Jukkasjärvi, Swedish Lapland, Sweden

ICEHOTELCold rooms at minus five, one night is enough

Each winter artists rebuild the hotel from ice cut out of the Torne River, carving walls, beds and sculptures into rooms you can sleep in. By day the cold rooms are an exhibition; after six in the evening they belong to guests. Inside it holds around minus five, and you sleep in a heavy bag.

The hotel stands in Jukkasjärvi, in Swedish Lapland about 200 km north of the Arctic Circle, beside the Torne River. Stockholm to Kiruna is a 90-minute flight, then 15 to 20 minutes by road from the airport or station.

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PlaceJukkasjärvi, Lapland

TypeIce hotel

SuitsWinter, design, aurora

Stay3 nights, one cold

The building is rebuilt, then it melts

Jukkasjärvi, Swedish Lapland, Sweden — Ice art hotel.

Every winter the hotel is built again from river ice, and invited artists turn walls, headboards and whole rooms into pieces of work. In daylight you walk through as a visitor; at night you sleep inside one. When spring comes the winter building melts and the ice goes back to the Torne.

ICEHOTEL 365 keeps a set of ice rooms cold all year, so summer guests still see the sculptures and can spend a night below freezing. The house suggests one cold night and the rest in warm rooms. You can also sleep warm throughout and simply visit the ice during the day.

This is for people who want an Arctic winter, ice design and a shot at the aurora. Being cold is manageable: one cold night paired with warm rooms is the normal pattern, and nobody expects you to sleep on ice for a week. Travel in summer and you still get the ice, without the winter.

A bed with white bedding stands in a room of blue ice, carved walls and pillars on either side. — A bed inside a blue carved room

Soft light falls across a double bed in an ice room, the walls faintly blue around it. — Low light on a bed of ice

Clear ice glasses stand in rows on a tray of ice blocks, lit from the side.

An artwork that lasts one season

Each year's Art Suites are made by invited artists around a theme, with carving, light and layout that will not be repeated next season. That makes the room an exhibition you happen to sleep in, and it makes photographs from other years useless as a guide to what you will get.

Carved ice chairs and a table fill a blue-lit hall, with human figures standing among them.

Below freezing, in July if you like

ICEHOTEL 365 holds eighteen art and deluxe suites, an ice bar and an experience room, kept at about minus five by refrigeration, with solar panels helping to power it. Outside, summer grass and flowers are growing while the carvings stay put indoors, which is strange in the best way.

A rounded ice building sits in snow at dusk, its entrance lit warm against the blue light.

One cold night, the rest warm

A single cold night is enough to go through the whole ritual; warm rooms then handle washing, drying gear and sleeping properly. The bed is not bare ice: a wooden frame and mattress sit beside the ice headboard, with reindeer skin and pillows, and a thick sleeping bag over you.

A team of sled dogs runs across flat snow, pulling a sled with passengers, trees at the edge.

Route

Three to five nights in Swedish Lapland

Use it as the core of three to five nights in Swedish Lapland, with dog sledding, snowmobiles, sauna and aurora nights around it. Summer swaps those for midnight sun and the surrounding wild. Three nights is the workable shape: one cold, two warm, so the cold night is not the same day as a long sled ride.

Three nights, one of them cold

Three nights minimum: one in a cold room, the rest in warm ones. Activity days deserve their own space either side of the cold night.

Stay

At least three nights, one in a cold room and the rest in warm ones. The other days go to Arctic activities and to weather that does not cooperate.

Getting there

Fly to Kiruna or take the train to Kiruna station, then transfer 15 to 20 minutes to Jukkasjärvi. Winter flights and roads need buffer time.

Season

The seasonal ice hotel is a winter thing. ICEHOTEL 365 keeps part of the ice experience open all year round.

Watch out

Cold rooms are normally paired with warm ones. Say in advance how you handle cold, what gear you have and how hard you want the activities to be.

Plan this into a journey

Tell us whether you are travelling in winter or summer and we will show you how the ice fits a Lapland route.

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