The invitation-only Arctic retreat surrounded by silence and secrecy

By Barry Neild, CNN

Finnish Lapland (CNN) — By November, a bone-penetrating chill has already crept into the northern reaches of Finland. The first heavy snows arrive toward the end of the month and by early December the sun dips below the horizon for weeks on end, transforming the region into a dark, frozen wilderness.

Perfect for building one of the world’s most luxurious — and secretive — escapes. A place where the wealthy, famous and powerful will drop tens of thousands of dollars to sit atop an exposed plateau for days, sometimes weeks, at a time, staring out into wintry nothingness.

That, at least, is the plan behind Octola III, a resort lodge scheduled to open December 1 in the northwestern corner of Finland, close to the borders of Sweden and Norway, where vast acres of snow-stunted pine trees stretch as far as the eye can see.

At first glance, it’s not a spectacular location. There are views, but none of the dramatic Arctic mountains that Finland’s neighbors offer. And in August, just months before welcoming its first guests, Octola III was a muddy construction site. Loose rocks sat in piles, yellow plastic piping lay coiled on the ground and a small gang of men in hi-vis overalls worked methodically with hammers, saws and drills.

But Janne Honkanen, the Finnish entrepreneur behind it, knows exactly what he’s doing. Unsurprisingly, given that he heads a team with a track record of building ultra-luxury retreats that, he says, are too exclusive even for some big-name celebrities.

Accustomed to working against inflexible seasonal deadlines, Honkanen’s local contractors stayed on schedule as autumn quickly vanished. Ahead of the first snows, the building’s exterior was weatherproofed and the interior was taking shape. A beautiful sauna and outdoor plunge pool were finished. As was a gigantic recreation room, complete with a shooting gallery and a fun reindeer antler-lassoing game.

When the December deadline hits, Octola III will be fully transformed. Not just by the craftsmen building pillars from kelo trees — dead Scots pines — with their gnarled branches still intact, but also by the winter climate: the building’s stone-clad exterior is designed so snow sticks to it, creating the impression its walls are sculpted from frozen drifts.

With gigantic picture windows — and a hot tub — overlooking the sparkling wilderness, under skies highly likely to be glowing with Northern Lights, Octola III will easily draw comparisons to a Bond villain’s lair.

Adding to that vibe is the fact that for decades the site has been a secret military installation, not appearing on any map. It’s a clandestine status Honkanen intends to maintain.

Chasing winter

In the 1950s, as the Cold War began to intensify, Finland used land in Enontekiö, a finger of territory that forms its northwestern frontier, to create a radar monitoring base as it balanced surveillance of the Soviet Union with eavesdropping on its Western neighbors. An access road was built through the forest and electricity and water supplies were installed.

The secret base was renovated in the 1980s, but by the turn of the 21st century, tech advancements left the site surplus to requirements at exactly the same time that Honkanen was hunting for a northerly outpost to his luxury empire. Spurred by warming climates further south, he wanted to find a place where he could guarantee his guests a long winter season in some of the cleanest air on the planet.

In doing so, he is hoping to tap into a growing trend among the uber wealthy. As traditional European skiing resorts face unpredictable snowfall and crowded slopes — and classic summer escapes are boiled by heatwaves — high net-worth travelers are increasingly trading their usual haunts for more extreme boltholes. They’re seeking out remote, climate-resilient corners of the planet where privacy is absolute and the environment remains pristine.

Honkanen initially set about refurbishing the existing base. Now called the Aurora Radar Station, it’s already served as high-end accommodation for visiting high-rollers and, when Octola III opens, can also house any staff traveling with guests — because that’s the level of wealth we’re talking about here. Then he began work on the new accommodation further up the hill.

When finished, Octola III’s pine-clad inner walls will house two main bedroom suites that can be booked out together or individually, as apartments. There will be a kitchen where guest meals can be prepared, ensuite bathrooms, a lounge with a wood fire, and huge windows everywhere to drink in the vast emptiness stretching miles in every direction. Reclaimed oak forms the floors and roof, and the building will make use of geothermal energy.

