The Ice Hotel in Northern Sweden is a hotel built entirely from snow and ice. There are a couple of other Ice Hotels in the world but this is the largest of them and also the original Ice Hotel. You can visit the Ice Hotel and admire all the astounding ice art, however, if you are a little bit adventurous you can also stay overnight at the ice hotel. We stayed at the Ice Hotel in March of 2005 and we had a great time, especially the kids.

About the Ice Hotel

The Ice Hotel is located in the village of Jukkasjärvi in Northern Sweden about 200 kilometers north of the Arctic Circle. Jukkasjärvi is located in Lappland. This region derives its name from the local aborigine population referred to as either Sami or Lapps. Sami is more polite. The closest airport and city is Kiruna which is about 17km from Jukkasjärvi. You can fly from Stockholm to Kiruna, straight from Heathrow London to Kiruna, but there are other ways to get there. We took the train to Kiruna. From Kiruna you can take a bus, a taxi, or a dogsled to the Ice Hotel. If you choose to take a dog sled to the Ice Hotel you need to book in advance and be dressed appropriately.

The hotel is made of snow and ice blocks taken from the Torne River which flows nearby. All the furniture, lamps, chandeliers, and the art are made from ice. The hotel has about 50-100 rooms (my estimate) an Ice Bar, a beautiful and spacious lobby, and an Ice Church. When we were there they also had a large Ice Theater. The picture above is from a section of the Ice bar. It shows the music stage with ice instruments hidden behind pillars made of ice blocks.

The Ice Hotel is filled with ice art and the decorations, lamps, and furniture is also made from ice. Naturally light bulbs are not used; the light is supplied using fiber optics. This makes the ice hotel a little bit dark. However, there is no problem to see, it is just a little bit dim. The best part of the Ice Hotel is the ice art. We saw statues, dog sleds, moose, monsters, bears, giant fish, other animals, musical instruments, an organ, boats, model airplanes, artistic furniture, a large chandelier in the lobby, and amazing wall decorations, all made of ice.

The Ice Bar is fairly large and contains beautiful ice art, ice tables, ice seats, and an ice bar. Here you can purchase drinks and cold food. The cups and the plates are made from ice and you simply throw them away when you are done. We also got hot chocolate for our kids. The hot chocolate was served in paper cups. It is important that you don't spill the hot chocolate on the table. The kids spilled hot chocolate on the snow floor, but no one got mad, they just swept up the melted snow. Some people left their hand prints on the tables. This is unwanted behavior but no one made a big deal about it.

They are trying to keep the rooms at around minus eight centigrade's, which is warm compared to minus thirty or minus forty centigrade's, which it might be outside on cold days. Minus forty centigrade's is also minus forty Fahrenheit (the scales meet at minus forty). The beds are large ice blocks covered by wood and reindeer hide. On top of the reindeer hide are some really good sleeping bags which will keep you warm if you do the right thing. They want visitors and hotel guests to be able to see all the ice art through out the hotel and therefore you won't have your room "privately" until 6 PM. There are no bathrooms inside the hotel; however, you go outside into a warm building right next to the hotel when you need to go to the bathroom. There are also showers and sauna provided.

If you just want to visit the hotel without having to sleep in the cold rooms there are warm accommodations provided nearby. The Ice Hotel restaurant is also heated. They recommend staying one night in the Ice Hotel (for the adventurous) and a few nights in the warm accommodations. I should add that the ice blocks, the art and the furniture is stored in a big freezer barn during the summer, however, the rest of the hotel melts away and is rebuilt again every year.

Staying at the Ice Hotel

We booked a couple of rooms (we were five adults and five kids) at the Ice Hotel and stayed over night. When it was time for us to occupy the rooms we were told to take off our clothes, leave them in the heated building, run in our undergarments through the snow, and into the Ice Hotel, and then find our rooms and jump into our sleeping bags. We asked why we should do that. We were told that since there is no heat in the rooms our clothes would get damp and cold during the night if we did not leave them in the heated building. I had a better idea. Undress in our rooms and put the clothes inside the sleeping bag at the end of the sleeping bag. We and several others did this instead and it made things a lot easier. The undergarment run is in my opinion a poor solution. So I suggest doing what I suggested instead. The clothes were not damp and cold in the morning; a little wrinkly perhaps, but who cares.

The kids thought it was awesome to sleep in a cool room made of ice and snow. They were extremely happy and excited, they loved it. My wife, who was born in Brazil (grew up in Paris), got cold during the night and left the room and went to the heated building nearby. The trick is to zip the zipper all the way up to the chin and this way you will stay warm. Your sleeping bag also needs to be of the correct size. In case a kid needs to go to the bathroom during the night it is a good idea to know where you put your boots. You are not allowed to pee on the floor or on the wall.

Things to do at the Ice Hotel

There are a lot of things to do at the Ice Hotel. They offer dog sled safari, moose safari, snowmobile safari, Ranger Razer safari, reindeer sled rides, and exploring Sami culture, ski/snow shoe tours, ice fishing, and wilderness camp (for the really adventurous). They also offer ice sculpting classes. There is also a type of sled called spark that our kids played with a lot. You can also take a dip in Torne River and then run into a sauna (for the really adventurous). The Ice Hotel also offers courses in hunting, ptarmigan hunting, wilderness safety course, ice driving, and you can get married in the Ice Church. We took a dog sled ride and it was a great experience. The dogs were pooping while running and the kids thought this was hilarious; they could not get enough of that.

If you stay up at night you might also be able to see the northern lights or Aurora Borealis as they are called. Aurora Borealis is a magnificent display of color and light that occurs when charged particles from space enter the upper atmosphere and collide with atoms and molecules. We did not see this during our visit to the Ice Hotel because we went to sleep. However, since I am from Northern Sweden I have seen this many times and the display is often truly astounding at this latitude. We paid about $400 for an eight people family room and about $300 for a two people artistic room.

Summary and recommendation

We had a great time at the Ice Hotel and if you are a little bit adventurous this is a great thing to do. It is especially fun for children of the right age (not too young). My children had so much fun that they are still asking about going back and doing it again. However, make sure that you are dressed for Arctic temperatures and I think you should also follow my advice when you go to bed rather then do what the Ice Hotel personnel suggests, unless you like running through snow in your undergarment, after all you can get some good photos this way. This is also a place to take many other beautiful photos. I have hundreds of beautiful photos from this trip. The Ice Hotel is highly recommended for the adventurous.

To see my other Swedish reviews see the links below

Sweden

Norrland

Finally I would like to thank Chris (cr01) for adding the ice hotel to the data base.

Recommended: Yes