Sweden’s Ice Hotel (Part 3)

The location Jukkasjärvi has perfect conditions for clear ice making. The river is quite slow as it passes which means that it can turn into thick ice. Also as the river is still moving you get less air bubbles forming in the ice which gives you the clarity.

The hotel have their own ice farmers, they have a plant which takes care of the ice during the winter so that they can harvest it in March and April. They harvest about 5000 tonnes of crystal clear ice which is then stored ready to make a new creation next year.
Every year the hotel invites hundreds of artists from around the world to submit their ideas for the ice hotel suites to a panel of judges. They choose approximately 25 to come to Sweden to recreate their design in this year’s hotel.

The hotel is always trying to do something new but something has come back because of popular demand. They used to have a chandelier in the ice hall but decided not one year. All the guests asked where it was so the next year they put up four just to be a little different. The ice hall has to have columns so they make them decorative elements. They are twisted to make it look like they are moving.

A ‘hot’ spot in the hotel of an evening is the Ice Bar. Here they use the syrups or liquor of local berries to make fruit or alcoholic drinks when mixed with pure Swedish vodka. Some of these berries only grow in the far north of Sweden and Finland so you will have been unlikely to have come across them before. The one that stands out for me is the Lingon berry and I was lucky enough to be able to bring a small bottle home with me. However even with a cold glass and ice it’s just not the same as drinking it from a glass made of ice. The water in the Tome River is so pure that even the glasses in the bar are made from it. In fact it’s the pureness of the water that gives the Ice Hotel the clear greenish view that you see everywhere.

If you stay in the Ice Hotel in late December then you get to experience a ‘polar night’. This is when the sun never rises above the horizon giving dusk like conditions at midday. However by late January there is plenty of day light again. If this is something you want to experience then make sure you pick the right dates. You should also bear in mind that a trip later in the year can offer so more interesting options with a little more light.

The snow covered forest, solid rivers and lakes around Jukkasjärvi can also be explored by taking an excursion that is available through the hotel. You don' t need any prior experience to take these excursions just a sense of adventure as most things you need to know can be learnt very quickly. However details of all that is on offer for you to do is the subject of the next part of this series.