The Coolest Hotel In The World

The Icehotel (styled as ICEHOTEL) is a hotel built each year with snow and ice in the village of Jukkasjärvi, in northern Sweden, about 17 kilometres (11 mi) from Kiruna. It is the world's first ice hotel.

After its first opening in 1990, the hotel has been built each year from December to April. The hotel, including the chairs and beds, is constructed from snow and ice blocks taken from the nearby Torne River. Artists are invited to create different rooms and decorations made by ice. Besides bedrooms, there is a bar, with glasses made of ice and an ice chapel that is popular with marrying couples. The structure remains below freezing, around −5 °C (23 °F)

History

Jukkasjärvi Icehotel interior. Sculptures by Jörgen Westin

In 1989, Japanese ice artists visited the area and created an exhibition of ice art. In Spring 1990, French artist Jannot Derid held an exhibition in a cylinder-shaped igloo in the same area. One night there were no rooms available in the town, so some of the visitors asked for permission to spend the night in the igloo at the exhibition hall. They slept in the igloo in sleeping bags on top of reindeer skins, and were the first guests of the "hotel".

 The entire hotel is made out of snow and ice blocks from the Torne River, even the glasses in the bar are made of ice. Each spring, around March, Icehotel harvests tons of ice from the frozen Torne River and stores it in a nearby production hall with room for over 10,000 short tons (9,100 t) of ice and 30,000 short tons (27,200 t) of snow. The ice is used for creating Icebar designs and ice glasses, which are used for ice sculpting classes, events and product launches all over the world while the snow is used for building a strong structure for the building. About 1,000 short tons (900 t) of what is left is used in the construction of the next Icehotel

The ice suites do not have any bathroom facilities but bathrooms for guests are found in a warm building close by. There is also warm accommodation available next to the hotel. The Icehotel in Jukkasjärvi is known to be the biggest hotel of ice and snow in the world, spanning over some 6,000 square metres (64,600 sq ft). Each suite is unique and the architecture of the hotel is changed each year, as it is rebuilt from scratch.

Each year, artists submit their ideas for suites, and a jury selects about 50 artists to create the church, Absolut Icebar, reception, main hall and suites. When spring comes, everything melts away and returns to the Torne River.

The Icehotel only exists between December and April, and has been listed as one of the Seven Wonders of Sweden. The northern hemisphere's aurora borealis can be seen during the winter month in the location

Guests are served vodka in glasses made of ice from the Torne River, often described as a drink "in the rocks". Ice glasses at the bars are brought from the production hall in Jukkasjärvi to the Icehotel. This is also the case with the interior creations, because every six months they are replaced on site by staff from the ice production and artists. This is done to ensure quality and safety.
Icebar by Icehotel is a franchise concept for ice bar. The concept was launched in spring 2009, with the opening of the Ice Bar CPH by Icehotel in Copenhagen, Denmark. The bar was followed in June of that year by the Ice Bar Tokyo by Icehotel in Tokyo, Japan, and shortly after, the Icebar Oslo by Icehotel in Oslo, Norway.