Backpacker Buzz

Tree houses date back to way before you had one as a five-year-old, traditionally being used for survival or religious purposes.

But you're right, there is something about being suspended among the foliage that sparks that childlike wonder and now you can combine it with the joys of hostelling in Norway.

HI-Norway's Pine Hut hostel in Brumunddal, north of Oslo, has been around since 2006, but a new sister hostel, the nearby Larch Hut, just opened last year.

Both of the hostel are built up in the trees.

The Pine Hut is eight metres above the ground in a 250-year-old pine tree. The treetop hut has a small, fully equipped kitchen with a gas stove and refrigerator. There is also a fireplace, wood and candles in the cabin. The cabin has 2 simple sofa-beds with two wide bunks on top. There are beds for five people, but it may be a bit crowded.

The Larch Hut is bigger, sleeping a maximum of eight people (though it's more comfortable with six), and features a fully equipped kitchen, a gas stove, a refrigerator, a bathroom and a fireplace.

The hostel owners just ask that you take care of the huts like you would your own treetop hut, if you had one. This means cleaning up after yourself and re-filling the birdfeeder before you leave. And no colouring on the walls.