A small cabin hotel with glass-roofed cabins and a restaurant, out in the countryside a drive from Levi rather than in the resort. It suits a couple who want a quiet cabin and a sky above the bed, and who are happy to be driven to the ski slopes. It suits people who want to walk to restaurants and lifts badly. Get a price in writing, because none is published.
Northern Lights Ranch turns up in searches for Levi, but it is not in the
resort. It sits fifteen kilometres from Levi’s ski slopes and thirty from
Kittilä airport, about 190 kilometres north of the Arctic
Circle.1 For some guests that
distance is the whole point. For others it is the thing they only discover
after arriving.
What it is
The resort’s own listing calls it a restaurant, accommodation and activity
facility, built around sixteen Sky View Cabins in four types: Standard,
Superior, Superior with Sauna, and Deluxe with an outdoor
jacuzzi.2 The ranch’s own site
names more categories than that, Standard, Superior, Deluxe, Deluxe Plus, Deluxe
Prime, Ultimate and Double, along with a restaurant serving Finnish and Nordic
food.1
The two descriptions do not match, and from outside there is no way to tell
which is current. Go by the ranch’s own site, and ask which cabin type you are actually
booking.
What it costs
Neither page publishes a price. What the ranch does say is that a direct booking
of at least two nights includes the sauna, and that breakfast and transfers are
available.1 Whether breakfast and
transfers are included in a given rate is not stated, so ask for a quote that
names both.
Tripadvisor ratings, 18 Rovaniemi operators
Highest first
Snowtrail Safaris 5.0
Nordic Odyssey 5.0
Nordic Adventures 4.9
Arctic GM 4.9
Book Lapland 4.9
Bearhill Husky 4.9
Arctic Attitude 4.9
StayLapland 4.8
Wild About Lapland 4.7
Wild Nordic 4.7
Lapland Winter Park 4.6
Safartica 4.5
Nordic Unique Travels 4.5
Apukka Resort 4.4
Lapland Welcome 4.3
Arctic Circle Snowmobile Park 4.3
Arctic Circle Husky Park 4.2
Raitola 3.4
<44.04.55.0
Ratings read from Tripadvisor. The shaded compartment left of the divider holds any score below 4.0. We record the score only; review counts and review text are not part of our comparison.
The aurora season, twice
The ranch gives the aurora season as August to
April.1 The resort’s listing says
the lights are often visible from September to
April.2 Neither is wrong so much as
optimistic at the edges: late August nights in Lapland are short, and what
decides any single night is cloud.
A couple or a small group who want a quiet cabin under an open sky, who will
spend the evenings there rather than in the resort, and who either have a car or
have costed the transfers. It is also convenient for a short stay built around
Kittilä airport.
It suits less well a family that wants to walk to the lifts, a group that wants
restaurants and nightlife on the doorstep, or anyone who assumed from the search
results that it was in Levi. For husky or aurora trips from the ranch, the
husky safari page for Levi shows how far out the
kennels there are.
This page is an independent guide, written from published sources. We have no
connection to Northern Lights Ranch or Visit Levi.
Is Northern Lights Ranch the same as Northern Lights Village?
No. They are separate businesses with similar names, and both appear in searches for Levi, which is where the confusion starts. Northern Lights Village is a brand with sites in more than one resort, and the page on it explains why the name reads like a place when it is not one. Before booking either, check the address and the distance to the resort centre rather than relying on the name.
Can we get there without a car?
Yes, with transfers, which the ranch says are available. At fifteen kilometres from Levi and thirty from Kittilä airport, every trip to the slopes, to a restaurant in the resort or to an activity pickup is a drive, so ask what the transfers cost and how often they run before comparing the ranch with a cabin in the resort itself. Without a car, those journeys are the hidden part of the price.
What if it is cloudy all week?
Then a glass roof shows you the cloud. The roof puts you in a good position when the sky is clear and the aurora is active; it does nothing about either condition. That is worth weighing against the premium for a cabin like this, and the page on glass igloos, aurora cabins and ice hotels sets out what each kind of room actually buys. A comfortable cabin in a quiet place is still a comfortable cabin on a grey night.
Lapland Handbook is written by its editorial staff in Rovaniemi. Every price, age limit and group size in a comparison is read from the operator's own page and marked "Not stated" when the operator does not publish it. Each guide names who should not book, and names the operator that suits each kind of group, whichever it is.
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