Elsa are you home?
Me, myself and I love snow, ice and cold places. So in my four years I am wandering around This planet, I already had many drinks at ice bars, been To ice sculpture festivals, had lunch in ice restaurants and visited a couple of ice hotels. As a result it came as no surprise To my parents That sleeping in a hotel, entirely made of snow and ice, was not only on my bucket list, but it was something I dreamed about almost every night.
Only in my dreams until This fantastic stopover happened during our campertrip in The high north of Sweden in August. August? Yes August! The original and largest ice hotel of The world recently started with a new concept: The ice hotel 365. This permanent part of The ice hotel is open all year round and exists of 20 beautiful ice carved suites, an ice bar and an ice gallery. I was Told They are keeping The rooms cold during The summer months with The help of solar panels, which is important To reduce Their environmental impact.
Spending The night in an ice hotel is, as you could have already guessed, seriously cool. It was amazingly cool in Two ways. First, as a big frozen fan I almost fell under The spell of Anna and Elsa by experiencing The magic of The world largest ice hotel in 2018. Second, I have To admit, The place is rather chill. Let’s Take you on a guided Tour.
Tour The suites
At The icehotel 365 you can find The coolest and coldest hotelrooms. Everything but really everything is made out of ice. From The floors To The ceilings and from The chairs Till of course The beds.
During The day, all rooms are open for visitors from 10 am till 6 pm. Wow was all I could Think about, exploring The ice carves rooms. Every room is completely different but They all were crafted by The best artists from all over The world. Truely breathtaking. The room with The jellyfish was my absolute favorite one.
👉 My Tip: if you want To visit an ice hotel during winter, Try To avoid a stay during The first Two weeks after opening. Normally ice hotels in Scandinavia will be finished mid December, but due To weather conditions There can be a delay. The artic winters are unpredictable and not always as cold as in The past. When This is The case you will still see some cables, chainsaws and tools during The first weeks after opening, which Takes The magic slightly away for The kids.
Have a drink in The icebar
The atmosphere in The bar was quite unique. I’m used To crowded ice bars, as going To an ice bar is something I had only done during winter Time. Apparently This is The case for most people. Being There in The middle of summer, I had The ice bar almost The entire Time for my self.
When you order something To drink, don’t forget all The glasses are made of crystal clear ice, harvested from Torne River. I can Tell you Those are not so easy To drink from, even my mom said it was a challenge. Drinks were served by a very nice lady at The bar, who was entitled To regular breaks To warm up a bit. I wonder why?
Have a good night sleep
Preparing for bed felt a bit like camping. We received a huge Thermo sleeping bag and were advised not To dress Too warm. Only one layer of Thermal underwear plus a hat was sufficient. All my stuff, apart from my collection of stuffed animals, could stay in our locker just next To The reception.
And There I went, Through The doors of our icy suite, Taking as quickly as possible my boots off To jump into my sleeping bag. It Took a while for my dad To find The light switch, but a few minutes later it was only us and The ice, ice cold room.
Turns out I slept like a rose, as The next Thing I remember is waking up with The smell of warm lingonberry juice. I couldn’t believe I did it, I spend The entire night in an icehotel! Later I heard stories of my mom and dad, who needed To go To The toilet in The middle of The night. Apparently That was quite a challenge.
When I woke up it was a chilly -6 degrees Celcius. When I walked out of The door in The morning, leaving The icy Temperatures behind me and having summer right There smiling at me, I felt a bit confused. But, after spending The night at our lovely but ice cold suite, you could not imagine The joy of being able To say: yes we did it!
👉 My Tip: There’re no specific sleeping bags for little kids. As They are huge, it is practical To fold Them in Two.
Learn the basics of building icehotels
Very young in my life I learned That builing an icehotel is something different Than The classic igloos The eskimoos were building. The construction is gigantic and The conditions are not always perfect. When The icehotel 365 is basically a big freezer decorated with snow and ice. The classic ice hotel is build every year from scratch as soon as The Temperatures are low enough, most of The Time early November. During my stay I Took The opportunity To learn a bit more about This process.
I also visited The huge freezer storage facilities in which The ice harvested from The Torne river is being stored at The end of The season. This ice is Then used To build The next ice hotel or To ship around The world for special occasions. Did you know That back in 2010, The icehotel supplied ice To create an ice catwalk for Chanel in Paris. Just incredible.
Discover The area
The original icehotel is located in Julkasjarvi, a beautiful little village close To Kiruna, situated 200 km north of The Artic circle.
During winter you can go dogsledding or go on a reindeer safari. If you like it more wild, snowmobiling or skiing is also an option. I also heard Santa is often being spotted in This neighbourhood.
In other seasons This area it is still worth visiting. With Abisko National park and The mines of Kiruna close by, There will never be a dull moment.
As you could notice, sleeping around art at The world’s original icehotel was a mesmerising experience. It was even Toasty warm during The night. The question now is: do you dare?
In case you want To know read more about our Ice hotel adventures, click on The link below and discover all There is To know about The Tromsø Ice Domes in Norway:
Cheerio,
Little T
