Lapland Hotels Sky Ounasvaara, Rovaniemi: Sauna Rooms, Sky Kitchen, Prices and Is It Worth It

Updated 5 October 2026.

Some links on this page are affiliate links. If you book through them, I earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. I only recommend services I genuinely trust for Lapland travel.

Lapland Hotels Sky Ounasvaara sits on top of the Ounasvaara fell above Rovaniemi, with a ski slope outside the door and a private sauna in most of its room types. It suits skiers and sauna lovers who want a view of the town without staying in it.

What it is, and what it is not

Sky Ounasvaara belongs to Lapland Hotels, a Finnish chain with properties in Levi, Ylläs, Saariselkä and Rovaniemi. That matters mostly for what you can expect as standard: a breakfast buffet and saunas on site.

It is not a wilderness lodge and it does not pretend to be. You are inside Rovaniemi’s city limits, on top of the Ounasvaara fell. What the hill buys you is the view and the quiet, not isolation. In the sauna rooms, the sauna looks out at the forest through a glass wall, which is the Finnish idea of a good winter hotel room in one sentence.

The rooms, and which ones have a sauna

Six of the ten room types have a private sauna. The cheapest rooms, the Northern Comfort Double and Twin, do not.

The practical point: the cheapest rate you see is for a Northern Comfort room without a sauna. If the sauna is why you are booking here, filter for a sauna room before you compare prices, or you will be comparing the wrong rooms.

What a night costs

A double for two was 437€ a night in late November and 513€ on the January, February and March dates. Sauna rooms cost more: a Mystique Deluxe with sauna was 603€ in mid-March, and the Lapland Suite 931€ in January and February.

Rates are Booking.com prices per night for two adults, checked at the end of September 2026. Prices are for the 2026-27 season and change annually, so check current rates for your dates.

For the December dates marked not on sale, ask the hotel directly.

What a night includes

A breakfast buffet is the standard at Lapland Hotels; whether it is in your rate depends on the rate you pick. The hotel has saunas on site in addition to the in-room ones, and its own parking. Check-in is from 16:00 and the reception is staffed around the clock.

Sky Kitchen & View

The restaurant is a reason to come here in its own right. Sky Kitchen & View serves à la carte with Lappish and international dishes, and it placed 23rd on the 2026 list of Finland’s top 50 restaurants.

It is also the view: the dining room looks out over the town and the river valley below, which in December means a sunset-coloured sky in the early afternoon and darkness soon after.

Getting there, and getting back down the hill

Rovaniemi airport is 12 km from the hotel and Santa Claus Village 11 km, so a stay here means a short drive in either direction rather than a base at Santa’s door. The city centre is 4 km away by road, downhill and across the river: not a walk in winter.

Practically, that means a hire car, or taxis for every trip into town, and the fares add up over a week. If your plan involves dinner downtown most nights, the maths tips towards a city-centre hotel instead. Visit Rovaniemi keeps current local transport information.

Skiing and trails at the door

Ounasvaara is Rovaniemi’s ski hill, and the nearest slope is 20 metres from the hotel, with cross-country tracks starting beside it. It is not Levi, but for families with children learning, short and close beats big and far.

The cross-country tracks are the underrated part. If you have never skied on ladut (machine-groomed classic tracks), a hill where the tracks start next to your hotel is a gentle place to find out whether you like it.

Northern lights from the fell

Rovaniemi is a city, and cities glow. The glow from the valley washes out faint aurora on the town side. The fell itself is what helps: on the side away from the city, the hill blocks the worst of the city light, and you get a darker sky than any downtown hotel can offer.

This is not a dark-sky site, and a weak display that would show clearly from a frozen lake well outside town may register here as a grey smear. Check the Finnish Meteorological Institute aurora forecast before you commit to standing outside, and if the northern lights are the single reason for your trip, a hotel further from town serves you better.

Who it suits, and who should book elsewhere

It suits skiers, sauna-first couples, and families who want a view and a well-regarded restaurant without leaving Rovaniemi. It suits anyone with a hire car who would rather come back to quiet than to a high street.

Look elsewhere if you want a glass roof over the bed. Look elsewhere if you are arriving without a car and want to walk to dinner, in which case a centre hotel like Arctic Light is the obvious swap. And look elsewhere if you need dark skies, because the city is just across the river and behaves like it.

Alternatives in and around Rovaniemi

When to book

December is the hard one: both December windows in the rate table were off sale at the end of September, so for the Christmas period ask the hotel directly and book as early as you can.

The Finnish school winter holidays are the second pinch point. They run in staggered weeks from late February to the second week of March, and the country moves to the slopes. Book those dates by autumn. Late November was the cheapest window at 437€ a night, and March gives you long daylight, proper snow and functioning ski trails.

How I researched this

Room categories, sizes, distances and the restaurant’s ranking come from laplandhotels.com, read on 30 September 2026. Nightly rates are Booking.com rates as shown on Google Hotels on 30 September 2026 for the dates in the rate table, two adults, cheapest room available. Nobody from Lapland Trip Planner has stayed here; the verdict is a researched comparison, not a review.

Common questions

Written by Ville Laukkanen

Ville is a Finn who runs Lapland Trip Planner. The site is a researched planning guide: hotel rates come from Booking.com listings and activity prices from the operators' own pages, each dated, and nothing is presented as a personal stay or trip unless it was one.