Ice Hotels · six hotels

A hotel enters this section when the sleeping structure is made of snow and ice and is built again from scratch each winter. That yearly rebuild is the criterion, and it is why the plans in this section have no permanent form. Heated cabins on the same site are mentioned but are not the reason for the entry. Igloo experiences without overnight rooms are not included.

Sweden · Ice Hotels

Icehotel

THE VIEW FROM IT

Outside the walls there is the frozen Torne river, then flat spruce forest under snow. In the deep winter the sun stays below the horizon for weeks and the light turns blue at midday. Nights are dark and open.

THE BUILDING

Icehotel has been rebuilt each winter since 1989 beside the Torne river, from ice cut out of that river in spring and stored until construction begins. Snow and ice are sprayed and packed over steel forms to make vaulted corridors, then the forms are removed and the vaults stand on their own. Artists are invited to carve individual rooms, so the interior design changes completely from one year to the next and no plan is repeated. Ice blocks are used structurally and decoratively at once: walls, beds, seats, sometimes an entire chapel. The building melts back into the river in spring, which means the plan of the hotel exists only as drawings and photographs afterwards.

THE STAY

Cold rooms are kept a few degrees below freezing, and guests sleep in insulated bags on ice beds covered with reindeer hides. Bathrooms and changing rooms are in heated buildings outside, so the night involves going out and coming back. Warm rooms are available for guests who prefer them, and most people combine the two. Luggage stays in a heated locker. A briefing on how to sleep cold is part of arrival.

BEFORE YOU GOThe cold season here runs roughly December to April, and the nearest airport is Kiruna, a short drive west.

READ THROUGH · March 2026

Ice suite with a carved face and two beds at Hotel de Glace near Quebec City, Canada — 12 · Québec City, Canada

Canada · Ice Hotels

Hôtel de Glace

THE VIEW FROM IT

The site is wooded and set outside the city, so the surroundings are conifers, packed snow and a car park that fills at dusk. Quebec City itself is a short drive away. Cold air holds still between the trees.

THE BUILDING

Hôtel de Glace has been built every winter since 2001 and redesigned each year, which makes it a permanent institution with an impermanent body. Construction uses snow blown over steel arches to form thick vaults, with ice blocks cut for walls, furniture and sculpture. The plan changes annually: corridors take new routes, the chapel and the bar move, and themed rooms are carved by different hands. Because the structure is snow rather than ice in its bulk, the walls are white and matt, and the ice appears as inserts that catch light. Coloured lighting is used carefully to read the surfaces. The whole building is dismantled or allowed to melt in spring, and the site returns to bare ground.

THE STAY

Nights here are managed rather than improvised. Guests are given cold weather sleeping bags, a briefing and access to heated service buildings for washing and changing. Rooms have no doors in the usual sense, so the sound of the corridor carries. Day visitors tour the building until the evening, after which it belongs to guests. Temperatures inside stay a few degrees below freezing regardless of the weather outside, which is the point of the walls.

BEFORE YOU GOThe hotel operates only in the winter months and stands outside Quebec City, so plan transport for a late arrival.

READ THROUGH · February 2026

Norway · Ice Hotels

Sorrisniva Igloo Hotel

THE VIEW FROM IT

The building sits by the Alta river, in a valley of low hills and birch scrub that turns white from November. Winter days are short and the sky often stays lit at the edges. The river runs black under ice.

THE BUILDING

Sorrisniva has been built each year since 1999 on the bank of the Alta river, and it claims the position of the northernmost ice hotel in the world. Snow and ice are worked into vaulted corridors and rooms, then carved: suites are given sculpted walls, and a bar and a chapel are shaped from ice blocks each season. The design is redrawn annually, so returning guests do not find the same building twice. Because the site is a working river valley, the material comes from close by, and the structure is put up in the weeks before opening and left to melt when the season ends. Heated buildings alongside hold reception, changing rooms and a restaurant.

THE STAY

The night follows a routine: guests change in a heated building, sleep on an ice bed in an expedition sleeping bag, and return indoors in the morning for a shower and a hot drink. Rooms are open to the corridor. Northern lights viewing and river valley excursions are organised from the same site. Because Alta lies well above the Arctic Circle, the darkness is long and the outdoor programme is built around it.

BEFORE YOU GOAlta has its own airport with connections through Oslo and Tromsø, and the ice season is short, roughly January to early April.

