Watch the Northern Lights From A Floating Arctic Bath Hotel and Spa in Sweden

Johan Kaupp
Johan Kaupp | Johan Kaupp

Northern lights-seeking travelers will soon get to watch the aurora borealis from the comfort of a luxurious floating hotel in northern Sweden. Located in Kiruna, the country’s northernmost town, the Arctic Bath Hotel and Spa is slated to open in fall 2018, according to designboom.

Designed by the same team behind the famous Treehotel in Harads, Sweden, the circular hotel freezes into Sweden’s Lule River in the winter and floats during the summer months. The exterior walls are covered in crisscrossed logs, an ode to the nation’s timber logging heritage. Guests can enjoy four saunas, a year-round outside cold bath (the water is maintained at 39° F), a hot bath, and other amenities. They can also get massaged, buffed, and polished in a designated treatment room.

The northern lights are famously elusive, but guests who have visited Sweden specifically to see the aurora can wait in comfort and style for the natural wonder to come to them: At night, they can scan the sky for lights while soaking in the cold bath, or through in-room ceiling skylights in one of the hotel’s six guest rooms. (These rooms float separately from the hotel's main hub and also freeze into the ice during the winter, according to Metro).

The Arctic Bath Hotel and Spa doesn’t appear to be accepting reservations yet, but you can keep tabs on its website to be among its very first guests, and check out the photos below.

Johan Kauppi
Johan Kauppi
Johan Kauppi
Johan Kauppi
Johan Kauppi