Ice Hotels – The Coolest Hotels on Earth!

The first ice hotel came about rather by accident. In 1990, French artist Jannot Derid held an exhibition in an igloo shaped building in the Jukkasjarvi, Sweden area. One night when there were no rooms available in the town, some of the visitors asked if they could spend the night in the exhibition hall. They slept in sleeping bags on top of reindeer skin. And thus a new concept in “cool” hotels was discovered.

The temperature inside ice hotels is usually kept between 17F and 23F degrees to avoid melting. All the furniture, including the beds, couches, and bars are made of ice. They’re covered with fur, skins, and sleeping bags for warmth and comfort. Fortunately, the bathrooms are located in a separate heated building.

The hotels have to be rebuilt every year. This is great opportunity for different artists, architects, and students to be involved with the concept and planning of the hotels since the designs change every year. Dynamic Art so to say.

Ice hotels often have very unique “Ice Bars” with beautiful works of art created entirely from ice. At these ice bars, even the drinking glasses are made from ice. Some hotels even have their own ice restaurants!

So pack up the thermal underwear and head off for an experience of a life time. Guaranteed to be a chilling experience of a positive kind.

Snow Village of Lainio in Finland

Lumilinna SnowCastle in Kemi, Finland

CEHOTEL Kiruna, Sweden

Kirkenes SnowHotel in Norway

Alta Igoo Hotel in Norway

Bjorli Ice Lodge in Bjorli, Norway

The Ice Hotel in Romania

Hotel de Glace – Quebec

*Note – The United States used to have an ice hotel, the Aurora Ice Hotel about 60 miles northeast of Fairbanks, Alaska. However, in its first year of operation, the hotel was shut down by Alaska’s Fire Marshall until all rooms had smoke detectors and fire extinguishers installed. It has now been converted to a museum. Maybe down the line the US can join the ranks of its neighbors in the northern hemisphere and give this very unique experience another shot.

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