In Finland’s northernmost territory exists a remote region called Lapland, where reindeer outnumber people, northern lights dazzle, and the midnight sun never sets in summer. The vast subarctic wilderness is bordered by Sweden, Norway, Russia, and the Baltic Sea, and home to the indigenous Sami people. Not quite the North Pole, but close enough.

As there, just outside Lapland's capital of Rovaniemi, exists a place called SantaPark-the Home Cavern of Santa Claus. An indoor amusement park voted "the top Christmas destination in the world," where visitors can attend Elf School, visit Santa's Office, explore an Ice Gallery, and even cross the Arctic Circle underground, among other Yuletide attractions.

The Nordic wonderland also happens to feature the recently opened Arctic TreeHouse Hotel, a campus of 32 stilt-legged prefab cabins inspired by the surrounding scenery and the mysticism of SantaPark itself. According to the project's designer, Studio Puisto, the shingled cabins resemble a herd of pine cone cows, a traditional Finnish toy made of a pine cone body and stick legs. Peacefully grazing on a steep hillside, the larger-than-life herd happens to have a straight-shot view of the aurora borealis.