This weekend I went to see the Icehotel. It was mind blowing. But first some facts. It’s located in Jukkasjärvi in north of Sweden, next to the Torne river from which the ice bricks are cut each year to make it. It is the first original Icehotel in the world and to this day also the biggest. Being from Sweden I have obviously heard of it but I have never seen much of it in pictures or thought I would go there, but since we were staying in Abisko watching the northern lights it was only an hour and a half drive there so I thought why not give it a shot!
I was told from the guide that the Hotel is essentially divided into two areas with two different entries. What you can see in the picture above is the entry to the standard rooms and wedding hall. Yes, people actually have wedding here ! I guess the bride has to wear loggings under the dress.
The door was dressed with reindeer hide, pretty darn cool looking if you ask me. Looks like a scene from game of thrones.
When I opened the door my mouth literally dropped. It was really stunning, and it felt like you entered another world. A lot of work and passion and thought has gone into making it, I could feel that right away.
There were really fine details and I really liked this chandelier which was also made of ice .
As you walk down the first corridor you get to the wedding hall that I mentioned earlier.
I had no clue people got married here, but hey, why not ? Pretty memorable, on the other hand pretty easy to get cold feet :)
The room was not super big but on the other hand I guess you keep the ceremony pretty fast.
The other hallways were leading to the standard hotel rooms. Here the rooms look pretty much the same to one another, just different amount of beds. The other section I mentioned before that I will make a post about tomorrow, there each room is different and also is designed by different artists. Those rooms come with a much higher price tag of course.
The inside temperature was around minus 5 degrees Celsius. I like my bedroom cold, but not to this degree. Alright time to leave this place before I get a frost bite and hope to see you on my next post where all the ice sculptures will be and also of course the ice bar where I will have myself a nice drink !
Thanks 🙏
Isn’t it funny that there are these cool (literally) places,northern lights and husky rides that are soooo heavily marketed to tourists in both our countries, but actually they can be just as much of a tourist attraction to us ”locals” 😄
Yea it's really cool ! We always think the grass is always greener on the other side, it's the kind of thinking that makes you miss a lot of things that are actually near by and that are more accessible. This trip made me realize that. When I checked into the hotel in Abisko where I watched the northern lights the guy in the reception said; “ wow another Swedish couple”. I said what do you mean ? He said this year it was a record, 6 percent of the guest staying there were Swedish haha 😂
I’m actually glad we got this pandemic because at least in Finland, it made more people realise that our country is pretty darn awesome and there is so much beautiful nature and other places to visit right inside our borders.
I’m a bit jelly about the northern lights, it must be at least four years since I last saw any.
Haha a bit jelly lol 😂. I think it is really true what you say. During the pandemic it’s been a record of staycations. It is also a lot more sustainable if we have vacations close by our home and we also learn to appreciate and respect our own countries more.
Not to mention how healthy it is for our economy when the money stays in the homeland more.
Wow! We have talked about seeing this place so many times. Now, i know why it would be a really cool place to make some memories. Thanks for sharing the sights to see. You had some pretty funny lines in this post too. I liked the Cold Feet joke. It would be hard to think people actually do sleep there. Cheers
This place far exceeded my expectations! I strongly recommend it. Haha glad you liked the jokes, some of them were even colder than that ice hotel lol
😂 My thoughts exactly! ❄🚪❄
A chandelier made from ice? How the heck does it not melt from the heat of the light bulbs or are there none?
Your incredible images are a fine example of how every country should prepare for storms and celebrate winters! Imagine...
Haha I also was questioning how they prevent the chandelier from melting. There was light but must have been some low watt bulbs. Definitely looks like the game of thrones there a really cool place to visit for sure !
That would be so cool to see, but not really that cool to sleep in. Minus 5 is stupid cold.
Yea honestly! Everyone says it’s on their bucket list to sleep there, you might want to put this on the last thing to do, so you don’t kick the bucket earlier than you have too. People are also paying a lot of money to sleep there.. even if I was given money I wouldn’t want to sleep there honestly. But it’s definitely cool to look at :)
How cool is that! We have a full world of ice created in Romania too, but this looks so much more! Love it!
Thank you ! Yea I can strongly recommend it but I'm thinking there are probably a lot of places similar that are also cool and I would love to see more!
The one from Romania is called "Hotelul de Gheață - Bâlea Lac" where everything is composed of the ice extracted from the lake. It's really beautiful if you ever get to this part of the world during the winter.
In plus, every year comes with a new theme and there is also the possibility to either rent a room in the Ice Hotel or take the lunch/dinner in the restaurant made of ice :)
Wow this looks really stunning! That indoor restaurant looks massive . I also like the fact that they have ice sculptures made outside in the open. In the hotel in Sweden most of the decorations are on the inside .
wow that looks absolutely amazing. But I would never ever sleep there, holy shit -5 degrees is cold.
Yea man same here ! Its definitely not a place where you would stay more than one night. Probably wake up in the morning with icicles hanging from the nose
Omg, that looks absolutely incredible, that bed is awesome haha. Thanks for sharing
My pleasure! I see you’re from Canada, do you guys also have an Ice hotel ?
I would love to go to Canada one day. It’s hard to beat the landscape over there !
I saw the ice house for the first time. beautyful
Thank you !