Treehotel AB

Five futuristic tree houses, from the Bird’s Nest to a full-size UFO, were built with minimal impact on the Lule River Valley. The newest tree room, Mirrorcube, has reflective glass walls that disappear into the pines. After a meal of local elk or reindeer, visit the treetop sauna until it’s time for a midnight fishing trip or a mountain-bike ride. From $453. This appeared in the July/August 2012 issue.

Located among the endless forrests of northern Sweden near the town of Harads, the 5-room Treehotel was inspired by the documentary, “The Tree Lover.” The film depicts a group of men who grew up in the region but moved south to Stockholm long ago. Feeling alienated and disconnected from their roots, they return to their childhood home to build a tree house one summer. Owners Britta and Kent Lindvall enlisted some of Sweden’s top architects to develop the movie’s concept into a workable tourism business model. In 2010, Treehotel opened with five ingenious, elevated room pods surrounding a ground level spa suite and a traditional pensione for meals. To get to Treehotel, it’s a 70-minute flight from Stockholm north to Kallax airport near the town of Luleå, followed by a 1-hour drive to Harads. I’ve been fascinated by this hotel since its inception. On one hand, Treehotel is an another uber sustainable Scandinavian “anti-hotel,” where the line between man and nature is blurred as much as possible. Some of the rooms are almost invisible at first glance, designed like camouflaged hunter’s “tree stands” to blend seamlessly into the landscape. On the other hand, Treehotel is a simple boyhood fantasy. It reconnects us with our inherent love for nature, individualism and adventure often squelched as we get older, living in heavily urbanized cities. “We want you to get the feeling that you’re leaving one world behind and entering another,” says Britta Lindvall.