Section · 15–18

Ice Hotels 4

Four winter hotels built from frozen water and taken down by the thaw. Ice and packed snow are the only materials in this guide that are not permanent, which changes everything: nothing is repaired, the plan can differ from one winter to the next, and the warm buildings alongside are part of the arrangement. Hotels that keep a single ice-themed bar in a heated building are not included.

A carved ice wall lit from behind in a snow vault.

Materials on this page

TIMBER 4 ICE 4 GLASS 3 STEEL 1

Jukkasjärvi, Sweden

Icehotel

Made of

ICE TIMBER STEEL

Carved ice interior at Jukkasjärvi, on the Torne River.

The fabric

Ice is cut from the Torne River each winter and used both as blocks and as a sprayed snow-and-ice mix over steel arch forms. Once the shell has set, the forms are pulled out and the rooms are carved from the inside. Timber makes the doors, the frames and the warm buildings alongside. In spring the whole winter structure goes back into the river.

The setting

Jukkasjärvi is a village on the Torne River in northern Sweden, well above the Arctic Circle. The river, the forest and the town of Kiruna nearby define the area. Winter is dark and long here, and in summer the light never fully goes.

The stay

A cold room is ice and snow on every surface, with a bed of ice under reindeer hides and a thermal sleeping bag over them. There is no lock, only a curtain or a timber door. Sound is absorbed completely, so the silence inside is total.

Plan aheadKiruna has an airport and a night train from Stockholm, and the village is a short drive further on; warm outer clothing is usually supplied on site.

File updated · August 2025

Québec, Canada

Hôtel de Glace

Made of

ICE TIMBER GLASS

Snow vaults and ice columns near Québec City.

The fabric

Snow is packed over forms to make the vaults, and blocks of clear ice are used for walls, columns and furniture. The structure goes up again each winter and melts in spring, so nothing is ever repaired, only rebuilt. Timber frames the doorways and the service areas behind them. Glass-clear ice is where the carving work goes, in counters and headboards.

The setting

The hotel is built each winter near Québec City, in Québec, Canada, on a wooded site outside the town. Snow cover here is deep and reliable. The city, its walls and its river are a short drive away and stay reachable through the season.

The stay

The room is a vault of packed snow with an ice bed, hides and a thermal sleeping bag. Carved ice takes the place of furniture and of most fittings. The temperature stays below freezing but steady, and the snow removes almost all sound from outside.

Plan aheadQuébec City is the arrival point by air, train or road, and the site is outside town, so a car or an arranged transfer is needed.

File updated · August 2025

Kirkenes, Norway

Kirkenes Snowhotel

Made of

ICE TIMBER GLASS

The snow structure beside the fjord at Kirkenes.

The fabric

Each winter the snow structure is raised beside the fjord and the rooms are carved inside it. Ice blocks are used for beds, seats and sculpture, while the shell itself is compacted snow. Timber cabins stand next to it and stay up all year round. Glass in those cabins does the job the snow rooms cannot do, which is to let you watch the sky.

The setting

Kirkenes lies in the far north-east of Norway, close to the Russian and Finnish borders, on the Barents Sea. The fjord freezes and the land around it is low, bare and open. Reindeer and huskies are part of the working landscape rather than a display.

The stay

A snow room is white, windowless and cold, with an ice bed under hides and a thermal sleeping bag. Coloured light is the only decoration in it. In the timber cabins the arrangement reverses: warmth, a glass wall, and the fjord in front of it.

Plan aheadKirkenes has an airport with connections through Oslo or Tromsø, and the site is outside town, so the transfer is worth arranging in advance.

File updated · July 2025

Rovaniemi, Finland

Arctic SnowHotel

Made of

ICE GLASS TIMBER

Glass igloos beside the snow structure at Lehtojärvi.

The fabric

Two kinds of building share the site. The snow hotel is packed snow and ice, rebuilt every winter and carved into rooms, corridors and a chapel. The glass igloos beside it are permanent, with a curved glass roof over the bed and heating that keeps the surface clear. Timber is used for the frames, the floors and the cabins around them.

The setting

The site is at Lehtojärvi, outside Rovaniemi in Finnish Lapland, close to the Arctic Circle. Forest and a frozen lake surround it, and there is very little light pollution. Rovaniemi itself, with its airport and its railway station, is a short drive away.

The stay

In the snow hotel the room is white, cold and silent, with an ice bed, hides and a thermal sleeping bag. In a glass igloo the bed is warm and the roof is transparent, so the sky, the trees and any aurora sit directly overhead.

Plan aheadRovaniemi is reached by air or by the night train from Helsinki, and the snow season runs roughly from the middle of December to late March.

File updated · July 2025

Materials are what published sources say a building is made of; we have measured nothing and tested nothing ourselves. The month at the end of an entry is the month we last went back through those sources.

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