04.1
Icehotel
Jukkasjärvi, Sweden
The original, and still the reference point for the category. Every autumn the hotel is rebuilt from snice — a snow and ice mixture sprayed over forms — using ice harvested from the Torne River in spring and kept in cold storage through the summer. In April the whole structure returns to the river it came from.
Two things distinguish it now. The seasonal building holds art suites, each designed and carved by a different invited artist, so no two rooms repeat and no room survives the year. Alongside it, Icehotel 365 stays open all year on solar-powered cooling, which means cold rooms are available outside winter.
Warm accommodation, restaurant, sauna and a hot-drinks service are all part of the operation — nobody is expected to spend twenty-four hours below freezing. Guests sleep in expedition bags on reindeer hides over an ice bed, and wash and change in heated buildings.
- LocationJukkasjärvi, Swedish Lapland, north of the Arctic Circle
- SeasonSeasonal building December to April; Icehotel 365 open year-round
- RoomsIndividually carved art suites plus simpler ice rooms
- AlongsideHeated rooms, restaurant, sauna and full changing facilities
04.2
Hôtel de Glace
Saint-Gabriel-de-Valcartier, Quebec, Canada
North America's ice hotel is rebuilt each winter near Quebec City, on the Village Vacances Valcartier site. The build takes several weeks and produces vaulted corridors, an ice chapel used for weddings, a bar where the glassware is also ice, and a slide cut into the structure.
Themed rooms and suites are carved fresh each year, some with a fireplace set behind glass. The hotel opens to day visitors as well as overnight guests, so the building is busy during the afternoon and quiet only after the public tours end.
Overnight stays include the use of heated pavilions with showers, lockers and outdoor spas, and a briefing on how to sleep warm. The season is short — roughly January through late March, depending on the weather.
- LocationValcartier, near Quebec City, Canada
- SeasonRoughly January to late March each year
- FeaturesIce chapel, ice bar, indoor slide, themed carved suites
- AlongsideHeated pavilions, outdoor spas, showers and lockers
04.3
SnowHotel Kirkenes
Kirkenes, Norway
Kirkenes sits at the far north-eastern corner of Norway, close to the Russian border, and the SnowHotel there is kept at a steady sub-zero temperature through the season. Ice sculptures line the corridors and each room is carved individually, lit from within the ice.
The property runs a husky yard on site — several hundred dogs — along with reindeer, and sledding is the activity most guests build their stay around. King crab fishing trips leave from the same base, which is a more local specialism than it sounds.
Alongside the snow rooms, the site operates heated Gamme cabins for guests who would rather sleep above freezing, and a restaurant that stays open through the long winter dark.
- LocationKirkenes, Finnmark, north-eastern Norway
- RoomsIndividually carved and internally lit snow rooms
- AlongsideHeated Gamme cabins, restaurant, sauna
- On siteHusky kennels and reindeer; sledding and king crab trips
04.4
Sorrisniva Igloo Hotel
Alta, Norway
Sorrisniva has been rebuilding its igloo hotel beside the Alta River each winter since the late 1990s, using snow and ice from the river valley. The building changes shape year to year: the sculpture programme and the room layouts are redrawn with each rebuild.
An ice chapel and an ice bar are part of the standard plan, and the hotel sits far enough from Alta's lights to make the aurora a realistic prospect on clear nights. Snowmobile and river safaris run from the property.
A separate year-round lodge on the same site provides heated rooms and a restaurant that works with Finnmark produce, so the cold building can be treated as one night of a longer stay rather than the whole of it.
- LocationAlta River valley, Finnmark, Norway
- SeasonIgloo hotel rebuilt annually, open through the winter months
- FeaturesIce chapel, ice bar, annually redrawn room layouts
- AlongsideYear-round heated lodge and restaurant on the same site