Icehotel is an hotel built out of snow and ice, situated 200km north of the Arctic circle, in Jukkasjärvi, Sweden, near the Torne river. Jukkasjärvi is an old Lapp word meaning ‘meeting place’ and has been exactly that, as well as a market place, for more than half a millennium. If you are planning on visiting it (and it is well worth a visit) make sure you do so in the winter, some time between December-April.

Like the Alta Igloo Hotel it is erected at the beginning of every winter and allowed to melt away in the spring, returning the building and furnnishings back to the river, out of which it was carved.

From the Ice Age to the Present

Ten thousand years ago, glaciers carved a riverbed and the Torne River was born. Since then, the crystal-clear, pure water of the Torne River has flowed freely along its 600-kilometer path through Lapland out to the sea in the southeast. The entire ICEHOTEL is on loan from the mighty Torne River and is a place where time stands still. Just a short period before, fish swam in the water and the river was a crashing torrent of whitewater, wild and frothing. And very soon, when the spring comes and then finally the summer, the rooms, the suites, the bar, the reception, in fact the entire creation, will once again become part of the rushing rapids coursing toward the sea.

Just a 4 hour flight from London or Paris, 6 hours from Madrid, 10 hours from New York, or 13 hours from Tokyo, it is a structure created entirely out of ice, with a reception, rooms, suites, a bar and a church all sculpted from the crystal-clear frozen water of the Torne River . The concept was first implemented 16 years ago and it has captured the imagination of many travelers. In 2004, 15,000 visitors ICEHOTEL Bedroomspent a night at the ICEHOTEL. A quick look at the names in the guestbook will reveal that visitors are attracted on a global scale.

How it all Started

In 1989 an exhibition igloo called Art-ic was built right on top of the frozen river of Torne. Hundreds of visitors were amazed by the 60m2 art gallery, and some of them even spent the night there. Icehotel was born.

Building the Hotel

Since the hotel is made of ice and snow, it melts down every spring. Therefore, every winter it is built up again. Near the end of October a dozen resident artists and construction workers start working.

the entire structure is made from ice carved from the river. However, it is not just the building; everything, from beds and chairs, to chandeliers, to glasses at the bar, to plates at the restaurant; everything is carved out of the same ice. The ICEHOTEL is also the playground for a group of international artists and designers who come every year to create ephemeral art using the crystal-clear frozen water. Ice glasses, initially created by architect Åke Larsson and artist Arne Bergh, to drink Vargtass (a blend of vodka and lingonberry juice) at the bar, are now a major export for the ICEHOTEL, with expected production this year of nearly one million pieces!

Snow cannons and front loaders shape the snow onto arched iron forms, some of them as big as 5m high and 6m wide. Pillars of ice are used to support these arches.

In March and April, at the same time that last winter’s Icehotel starts melting down into water, tractors and special ice saws are used to saw out huge blocks of ice from the Torne river. This ice is crystal clear because of the clean water, combined with a fast current, of the Torne. The ice blocks are stored in the Icehotel Art Centre until they are used in the construction work in November. The Art Centre itself is a 1500m2 freezer building, with an exhibition made of ice and snow, as well as igloos where you can spend the night - in the middle of summer.

Next to the ICEHOTEL is the Ice Globe Theatre; a replica of Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre in London, also built from the same river ice. Actors, in fantastic costumes perform plays, including Hamlet and Macbeth, to enthusiastic reception from international audiences.

One of the events visitors find fascinating during wintertime is the Aurora Borealis, the northern lights. Created by charged plasma particles of the solar wind that descend into the atmosphere and collide with atmospheric atoms and molecules, the northern lights are swirling curtains of blue-green, purple, or sometimes pale red light mostly observed above the Arctic Circle.

In the constant darkness of December, when the main building is almost finished, the interior construction work begins and continues through to the end of January. The artists saw and carve the ice to create windows, doors, pillars, desks, chairs, lamps and statues.

Every year hand-picked Swedish and international guest artists are invited to create the decoration in certain rooms. The art they create is very special - the ice and the snow catch and reflect the light in a way that is quite unusual for sculptures. Unfortunately, the semi-transparent materials start melting at the end of April.

The Deluxe Suite has something ICEHOTEL Bedroom extra in terms of decoration and service just because you are worth it! These unique rooms are decorated with ice art and sculptures. We slept in a thermal sleeping bag on a special bed of snow and ice, on reindeer skins. We were awakened in the morning with a cup of hot lingonberry juice at our bedside. Private transfers, drink tickets, the book “Ice Age”, breakfast buffet, morning sauna, and towels are included in the rate. There are also standard suites, double rooms and family rooms, where the ice-beds can comfortably sleep 4 persons. The sauna is an integral element of the Scandinavian culture. Saunas are available for all ICEHOTEL guests, ICEHOTEL Aurora Houseto relieve stress and relax the body, nearby.

The only part that is kept, apart from the sculptures that the artists decide to save, is the huge cut-ice chandelier. Everything else melts down, and every year a new, different Icehotel is created.

The Hotel

From only one room 10 years ago, the Icehotel is now 4000m2, built of approximately 3000 tons of ice and 30,000m3 of snow. The building contains 60 hotel rooms, the Absolut Ice bar, a cinema with an ice screen and an ice church where weddings and christenings take place.

The Rooms

The indoor temperature is usually somewhere between -4 to -9°C, depending on the number of guests and the outdoor temperature, which can be as cold as -40°C. The beds are made of snow and ice, covered with wooden boards, a mattress, reindeer pelts and specially-designed thermal sleeping bags.

The Absolut Ice Bar

The bar is, just as the rest of the hotel, different from year to year. In the winter of 2000/2001 the bar had a dome roof and the inside of the dome was covered by thousands of snow balls, mostly made by hand.

The glasses are specially designed - made of ice. This means that you can get any drink served ‘on the rocks’. Be careful to keep your mittens on while drinking or you might find the glass melting before you have finished your drink!

The Aurora Houses

If you prefer to sleep somewhere a bit warmer, you can always rent an Aurora House. These houses have a skylight in the bedroom that will allow you to see the Northern Lights from the bed. Be prepared to stay up late though - the best time for watching auroras is around midnight local time.

The Aurora Houses are very popular, especially among Japanese tourists. It is believed that a child conceived under the lights of an aurora will be male.