Our guide to ICEHOTEL, Sweden

This is how it works when sleeping inside ICEHOTEL:

When arriving to Jukkasjärvi and ICEHOTEL , you will immediately see a large reception building. You will be checked in here and then if you are staying the night, you walk down the main path to another reception building adjacent to ICEHOTEL (people can visit on a day trip to the ICEHOTEL).

This second building is exclusive for guests staying in the cold accommodation and works as a convenience hub - there is no storage or plumbing inside the original ICEHOTEL except for in the deluxe suites (ICEHOTEL 365), so all these facilities are housed in here. So the answer is 'YES', there are toilets at the ICEHOTEL but not in your actual ice room. There is also a sauna and a relaxation area with a roaring fire and hot lingonberry juice on tap. This area is staffed and open 24 hours.

The receptionist helps with warm outer clothing and shows you around the building. ICEHOTEL guides hold "survival courses" every evening for guests staying the night in the hotel. The introduction includes the guide informing you on how to dress appropriately and how to make the bed with the Arctic sleeping bags. The sleeping bags are made for temperatures as low as -25° C (-13° F), but the temperature inside the hotel never drops below -5° C (23° F) so they are more than sufficient to keep guests warm - except your nose!. There are no doors to the art suites, winter suites and ice rooms, so in the morning, a member of staff draws the curtain that covers the doorway and wakes the guests up with hot lingonberry juice in bed. The Deluxe suite does have a door.

When checking out or moving into warm accommodation, guests are given a diploma stating the date and temperature inside and outside ICEHOTEL on the night that they stayed there. Something to show the grandkids!

Under the Arctic Skin, artists: Rob Harding & Timsam Harding Photo: Asaf Kliger

Good to know about staying at the ICEHOTEL:

• The ICEHOTEL provide thermal sleeping bags. We recommend wearing a high quality pure wool thermal underlayer and suggest bringing along an inner lining such as a travelling silk sheet. You do sleep on a small mattress above the ice block.
• Toilets, showers and storage are located in the warm section of ICEHOTEL, staffed 24 hours a day - it can be a 5 minute walk to this facilities from your room.
• Instead of doors, the Ice rooms have curtains that you draw for privacy.
• Only the Deluxe suites have attached warm facilities. The Art Suites have their own changing room in the communal area.
• Deluxe and some Art suites are located in ICEHOTEL 365, available all year. Winter Art suites and Ice rooms are only available in winter, open December to April.
• Check in and out of cold rooms is done in the warm section of ICEHOTEL, separate from the main hotel reception.
• If you are alternating your accommmodation between the cold and warm options, there could be 6-7 hours between checking out and getting access to your new room. We recommend you plan activities during this period. We can arrange to store and move your luggage on request but during busy times, this might involve you directing reception.
• The ICEHOTEL is open to the public between 10 am and 6 pm. This means guests sleeping cold get exclusive access to their rooms from 6 pm, and wake-up call is around 7:30 am, so you probably need to expect some waiting around.
• Photography of all the rooms is from previous years and for guidance only. Designs are released early but images of the rooms are only available once the winter rooms have opened.
• While you cannot book a specific suite (ARTWORK), we can help you make a request.
• ICEHOTEL opens in phases, the first phase is completed by mid-November and thereafter more suites and rooms will be available in mid-December when ICEHOTEL is completed.
• Space on ICEHOTEL activities and transfers are limited and we advise you pre-book at least three weeks in advance.
• ICEHOTEL Restaurant and the Homestead have fixed dinner sittings, and we recommend you reserve your table in advance. 

Love Capsule, Luc Voisin Mathieu Brison, Photo: Asaf Kliger

Room facts for the standard ice room with ice décor and a bed made of ice:

• Breakfast included
• Free entry to sauna included
• Guided tour of ICEHOTEL included
• Loan of snowsuit, boots, mittens and balaclava included
• 2 or 3 beds
• Communal changing area
• 27 square metres. Suites are 50 square metres.
• WiFi
• Non-smoking only

Standard Ice room at ICEHOTEL, Photo: Christopher Hauser

Banner image: Flying Buttress, artist: AnnaKatrin Kraus & Hans Aescht. photographyer: Asaf Kliger