Thursday, November 23, 2006

The Ice Hotel - its just so cool!!!

Imagine a hotel built from thousands of tons of snow and ice, and re-built every winter- that is Icehotel in Northern Lapland, Sweden.

The main entrance to the Hotel

ICEHOTEL is situated in the village JukkasjÀrvi, 200 kilometres north of the Arctic Circle in Sweden. The heart and backbone is the River Torne flowing freely through the unspoilt wilderness. Covered with a meter thick ice layer winter time the river is the source of all our art, architecture and design. The pure water and the steady movement of the river creates the clearest ice possible.


A Reindeer skin bed in the hotel

In Icehotel there are double rooms and suites for overnight guests, a lobby, a pillar hall, film auditorium and of course the famous Absolut Icebar - where folk from all over the world socialize till late.

In the Absolut Ice Bar, drinks are served in glasses made of solid ice

In November, the work starts on building the unique Icehotel and the official opening is in mid December.
By the time the spring sunshine has done its work and the Icehotel has slowly but surely made way for summer and has run back into the River Torne, May has arrived. At the end of April or the beginning of May, the Icehotel closes for the season - all depending on the weather gods however.

High Noon in the Arctic Circle

Staying at ICEHOTEL is a must for the modern adventurer - an experience utterly unlike any other hotel stay. Whilst the temperature outside varies from -10°C down to -40°C inside the Icehotel the bar and bedrooms maintain a "comfortable" -5°C.
The hotel has been built to a different design each year since 1990.
Most people spend one night in the Icehotel itself and a couple of nights in a bungalow. Some bungalows have two twin bunk rooms, others are equipped with a double bed and a large skylight for watching the northern lights (aurora borealis).

I'm planning to visit the hotel in February, inshallah.

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