Ice Hotels

Jukkasjärvi, Sweden

Icehotel stands in the village of Jukkasjärvi in northern Sweden, on the bank of the Torne River. The winter building is cut from river ice each season and taken down when it melts, so the halls a guest walks through are new every year. Artists are invited to shape the rooms, which means the layout and the carving change from one winter to the next.

The operator also keeps a year-round part on the same ground, cooled by solar power through the summer months, alongside warm rooms with ordinary beds and bathrooms. Cold rooms are used for one night at a time in most published accounts, with sleeping bags and reindeer hides, and warm rooms hold the luggage and the washing.

Worth asking before you travel: the dates of the current winter building, whether a cold room or a warm room is being held for you, and how the two parts of the site are used across a stay. Transfers from Kiruna and the hours of the restaurant are also set locally.

Category Ice Hotels/Location Jukkasjärvi, Sweden/Checked September 2026

Alta, Norway

Sorrisniva sits beside the Alta River in Finnmark, in the far north of Norway. The igloo hotel is raised from snow and ice for the winter season and melts away in spring, so the family that runs the site builds it again from the ground each year. Carved rooms, a chapel and a bar are the parts most often named in published accounts.

Warm rooms are part of the same address: the operator runs a year-round lodge on the riverbank with ordinary beds, a restaurant and a sauna. Guests of the winter building normally wash and store luggage there. Sleeping in the cold rooms is done in bags made for low temperatures, following the instructions given on arrival.

Ask ahead about the opening and closing of the current winter season, whether the lodge or the igloo hotel is being held, and what is included in the night. River trips and the hours of the restaurant are set by the operator and change through the winter.

Category Ice Hotels/Location Alta, Norway/Checked September 2026

Kirkenes, Norway

Snowhotel Kirkenes lies near the Norwegian border with Russia, on a slope above a fjord in eastern Finnmark. Its snow building is made for the winter season and rebuilt each year, with sleeping rooms carved along a central corridor. Because the walls are packed snow rather than clear ice, the rooms read as white and soft-edged instead of glassy.

The site is not only a winter one. Timber cabins with windows over the fjord stand on the same ground and are open all year, and a restaurant, a reception building and kennels are part of the address. Guests staying in the snow rooms use the warm buildings for washing, for luggage and for meals.

It is sensible to ask which building your night is in, when the snow rooms open and close for the season, and what warm clothing is handed out. Boat trips, kennel visits and the hours of the restaurant are arranged locally and are not fixed here.

Category Ice Hotels/Location Kirkenes, Norway/Checked September 2026

Saariselkä, Finland

Kakslauttanen Arctic Resort stands in Finnish Lapland near Saariselkä, spread across two areas of forest and open ground. Its snow igloos are built for the winter season and are gone by spring, which makes them the shortest-lived part of the site. The resort is large by the standards of this section and is walked rather than crossed on foot in a moment.

Warm buildings are open through the year on the same ground: log chalets and glass-roofed rooms with heating, plus restaurants and saunas. Published accounts describe the snow igloos as unheated rooms used with sleeping bags made for the cold, with washing and luggage handled in the warm buildings nearby.

Ask which of the two areas your room stands in, when the snow igloos are built and taken down, and how far the walk is to the restaurant that serves your building. Transfers from Ivalo and the hours of the saunas are set by the resort.

Category Ice Hotels/Location Saariselkä, Finland/Checked September 2026