Stay at the ICEHOTEL in Swedish Lapland

Staying at the famous “ICEHOTEL” at Jukkasjärvi in Swedish Lapland is an experience you’ll not easily forget.  The entire 80-room hotel is rebuilt every year out of crystal clear ice and pack snow taken from the nearby river Torne and is open for business between December and April, when it starts to melt.

The hotel has a number of art suites designed and hand-crafted by local and international artisans, and the whole experience involves sleeping on ice and taking teams of huskies out into the surrounding snow-covered landscape under the Northern Lights.

From the reindeer-skin doors of the entrance through to ice sculptures in the lounge, with its spectacular chandelier made from – you guessed it – ice, you’ll be in a Snow Queen fantasy land.  There’s even an Absolute “ICEBAR” with seats carved from solid ice blocks and serving vodka cocktails in chunky glasses.  However, it’s not freezing cold because all surfaces you come into bodily contact with are covered in reindeer skins and the temperature throughout is a steady 5 to 8 degrees centigrade despite that outdoors plummeting to -37 degrees.

With Snow Rooms, Ice Rooms and Art Suites to choose from, and a fine restaurant next to the main entrance, this is an ice hotel with all the modern conveniences.  Luxury sleeping bags are available but apart from them, there’s precious little between the bare ice and your body at night.

There are lots of excursions from the hotel and activities such as husky sledging, snowmobiling and ice sculpting on offer, as well as the perennially popular reindeer safaris.

Many tour operators such as The Winter Wedding Company offer stays at the IceHotel as part of their wedding and honeymoon package itineraries.