Kirkenes Snowhotel Visit

High up north in Norwegian Lapland, stay overnight in a Snowhotel.

Open all year round, the Snowhotel 365 in Kirkenes offers an unforgettable winter experience for Hurtigruten passengers. Kirkenes is the furthest destination of the Norwegian coastal voyage before it returns to Oslo and is a small Northern Lapland town close to the Russian border. From the Hurtigruten ship, you can transfer to the Snowhotel and sleep in a snow room for the evening.

During a stay in Kirkenes, you can enjoy snowmobile safaris riding through snow covered fjord areas and mountain fells, husky dogsledding and also king crab fishing. There will also be a chance to see the Northern Lights on an evening tour if you are lucky.

Interesting facts about the Snowhotel:

• The Kirkenes Snowhotel is constructed by inflating a large balloon, which is then covered with snow. When this balloon is totally compacted with 2 metres of snow, it is deflated and removed, leaving a circular room. For the corridors, wooden frames are covered in snow using a similar process. Then the rooms are decorated with carvings and lights.

• You don't actually sleep on ice - mattresses are cleverly disguised under blocks of ice that create the illusion of an 'ice bed'. Sleeping directly on ice would be a bit drastic and not very comfortable.

• About 30 tonnes of ice is used each year for the Kirkenes Snowhotel construction - including furniture & the rooms.

Our 'Follow the Northern Lights' and 'Chase the Northern Lights' group tours spend the night in the Snowhotel before heading to the new glass igloo hotel in Finland. Escorted with a 50 Degrees North Scandinavian guide, this tour departs regulary over the European Winter.