Sweden’s Ice Hotel (Part 2)

When building starts in November one of the main priorities is to add electricity to the building so that work can take place more easily.

The hotel has a footprint of about 6000 m² and around 80 rooms that have to be electrified. Also all the suites have individual lighting design, so it’s a real task for those people are working on this part of the build.

At the heart of the ice hotel is Art. Every suite and indeed every incarnation of the ice hotel is unique. These are an example of the type of suites that have been available.

One suite was called Ice Plosion and was created by a team from Russia and Austria to emulate the radiant glow of a volcano. Its intension was to relax the sleeper by bathing them in a shower of warm red light, not my idea of a way to relax but it suited some people. While in the suite next door a Japanese artist has used light and ice to recreate the magnificence of the night sky, but indoors, with a display which included twinkling stars and a crescent moon.

Sleeping in a room made of ice and snow is a unusual and interesting experience. Most visitors to the ice hotel come for two or three nights spending one night in the ice hotel and the rest of their stay in the nearby warm accommodation of the hotels log cabins.

The night in the cold is often viewed with some trepidation however most people are surprised in the morning when they realize how well they have slept. Even if you have seen photos of the rooms it’s difficult to describe how you actually feel. While the temperatures outside plummet to a chilling -30C the thick walls of the hotel act as insulation. This keeps the temperatures inside to an almost warming -5C. Guest sleep in a thermal sleeping bag on a bed made of snow and ice covered with reindeer hides and a thick mattress so it’s not as bad as many first think.

The Hotel has its very own church, built every year, which is popular for marriage ceremonies and baptism. The Hotel has outer wear that guests can use when they attend ceremonies but it does tend to mean that all the photos look very similar. If the bride and groom are feeling hardy then normal out wear is possible as the church is just under freezing temperature and the service is fairly quick.