The Icehotel
The world famous Icehotel in Jukkasjärvi is easily Sweden's most well known attraction and a truly great experience. It is built in December every year and melts away in April-May, when the ceilings start dripping. By midsummer, the hotel has seeped back to where it came from - the adjacent Torne river, which supplied the crystal clear ice in the first place.
This is the land of reindeer and mid-day night. From mid-December there is no daylight at all for three weeks. After that the sun returns only gradually, to become midnight sun in June. However, the snow reflects both moon- and starlight, not to mention the northern light, so Jukkasjärvi is never pitch black. In fact, it is surprisingly bright.
Last year's hotel had 85 rooms, but it keeps getting bigger every year. Room temparature is guaranteed never to go below -8C (18F), and is normally around -5C (23F). The rooms do not have private faciltities (nor doors), but there are heated toilets incoporated into the structure. There are two real and warm restaurants just 100 metres (300 feet) away.
A double room with ice beds for 1-2 costs around including a warm sleeping bag, a reindeer fur skin as isolation, hot lingbonberry juice served bedside in the morning, a breakfast buffet and a morning sauna to thaw you up. Suites are available and all rooms are individually decorated with ice art by invited artists. A snow-mobile overall, hat, mittens and winter boots are supplied to every guest.
The hotel also offers normal accommodations and a vast range of acitivites. For full information see www.icehotel.com
Getting there
Jukkasjärvi lies 1300 kms (812 miles) north of Stockholm. The nearest airport is Kiruna, 12 kms away. The flying time is 1 hr 35 mins non-stop, 2 hrs 15 mins with 1 stop. Scandinavian Airlines has two direct flight per day, one of them non-stop. The regular one way fare is but with a little bit of luck, and some long term planning, you may be able to get hold of a discounted ticket from them for as little as .
It is possible to go by night train to Kiruna. The trip takes about 22 hours with a change of trains in Luleå. For timetables and more info see www.connex.info.
The Absolut Ice Bar, where drinks are served 'in the rocks' rather than 'on the rocks'. You are allowed to keep your glass, but you have to figure out for yourself how to bring it home before it melts If Jukkasjärvi is too far away for you, the Nordic Sea Hotel in Stockholm has a smaller version of this bar, built from the same ice. Photo: Peter Grant