Ice Hotel, Sweden

Construction

• The Ice Hotel Sweden is built from blocks of ice gathered from the Torne River, as well as bulldozers, chainsaws jackhammers.

• The building process starts in mid-November when the snow guns start humming and large clouds of snow start to drift along the Torne River.The snow is sprayed on huge steel forms and allowed to freeze. After a couple of days, the forms are removed, leaving a maze of free-standing corridors of snow.In the corridors, dividing walls are built in order to create rooms and suites. Ice blocks, harvested at springtime from Torne River, are now being transported into the hotel where selected artists from all over the world start creating the art and design of the perishable material.

• Each year, the ice hotel has a different design, usually spreading over a space of about 53,700 feet and about 4000 tonnes of ice. This year, the hotel was built with collaborative input from students of Stockholm's Royal Institute of Technology.

Rooms and Amenities

• Guests can choose among 60 rooms and suites. This $400-per-night frozen icon has a chapel, art exhibition hall, cinema and bar.

• The Ice Hotel Sweden also features a number of other kinds of rooms, including a sauna, a reception hall, a multimedia theater and an ice chapel for weddings, baptisms and other ceremonies.
  

• Cool factor: A $1,000, 90-minute dogsled ride takes guests from the airport to the hotel.

• Breakfast buffet, morning sauna and towels are available of course – and there's a restaurant on site, made from ice, serving "whitefish roe, venison and reindeer, cloudberries and arctic raspberries. "All transformed into tasty delicacies guaranteed to please the most discerning gourmet."
  

• Interiors: Not only is the entire Sweden Ice Hotel structure made totally of ice, but all of the furniture and most of the decoration found within is also made from ice. Beds at the Sweden Ice Hotel are slabs of solid ice, and chairs are carved from blocks of ice. Statues and other forms of art are carved throughout the hotel, in rooms and in hallways, and tend to be quite ornate. For comfort, reindeer skin blankets are draped over beds and chairs to offer (moderate) warmth. Full jumpsuits made of beaver nylon are issued to guests of the ice hotel in Sweden, as are insulated body bags first developed for astronauts walking on the moon.

• The first ten bedrooms, which opened last week, are Art Suites, designed and created by artists from around the world. Each was chosen on the merits of their design but few have worked with ice before – their talents include sculpting, illustrating, filmmaking and woodwork.

• "You are awakened in the morning with a cup of hot lingonberry juice at your bedside."

• In the main area of the ice hotel in Sweden guests will also find a bar, where glowing cocktails served in glasses made of ice (but of course) are served to patrons, with an emphasis on ice-cold vodka. Drinks are served below zero degrees in the hotel’s Absolut Icebar, but food is offered in the more cozy surroundings of the hotel’s two restaurants, which serve wholesome warming dishes including local specialties such as reindeer and elk.

• The features of ice hotels are constantly evolving, as the buildings are re-constructed each year. Heated bathrooms are located near the ice hotel, as are heated cabins for travelers who want to be a part of the action, but not a part of the cold. Costs for an overnight stay range from $300 - $500 per night, depending on the size of your room. Be sure to book your stay well in advance, as the popularity of this hotel grows with each new winter season.

  Extra Information

The Sweden Ice Hotel is open for business beginning in December (depending on the weather) and ending in March. Click here to visit the official website of this hotel.