ICEHOTEL

The ICEHOTEL in Jukkasjärvi is not a hotel with an ice bar; it is a building made substantially of ice, rebuilt each winter from blocks harvested from the Torne River, and it has operated continuously since 1989. The original concept was simple and has remained so: take the ice that forms in the river each winter and use it to build somewhere to sleep. The result is one of the most distinctive accommodation experiences in Europe. The year-round facility, ICEHOTEL 365, opened in 2016 with compressor-cooled ice suites that maintain their subarctic interior temperature throughout the summer. There are suites, a main hall, and an ice bar, all maintained at a consistent subarctic temperature regardless of the season outside.

The Torne River is one of Sweden's longest rivers, flowing from the Norwegian border through Swedish Lapland to the Gulf of Bothnia. It is the defining geographical feature of this part of Norrbotten: wide, slow-moving, and stained dark by the landscape it drains. The quality of its ice is the reason ICEHOTEL exists; the ice that forms on its surface each winter is extraordinarily clear and solid, formed slowly under the extreme cold of the subarctic winter. In summer, the river reflects the sky in a way that feels borrowed from a larger landscape.

The surrounding landscape is subarctic wilderness in the most literal sense. Jukkasjärvi sits north of the Arctic Circle, in a zone where the summer sun does not set for weeks and the winter night is equally prolonged. The terrain is flat boreal forest, mostly pine and birch, stretching to the horizon in every direction except the river valley. This is not dramatic wilderness of peaks and gorges; it is a vast, quiet, horizontal landscape. The sky here is the dominant feature, enormous and active, and it is the reason most visitors come in winter rather than summer.

The experience changes completely with the season. In summer, the 24-hour daylight of the midnight sun makes sleep difficult but the landscape surreal; the river is the focus of activity, with boat trips and fishing. In winter, the darkness and cold are absolute, and the northern lights overhead make them the primary experience, with the hotel as the warm place to sleep between viewing sessions. The rooms themselves melt back into the river each spring; the hotel that exists this winter is literally gone by April.

Each winter's hotel is the work of a team of international ice artists, and the designs change entirely from year to year. The art suites in particular are creative statements as much as rooms: ice sculptures carved into the bed frames, walls that are works in themselves, lighting designed to make the ice glow in particular ways. The main hall is where the social life of the hotel happens: ice bar stools, ice glasses (actually made from ice), and a communal atmosphere that is unlike any other bar in the world. The warmth of the lounge and the warmth of human company contrast sharply with the silence and cold outside.

It is the original and most famous ice hotel in the world, operating since 1989 and rebuilt from scratch each winter.

The subarctic wilderness setting, with the midnight sun and northern lights, is as much the attraction as the hotel itself.

The annual rebuild means no two winters' designs are the same.