To maintain a layer of privacy that his top-tier clients will appreciate, they won’t be told its exact location beforehand. While there, they’ll be asked to remove geo-location tags from any photos they upload to social media.

A superyacht in the snow

There’s ostensibly nothing to do here — for people whose daily routine involves hostile takeovers and board meetings, paying five figures a night to gaze at trees for six hours represents the ultimate respite. But Honkanen says there are plenty of distractions for those who need them. Electric snowmobiles, cross-country skiing, ice fishing and hunting are among the panoply of winter activities that can be provided.

“The original concept of Octola is like a superyacht sailing under the Northern Lights, with all the ‘toys’ you’d expect,” he says.

Crucial to the experience, he adds, is exposure to the culture of the Sámi, the reindeer-herding Lapland natives who are Europe’s last indigenous people. While luxurious pampering might seem far removed from the tough conditions the semi-nomadic people can face across the barren Arctic regions of Sweden, Norway, Finland and Russia, the Sámi are happy with upscale arrivals.

“There is already some tourism here, and we have been a little bit afraid that it might spread out,” says Janne Näkkäläjärvi, a reindeer herder from Enontekiö and a development manager at the Sámi Education Institute, a school in the region teaching Sámi culture.

The wariness isn’t unfounded. In November and December, planeloads of visitors descend on the Finnish Lapland capital of Rovaniemi, which has long marketed itself as the home of Santa Claus. There have been concerns about overtourism, potentially overspilling to impact upon the fragile Arctic wilderness.

“Of course people want to come here,” says Näkkäläjärvi. “But we don’t want mass tourism because nature is very vulnerable and we need to protect our forests. We do need tourists — but the ones we need are the rich.”

They won’t get much richer than those already lining up to visit Octola. Prices for Octola III begin at 20,000 euros per night — about $22,000 — for the entire property, plus another 20,000 euros to rent out the Radar Station. To ensure his guests are the kind of people who will appreciate one of Europe’s last great wildernesses, Honkanen says they will be placed on a waiting list and vetted for suitability.

“We study them,” he says, adding that he’s had to reject would-be clients from his other luxury properties further south. “Sometimes we need to turn down business because we want to have guests who will appreciate Arctic nature, who have a good background.

“We don’t want the reality stars. I have turned down bookings from the Kardashian production company because the reality TV people are looking for something that we don’t want.”

The guests who do make the cut seem to occupy the upper echelons of the 1%. Honkanen won’t go on the record with names, but visitor books, souvenirs left behind and anecdotes point to business-empire founders and royalty — including at least one who uses Rovaniemi’s airport for his private Boeing 747. Octola’s website carries endorsements from Prince Albert of Monaco and Indian movie star Anushka Sharma.

From failure to success

Ideal clients, Honkanen says, are the ones who appreciate the opportunity to engage with Lapland’s Arctic landscapes, to savor the clean air, the silence and the white light — the ethereal snow-reflected glow that permeates the frigid atmosphere in deep winter, even when the sun barely makes an appearance. They’ll also be willing to interact with local Sámi people, culture, food and activities.

Näkkäläjärvi says that so far, Octola seems to have the balance right between offering guests a luxury bolthole and real engagement that benefits and works with the local community rather than exploits it.

“It’s important to have a genuine experience, it can’t be faked,” he says. “And it’s really refreshing to have this kind of place here. When someone is listening to us and wants to help and asks what we want, that’s good.”

While it’s not yet possible to know if Octola III will be a hit, Honkanen already has a thriving business model in the countryside just outside of Rovaniemi, with Octola I and II — a pair of accommodation complexes hidden in a large forest that you could easily get lost in.

Its success is a remarkable third act for Honkanen who, by his own account, lost a career as a professional snowmobiler to injury then ran a business into bankruptcy before being diagnosed with a brain tumor, which is now in remission. Aided by seed investment from Finnish racing driver Mika Häkkinen, an old friend, he moved into the luxury sector and began building a flourishing empire.

