Ice Hotel

Every spring, the ICEHOTEL in Jukkasjärvi, Swedish Lapland, melts back into the Torne River. The following autumn, workers harvest ice blocks from the same river, truck them 200 metres to the building site, and begin again. The hotel is rebuilt from scratch each winter, and has been since 1989, making it both the oldest ice hotel in the world and a structure that has never technically survived a full year. ICEHOTEL #36 opened on 12 December 2025, revealing a new collection of ice suites including a full-size grand piano sculpted in ice. ICEHOTEL #37 is scheduled to open 11 December 2026.

Two Hotels, One Site

There are now effectively two products operating at Jukkasjärvi:

The Winter ICEHOTEL is the original seasonal structure, rebuilt each year from Torne River ice and packed snow. It typically operates from mid-December through April, with room configurations changing annually because each suite is designed by invited artists. No two winters look the same.

ICEHOTEL 365 is a permanent structure opened in 2016 that stays frozen year-round using solar energy. During the midnight sun season from May through July, 1,875 square metres of solar panels convert continuous Arctic daylight into cooling power that holds the building at minus five degrees Celsius. The 365 building currently holds nine art suites and nine deluxe suites, with a new ICEBAR added for the 2024-2025 season. The deluxe suites include a private heated en-suite bathroom (four of the nine have bathtubs), a private sauna, and a warm changing area adjacent to the ice bedroom, which makes the cold-room experience considerably more civilised than it sounds.

What It Actually Feels Like to Sleep on Ice

The ice rooms hold between minus five and minus eight degrees. You sleep in an Arctic-grade thermal sleeping bag on a bed of ice covered in reindeer hides. The hotel provides insulated overalls for the walk to and from the warm building. Most guests report sleeping adequately, though the initial 20 minutes of settling in can be cold-shock intense. The hotel recommends keeping your face the only exposed part and not putting any moisture (including breath) directly on the sleeping bag opening.

Warm rooms and cabins are available on the same site for those who want the experience without committing to a night on ice. Many people book one cold night and the remaining nights in a warm room, which is probably the most rational approach.

Peak booking dates (Christmas, New Year’s, Valentine’s Day) require reservations four to six months in advance. Booking opens through icehotel.com roughly 10 to 12 months before each season.

Getting There

Jukkasjärvi is about 20 kilometres from Kiruna, approximately a 20-minute drive. Kiruna Airport receives direct flights from Stockholm Arlanda year-round, with the flight taking around 90 minutes. Several airlines operate the route; SAS and BRA (Braathens Regional Airlines) are the main carriers. From the airport, the hotel runs transfers, or taxis are readily available. A bus service (Route 501) runs between Kiruna town and Jukkasjärvi but operates on a limited schedule; check timetables before relying on it.

If arriving by train, the night train from Stockholm to Narvik (Norway) stops at Kiruna station. The journey takes roughly 18 hours and offers a genuinely scenic route through Swedish Lapland.

Northern Lights

The aurora borealis is visible from Jukkasjärvi roughly 200 nights per year when clear skies coincide with solar activity. The optimal window is September through March, with peak viewing typically between 10 PM and 11 PM local time. The hotel sits far from significant light pollution, and the surrounding spruce forest holds guided snowmobile and dog-sled aurora safaris that take you further into darkness.

One important nuance: aurora strength varies with the solar cycle and cannot be predicted more than a day or two in advance. Staying for at least three nights meaningfully increases your chances of seeing a strong display. Single-night guests sometimes get lucky; more often they see a faint glow or nothing at all.

Activities

Dog sledding from the hotel is one of the more popular excursions, with guided half-day trips running through the boreal forest. The Sami community has operated with sled dogs in this region for centuries, and several operators in the area are Sami-owned.

The Sami cultural camp sits a five-minute walk from the hotel and offers introductions to traditional reindeer herding, joik music, and the history of the indigenous people of this part of Arctic Europe. This is worth more than an hour of your time, and considerably more interesting than most cultural centres of this type.

Snowmobiling guided tours range from a couple of hours to full-day wilderness excursions reaching the Finnish border. Minimum age and driving licence requirements apply; check with the hotel directly.

Ice sculpting workshops are offered on-site and genuinely teach useful technique in 90 minutes. The tools are real woodworking chisels adapted for ice, not toy implements.

Where to Eat

The ICEHOTEL restaurant, Homeroom, serves Nordic and Lappish cuisine using local ingredients: reindeer, Arctic char from the Torne River, cloudberries, lingonberries, and foraged herbs. It is the main fine dining option in the immediate area. Reserve in advance, particularly during peak winter weeks.

In Kiruna town (20 minutes away), Stejk Street Food specialises in reindeer and moose preparations. For a more formal restaurant experience, the Scandic Ferrum hotel in central Kiruna has a well-regarded kitchen.

What to Bring

Temperatures regularly drop to minus 20 Celsius and occasionally lower. The hotel provides thermal kit for the cold rooms, but for activities outside, you need your own base layers. Merino wool base layers are warmer than synthetics at extreme cold. Avoid cotton entirely. Waterproof, insulated boots rated to minus 30 matter more than any other single item of clothing. Balaclava, neck gaiter, and liner gloves inside insulated outer mitts cover the rest.

Camera batteries drain fast in extreme cold; carry a spare inside your jacket against your body to keep it warm.

Timing

The winter hotel runs mid-December through April. January and February are the coldest months and have the longest dark periods, which suits aurora watching. February also brings Swedish school holidays and significant crowds. March offers slightly longer days and still reliable cold weather, making it a practical choice if you want aurora chances without the mid-winter darkness and January’s shortest days.

For ICEHOTEL 365, any month works structurally, but visiting in June or July for the midnight sun adds a genuinely strange layer: you can see the northern lights in winter and sleep in an ice room while the sun never fully sets in summer.

Book the winter cold rooms as early as you can. The best artist-designed suites, which are limited to one or two rooms each, go within days of bookings opening.