Ice Hotels

Arctic SnowHotel sits in the forest at Lehtojärvi outside Rovaniemi, and like every genuine ice hotel it exists only between roughly December and April before melting into the ground. The snow rooms hold steady at a few degrees below freezing regardless of the weather outside, which in Finnish Lapland is often a considerable improvement; guests sleep in rated sleeping bags on beds of ice and reindeer hide. Washing, eating and warming up happen in heated buildings a short walk away, including a snow sauna and a restaurant, and the site also operates glass-roofed igloos for anyone who wants the northern sky without the cold. A carved ice bar and chapel are rebuilt to new designs annually. It is the most practical way to try the format without travelling to the far north of Sweden or Norway.