Octola Private Wilderness

Octola Private Wilderness

Rovaniemi's center sits seven kilometres from Octola Private Wilderness, screened off by the untouched forest the property sits inside. The whole place runs on a single level, five rooms in total, with slopes in place of stairs throughout, which makes it wheelchair accessible and safe for a child to move through unsupervised. Those five rooms range from a six-bedroom dorm-style room to a full villa, an unusual spread that lets one family, wedding party or group of friends take over the entire property and live in it as a private home rather than share it with other guests, which is roughly how Prince Albert of Monaco and Anushka Sharma described their own stays here. The restaurant works from what the surrounding wilderness supplies, sourced locally rather than shipped in. Locals count in eights: eight countries border the Arctic Circle, sailors have long called the eighth wave the one that brings a fresh start, and on a clear night here all 88 constellations show themselves with no city glow to dull them. That sky, more than any room, is the argument for staying. It will not suit anyone wanting a conventional hotel with a lobby, a bar scene or a stroll into town after dinner; check-in runs from four in the afternoon, checkout by eleven, and everything past that hour belongs to the forest outside the window. Five rooms across one stair-free level near Rovaniemi, built to be taken over whole rather than shared, which is why Prince Albert of Monaco and Anushka Sharma have called it home during their Lapland stays. Locals count in eights: eight Arctic nations, 88 visible constellations.