In the forest around Harads, in Swedish Lapland, a cluster of architect-designed cabins hang among the pines, each one built to a completely different idea of what a treehouse could be.
No two cabins here look alike — one is a mirrored cube that all but disappears into the canopy, another resembles a giant bird's nest woven from branches, another a UFO suspended on cables. What they share is a bridge or rope-and-ladder approach up into the trees and, once inside, surprisingly serious comfort: underfloor heating, proper beds, and large windows angled to frame the forest rather than the ground below.
There is a communal sauna at ground level, usually wood-fired, and evenings tend to be spent there or simply sitting at a cabin window watching the light change — this far north, summer nights barely darken and winter ones are long enough for the aurora to appear directly overhead. Meals are typically taken together in a central lodge built from reclaimed timber.
Book well ahead, since each design has only one or two units and they fill fast, and come for a winter stay if you can manage the cold: watching the northern lights move across the forest canopy from inside a warm treehouse is the single best reason to make the trip.