Hustling some land deals, he acquired 47 adjacent parcels of forested land outside Rovaniemi to create a 1,500-acre “private wilderness” on which he constructed his exclusive retreats. Today, it’s an ultra-discreet haven offering both an escape into nature, and a playground in which to enjoy it.

Again, it’s only for people with deep pockets.

Octola II consists of two properties. One of them, a nearly 8,600 -square-foot “ultra lodge” deep in the woods, goes for up to 40,000 euros, or almost $45,000 a night — an amount for which you could stay seven months in a low-end New York City hotel. But while in Manhattan you’ll get constant cacophony and barely enough room to unpack your suitcase, in the Finnish forest, your money buys serenity. And a cigar room. And five large en suite bedrooms. And a lounge with a real fireplace and massive windows. And a games room. And two bedrooms for your staff, if you’ve packed any.

Oh, and a private spa, with three — three! — saunas.

For the budget-conscious big spender, there’s a more modest 2,000-square-foot two-room villa that starts at 15,000 euros a night. “Cheaper” still is a room in the main Octola lodge — a sumptuously relaxed space built around a gigantic communal lounge and open kitchen — for 3,500 euros.

Guests can also spend big on dozens of activities in a landscape that offers all-year round magic.

Hidden out among the trees are more sweat rooms for guests to soak up the löyly sauna spirit that is said to be a key ingredient of Finland’s world-beating national happiness.

One is a gorgeous symphony of crafted wood built specially for one regular royal guest. Staff won’t say who, but it’s called the Monaco Sauna, so take a wild guess.

Another is the smoke sauna. This traditional experience akin to being smoked like a salmon is created by lighting a five-hour blaze under a mountain of rocks which retain intense heat long after the flames have been extinguished. The room is then vented of fumes but its soot-blackened walls and charred aroma create a primal atmosphere that offers a stark contrast to $40,000-a-night indulgence.

A luxurious home from home

In warmer months when the sun barely sets, there’s fly fishing, electric quad-biking, river kayaking and grazing on the edible bilberries that carpet the forest floor. And in winter, cross-country skiing, dogsledding, snowshoeing snowmobiling and aurora watching. Down by the river, a meadow is deliberately flooded and left to freeze to create an ice pan for drift driving in a performance Toyota 4×4.

Back at the lodges, local staff create dishes using ingredients harvested from the landscape, like cloudberries, trout, reindeer and even bear, which can be hunted in strictly limited quotas in Finland. Likewise the kitchens can cater to preferences researched in advance or, as is sometimes the case, be handed over to chefs traveling with guest entourages.

One crucial ingredient is Octola’s supremely relaxed ambience, something Honkanen says is a key for clients who crave genuine personal interaction with the team looking after them. “The customer service is real,” says Jessi Leivo, Octola’s lead hostess and, as she’ll enthusiastically tell anyone, a keen amateur hunter. “We can be ourselves, not someone the company asks us to be.”

Some guests find it so comfortable that they return regularly, according to Honkanen, leaving clothing, winter sports equipment and, in one case, an electric piano at the property to use next time. Several have booked in for a few days and ended up extending for weeks. “One Indian family got as far as the airport on their way home,” Honkanen says. “And they turned around and came back.”

Of course, Honkanen knows that what they’re returning for are not necessarily the luxurious frills that they can find anywhere else in the world — although those certainly help — but some of the intangible aspects of life that keep Finnish people so satisfied.

Ultimately, these fleeting moments of reflection, of tranquility, of gazing into a silent, white wilderness as soft flakes tumble from the sky, are things that do not have a price tag, and can be enjoyed by anyone in the right place at the right time.

But for the stratospherically wealthy, these are the most valuable luxuries of all.

“It’s the isolation, the fresh air … all these things,” Honkanen says. “It’s difficult to know where the happiness comes from, but I always say the forest has healing power and when you are in nature, you can listen to yourself and only then you will feel in harmony.”

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