Ice Hotel in Sweden

Kiruna Airport in the Snow

A good friend of mine wanted to go on holiday, and asked me if I wanted to go with her. It was the start of many travels together, and the start of my love affair with the North. All in all, a pretty momenteous journey. We flew to Stockholm from London, and spent the rest of the day looking around the city. The next day we flew up north to Kiruna, where the real fun began.

The scene when we arrived in Kiruna was out of this world, in fact, it was more like a fairytale than anything I was used to before. Mounds of snow were everywhere, and everything was white. There was an eerie light, as there was only a few hours of dawn-like light each day. It was a magical place, but the best was yet to come. We took the coach from Kiruna to Jukkasjarvi,where we were confronted by a most fantastic sight: a hotel made from ice.

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Left - Me in the Ice Room. Right - Our bed with Reindeer Pelts

We had to check in at the wooden permanent part of the ice hotel. There are two types of accomodation there: the warm rooms, which are effectively wooden cabins, with saunas attached, and the rooms made from ice themselves. There were two types of ice room: the standard rooms, which we stayed in, and the suites, which were beautifully crafted expressions of the various artists that came to build them. The entrance (right) was covered by a fabric divider and the bed (far right) by raindeer pelts.

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Ice Sculpture in our Room

They even put some decorations in the standard rooms, hand carved from the ice, which was a nice touch. The outside temperature was, if I remember correctly, -20C, colder when windy, but inside i never dropped below -5C. We were given thermal sleeping bags which had hoods to protect your head (though it was much more fun not wearing the hood) and which kept you really toasty.

In the morning, we were woken by the staff bringing us hot Lingonberry juice. The juice was gorgeous, and just the thing after spending a night in the freezer! Incedently, if you want to try Lingonberry juice for yourself, I think you can buy it at Ikea.

We only spent one night in the cold accomodation, before moving to the cabins. There were single-sex communal showers and saunas, and I tell you now, that sauna was just the trick after night in the cold room!

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Four Examples of the Suites at the Ice Hotel

The photos on the right are examples of the 'snow architecture' that could be seen in some of the suites at the hotel. Artists from all around the world come to try their hands at the creation of something really special. 

Obviously, each year different styles can be seen, for, each spring, the hotel melts away in the warmth of the waxing sun. Unfortunately, when we we there, the hotel had only been open for three days, and the Ice Cathedral had not been completed. People even get married at the churches constucted at the hotel - imagine the wedding photos from that! There are ice sculptures, great lighting effects, and even, in one of the suites, ice sofas and an ice fire-place.

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The Ice Bar

Of course, no hotel would be complete without a bar, and what a great bar it was. The ice bar had all the drinks you could want, a great set bar workers, and revelers that all had a love of the cold in common. The drinks were served in ice glasses, and there was no imposition of strict quotas on the size of shots!

One thing though: when we were there, the changing room, which is wooden, has two doors. One leads to the sleeping area, the other leads from the bar. Don't do what I did and end up walking through the bar in your pants.

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Snowy scenery

There are loads of things to do a the Ice Hotel. The first trip we went on was a dog-sled trip. The picture on the right shows the eerie half light that as around most of the time. It was beautiful yet strangely unnerving, as if the sun was struggling to make itself known, and failing!

The trip itself was excellent, apart from the bit where I fell off, my butt making a hole in the frozen lake, and subsequently turned to ice! The photo far right shows the narnia-like quality of the area, while he video below right was taken while on the sled. Note the small piece of vanity in the video...

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After going throgh some forested areas, we made our way to a clearing with some tents. Here we made some food, and had a nice rest and a good thaw. One of the things which struck me most, and which I always looked forward to when returning to the North, is the lack of noise. It's so quiet there that it forces you to mute the noise and distraction in your own head. Perhaps that's why only those people that are happy in there own company, and with silence, come back again and again to the cold snowy North.  Our next trip, however, was just as exciting...

Top - Snow Mobile. Middle - Patrick the Instructor

Our second trip was on a snow mobile. Now, I'd never driven one of these before, and quite frankly had never driven anything on dry-land before either. Boy, did we have fun...

So the first part of the journey was through a forest. It all started off well, and was going fine, until I almost drove us off a cliff. Only a very fortuitously placed sapling stopped our plunging to certain death. With that out of the way, we headed towards a cabin in the middle of the forest in a clearing. 

Here, we had a meal and tried to recover from the first of our many death defying experiences on holiday together. We waited for the light to disappear, then headed outside for a glimpse of the northern lights as they danced across the sky. Unfortunately, none of my photos came out, but believe me it was beautiful.

The picture to the left shows our group leader, Patrick, out for a wander in the forest. The snow was deep! It was truly wonderful to be there.

Once we had all eaten and got our fill of the aurora, we got back on our snowmobiles and headed back. This time I took a back seat, and let my friend take the wheel. Oh boy! As we were speeding across the frozen lake, we went over a wet patch, as the lake had only just frozen three days before, and skidded. My hands slipped and I managed to stay on solely using my thighs. I shouted for her to slow down which, unfortunately, she heard as "speed up". Suffice it to say, death was narrowly avoided a second time. 

It was fun though...

The only bad point to this trip was the fact that we had to leave. I really recommend the Ice Hotel to anyone who appreciates the beauty of the North, or anyone who just wants time away from a busy life. It's a great place to think, to find yourself, or to loose yourself, if that's what you need. Since going there, I've been up to the North every year. And every year it gets better and better.

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