Sweden

Icehotel Sweden is a Real-Life Frozen Wonderland

It’s hot. Like, really hot.

If you’re reading this from the States right now, there’s a good chance if you step outside you immediately may turn into a puddle of sweat. That’s how we at Umgås have been feeling lately. We’re holding on by dreaming of autumn and of being transported to a winter ice palace.

Lucky for us, Icehotel Sweden is our ice palace dream come true.

Icehotel Sweden is exactly what it sounds like: a hotel made of ice. The exterior, the interior, even the furniture in some of the rooms are made of ice.

The hotel offers both warm and cold rooms for guests to visit and stay, as well as art exhibits featuring ice sculptures from some 40 artists each year – the hotel is open to the public to enjoy the ice creations from 10 a.m.-6 p.m. each day. And each year, the ice rooms, artwork and structures melt away during the summer months, only to be built from scratch for the next winter.

The cold rooms are built almost entirely of ice, and everything except the mattress, bed pillows and blankets are frozen. Warm rooms are indoors in a permanent heated building. This area allows guests to store things, charge their phones or relax in a sauna or in the heated lounge area.

In May, the hotel announced that it has opened Icehotel 365, a frozen structure that’s open year-round. The new hotel is located in Jukkasjärvi, alongside the seasonal Icehotel, in the northern area of Sweden above the Arctic Circle.

Icehotel 365 sits on the picturesque Torne River and features an ice bar, an ice gallery and 20 ice suites. The temperature of the hotel stays around minus-5 to minus-7 degrees Celsius (that’s around 21 degrees Fahrenheit). At Icehotel 365, this temperature is maintained through solar-powered energy.

If it’s hard to imagine, Condé Nast Traveler featured a video tour of the new Icehotel 365 earlier this year.

If you’re traveling to Sweden in the coming months, consider stopping by to experience this real-life, frozen dream.