The World's Best Treehouse Hotels

The treehouse hotel category contains a lot of variation. At one end: a wooden platform 4 metres off the ground with a rope ladder, which is perfectly nice. At the other: a free-hanging transparent sphere, a mirrored cube that reflects its environment to near-invisibility, or a genuine UFO pod suspended in a Scandinavian forest. This guide focuses on the genuinely extraordinary end of the spectrum.

The Benchmark: Treehotel, Harads, Sweden

Sweden's Treehotel near Harads sets the standard against which all treehouse hotels should be measured. The site consists of seven completely different architectural treehouse rooms, each designed by a different Swedish architect with a completely different concept: the Mirrorcube (a reflective aluminium box that disappears into the forest), the UFO (a 1970s science-fiction spacecraft landing in a pine tree), the Bird's Nest (a giant magpie nest that opens to reveal a hotel room), the Cabin (a conventional, beautifully minimal room suspended in the trees), and more.

Each room is architecturally distinct, thought through, and genuinely interesting. This is the treehouse hotel concept executed at its highest level — not a theme park, but serious architecture in the forest. Staying here in winter, with the Northern Lights visible and cross-country skiing from the door, is one of Scandinavia's finest experiences.

Most Original: Free Spirit Spheres, Canada

The Free Spirit Spheres on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, are the most conceptually pure treehouse structures in the world: perfect spheres, suspended from multiple trees by a web of ropes, hanging free of the ground in old-growth temperate rainforest. The spheres move gently in the wind, can be spun with a touch, and create a genuinely unique physical relationship with the forest. They were designed and built by one man — Tom Chudleigh — over several years. Each sphere has its own personality and can sleep 2 adults. The rainforest around them contains ancient Douglas firs and western red cedars up to 800 years old.

Most Remote: Nay Palad Hideaway, Philippines

Nay Palad on Siargao Island, Philippines, is so secluded that it has no permanent phone or internet signal — by design. The beach-side nipa huts and jungle-elevated platforms represent the pinnacle of Southeast Asian barefoot luxury: completely minimal, utterly beautiful, in one of the world's finest surfing environments. The offshore reefs are pristine; the lagoons are clear to 30 metres. This is the treehouse hotel for people who want to genuinely disappear for a week.

Best Value: Baumgeflüster Treehouse, Germany

Germany has an excellent tradition of forest accommodation, and the Baumgeflüster treehouse complex in the Harz Mountains represents good value for genuinely elevated design: multi-level treehouse rooms in ancient beech forest, with private terraces, wood-burning stoves and access to the hiking trails of Germany's oldest national park. From €180/night — significantly more affordable than Scandinavian equivalents with comparable forest atmosphere.

Treehouse Hotel Quick Reference