sky Deck — a dedicated space for watching the sky and the surrounding landscape, and the setting for something that has never existed in Lapland before.

Halo Sky Odyssey is a guided stargazing experience led by resident astronomer Robert Johnstone, founder of Astro Star Viewing, with two decades of experience running stargazing operations from Finland to the Namibian desert. At the heart of it is a large telescope housed in its own purpose-built astronomy dock, where guests observe planets, nebulas, star clusters, and distant galaxies, guided by Robert every step of the way.

The Northern Lights remain a naked-eye spectacle — telescopes are built for deep space, not the aurora overhead — but the two together, a world-class telescope and the Northern Lights dancing above, is a combination found almost nowhere else on Earth.

A nice touch: each session includes a second telescope photographing the deep-space object the group is observing, and every guest takes home a printed copy of that image.

On cloudy nights, the experience doesn't stop — the indoor Halo Sky Exhibition offers a cinematic presentation on the night sky and deep space, with the telescope feed brought indoors when it's too cold outside.

Sky Odyssey launches winter 2026/27 — no other resort in Lapland offers a resident astronomer and a dedicated deep-space telescope.

Restaurant Vuolle and the Lounge & Bar

Food at Riverside centers on Restaurant Vuolle, right on the river. Breakfast is a buffet; dinner is built around local, seasonal ingredients, with the menu changing daily and vegetarian and children's options always available.

For a quieter evening, the Lounge & Bar offers a more relaxed alternative — good for a drink, good conversation, and one more look out the window before heading back to the igloo.

Halo Igloos Riverside, Lounge & Restaurant Interior

Meet the Reindeer

No Lapland trip is complete without reindeer, and Riverside has its own enclosure where guests can see them up close. For those who want to go further, Halo Igloos also runs excursions to local reindeer farms with traditional sleigh rides — a chance to learn about the animals and the culture built around them, not just photograph them.

Halo Igloos Riverside, Reindeer Enclosure

What's Included at Halo Riverside Resort

39 premium glass igloos with heated panoramic roofs
River or forest view options
Private sauna and private outdoor hot tub in every igloo
Restaurant Vuolle, serving breakfast and seasonal dinner
Lounge & Bar
On-site reindeer enclosure
18 minutes to central Rovaniemi, 12 minutes to the Arctic Circle and Santa Claus Village

Halo Igloos Riverside, Glass Igloo with a River View

Opening Autumn 2026

Halo Riverside Resort adds a new riverside destination to the Halo Igloos collection — one built around the idea that the best way to experience Lapland is to let it come to you. The forest at the door, the river outside the window, and the sky overhead aren't just part of the view. At Riverside, they're part of the room.

Halo Riverside Resort opens October 2026 in Rovaniemi, Finnish Lapland.