Giant ice snails and delicate snow flowers: Take a look inside Sweden’s ice hotel
As the chill of winter sets in, construction teams in Sweden take up the annual task of rebuilding a hotel made entirely of snow and ice.
The Icehotel sits 125 miles north of the Arctic Circle in Jukkasjärvi, a village with 900 residents and 1,100 dogs, according to the hotel’s website. The building is part art gallery and part hotel but entirely ice and snow.
One of the artistic creations includes a scene of people and seals swimming through icy waters or sitting along the rocky shore.
The ice hotel is constructed using 2,500 ice blocks each weighing over 4,400 pounds, the hotel explained. The ice blocks are harvested from the Torne River in the spring and stored in a temperature-controlled facility until the following winter.
The floor, walls and ceilings of the frosty structure are made of “snice,” a durable mixture of snow and ice, the hotel said. Photos show the ceremony hall used for events and its snow benches.
The temperature inside the ice hotel stays between 19 and 23 degrees Fahrenheit, the hotel explained. Guests are given a “survival course” and issued Arctic sleeping bags before they spend the night on a mattress of ice.
Inside the ice hotel, guest rooms have no doors. Staff members draw a curtain across the doorway every night and wake guests up with a hot lingonberry juice every morning, the hotel said.
One bedroom design had a video game theme, with the message “High Score!” carved on the wall. Another bedroom followed a nature theme with a moose head, evergreen trees and a moon illuminating the snowscape, photos show.
This year, the hotel said it has 53 rooms made of ice. The icy beds have reindeer skins and pillows for guests to use.
A giant ice snail stands near snowy mushrooms in one hallway, photos show. Just past the snail, a chilly bed is tucked under a canopy of snowy leaves.
Another bedroom lies just beyond an intricately carved flower-like design, made entirely of snow and ice, photos show.
The hotel has another — heated — permanent building constructed in 2016. This warm building houses the toilets, showers, guest luggage storage and some rooms.
In the spring, the sun’s warmth will melt the 33rd ice hotel, and the water will run back into the Torne River. New designs and construction plans for the 34th ice hotel will be drawn up and, when the chill of winter sets in, rebuilt.
Jukkasjärvi is about 760 miles north of Stockholm.
This story was originally published December 20, 2022 at 7:17 AM with the headline "Giant ice snails and delicate snow flowers: Take a look inside Sweden’s ice hotel."
