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The ICEHOTEL, Jukkasjärvi, Sweden
publication date: Jan 2, 2008
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author/source: Polly Evans
 When Yngve Bergqvist first came up with the idea of building a hotel entirely from ice, everyone said he was barmy. Who on earth would want to sleep in a hotel made from ice? his incredulous friends and associates asked. The bank managers, meanwhile, stared glacially from behind their orderly Scandinavian spreadsheets and uttered a stark ‘Nej’.There was little funding. And so, in the late 1980s, the ICEHOTEL started small. Over the years, however, it’s snowballed: there’s now a branch in Quebec and franchised Icebars from Tokyo to Shanghai, Stockholm, Copenhagen and London. Each one of them is constructed entirely from the ice of the Torne River on which the original ICEHOTEL still stands for four months each winter. Then, slowly and gracefully, the entire hotel melts and slides back into the waters from which it came.
Now, there’s a whole village of warm facilities – chalets, bars and restaurants – in which the chilly visitor can find respite, but it’s still the ICEHOTEL that takes the breath away. The ice from the Torne River is known for its purity and clarity (it’s said to be better to drink than bottled mineral water), and maybe it’s this, together with clever use of lighting, that makes this small, igloo-style building more art gallery than hotel. The simple ice rooms – where you sleep in thick sleeping bags on slightly stinky reindeer skins and a wooden slatted base that slots into the ice-carved bed frame – are almost monastic in their simplicity, and utterly silent between their thick snow walls. But step across the hallway, through the avenue of glistening sculptures, and you’ll come to the ice suites. Here, individual artists from countries across the world have each designed and created a bedroom. There’s a thrusting tango suite from Argentina, red-hot and sultry despite the ice, a delicate Japanese garden whose tiny details blend with the muted white tones, and Maori moko carved out of the ice by their Kiwi creator. Each is new, surprising, and mesmerizing.
In the Absolut vodka bar, even the glasses are made from ice – they’ll slip from your hands if you’re not wearing gloves. But unlike an ice cube, they’re kept at a temperature just warm enough that they don’t stick to your lips. Rather the glass gently melts as you drink, moulding itself to the shape of your lips.
The next challenge for the ICEHOTEL is an environmental one. It has announced that it intends, over the next several years, to become carbon negative – that’s to say that it will create a surplus of renewable energy (even after having shipped blocks of river ice across the globe) so that, by staying at the ICEHOTEL, guests can positively contribute to the environment. There will be a windmill across the river, and solar panels made from magnetite, the blackish, magnetic mineral from which nearby Kiruna’s iron ore is extracted. But these won’t be the ugly energy-generating slabs. Instead, each panel will be individually carved into a work of art. As is the ice that has made the hotel’s name, these panels will be at the same time practical, unique and beautiful.
Getting there: The best way to get to the ICEHOTEL from the UK is to book via Discover the World whose charter flights go direct from London Heathrow to Kiruna, a short drive from the ICEHOTEL. Discover the World can also arrange excursions including husky sledging, reindeer safaris, northern lights viewing, and trips to the nearby Esrange Space Centre.
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