READ THROUGH · March 2026

Snow Hotel entrance under the northern lights near Kirkenes, Norway — 14 · Kirkenes, Norway

Norway · Ice Hotels

Kirkenes Snowhotel

THE VIEW FROM IT

The hotel stands by a fjord in the far northeast of Norway, close to the Russian border. Around it there is water, low rock and snow covered scrub. In midwinter the sun does not rise and the sky reads deep blue.

THE BUILDING

Kirkenes Snowhotel has operated since 2006 and is rebuilt each winter on the same site by the fjord. Snow is packed into vaulted corridors and rooms, and ice is carved for beds, seats and sculpture, with a new set of carvings each season. Unlike some ice hotels, this one has grown into a small settlement: heated cabins, a restaurant building and a husky yard stand around the snow structure, so the frozen building is one element of a working site rather than the whole of it. The location is unusual in itself, at the meeting point of Norwegian, Finnish and Russian roads, and the buildings are low and wind shaped to suit an exposed coastal position.

THE STAY

Guests can choose between the snow rooms and the heated cabins along the water, and many use both across a stay. Snow rooms hold a steady temperature below freezing and are used with insulated sleeping bags; washing and changing happen in warm buildings. The kennel, the fjord and the surrounding tracks are part of the daily programme. Meals are taken in the restaurant on site, since the property stands outside the town itself.

BEFORE YOU GOKirkenes is reached by air or by the coastal ferry, and the snow rooms run only through the winter season.

READ THROUGH · February 2026

Finland · Ice Hotels

SnowVillage

THE VIEW FROM IT

The village stands in Finnish Lapland among pine and open snowfield, with the fells of the Levi area rising nearby. Snow loads the branches until they bend. Light is low, pink at the edges of the day and dark early.

THE BUILDING

SnowVillage is rebuilt every winter in Kittilä and changes shape, size and theme each year, so the plan of one season tells you nothing about the next. Snow is blown over forms to make vaults and packed into thick walls, and ice is cut for windows, furniture and carved surfaces. Because the whole village is redesigned annually, the designers can follow a different subject each time, and the sculpture is made to that brief. Alongside the sleeping corridors there is an ice restaurant and a bar built from the same material, with tables and seats cut as part of the structure. Everything is taken down or left to melt when the season closes, and the ground is cleared.

THE STAY

Sleeping happens in snow rooms at a steady temperature below freezing, in expedition sleeping bags on ice beds under hides. Warm accommodation and heated service buildings sit on the same site, so the cold night is a choice rather than the only option. Corridors are open, and sound travels. The restaurant serves inside the ice structure, which means eating in outdoor clothing. Days are spent outside in the surrounding forest.

BEFORE YOU GOKittilä airport is close, the season runs roughly December to April, and outdoor clothing is needed for the evening as well as the day.

READ THROUGH · January 2026

Japan · Ice Hotels

Ice Village

THE VIEW FROM IT

The village occupies a flat clearing among snow covered hills in central Hokkaido, with ski slopes above and forest on the other sides. Snow falls dry and often. At night the structures are lit and the surrounding trees stay black.

THE BUILDING

Ice Village is a winter settlement built from ice and snow on a resort site in Tomamu, and it is put up again each season. Rather than a single hotel under one roof, it is a group of separate structures set around a frozen open space: small shops, a cafe, a chapel and a domed building used for sleeping. Walls are made of ice blocks and packed snow, and the doorways are low and insulated. Because Hokkaido snow is dry and consistent, the builders can work with fine surfaces and keep the forms crisp through the season. The village stands only through the coldest months and is taken down when the temperature turns.

THE STAY

The overnight structure is a dome, with an ice bed, thick bedding and insulated sleeping gear, and heated buildings nearby for washing and changing. The rest of the village works as an evening programme rather than as hotel services, so guests move between small buildings in the cold. The wider resort holds the restaurants and the warm rooms. It is a short stay by design, usually a single night rather than a base for the week.

BEFORE YOU GOThe village opens only in deep winter and Tomamu is reached by train from Sapporo or by road, with transfers arranged on site.

READ THROUGH · February 2026

This guide is compiled from published material and updated by hand. Each entry shows the month it was last read through. Hotels own their names; we own the mistakes, so please point them out.

Other sections: Art Hotels, Capsule Hotels, Casino Hotels.