Ice Hotels — 4 pairs

Buildings that will not exist in May

An ice stay qualifies when the structure itself is frozen water and the season is the constraint: rooms carved new each winter, a bag rated for the temperature, warm facilities in a separate building. What does not qualify is a heated cabin with a view of snow. Three of these four melt every spring, and the fourth is refrigerated on purpose.

Every entry below is one room and one reason, in that order, with the catch written plainly and the months we would choose.

The principle

Everything here is temporary, and the season is the whole booking.

The pairs

13 Ice Hotels

ICEHOTEL

Jukkasjarvi, Swedish Lapland, Sweden

ICEHOTEL, Jukkasjarvi, Swedish Lapland, Sweden

The room

ICEHOTEL was the first of these, built at Jukkasjarvi in Swedish Lapland since 1989 and rebuilt every winter from ice cut out of the Torne River. Artists are selected each year for the art suites, so the rooms differ from one season to the next and then melt back into the river in spring. You sleep on a block of ice under reindeer hides, in a bag rated for the temperature, and the warm building next door holds the bathrooms, the sauna and your luggage. A second wing, ICEHOTEL 365, is refrigerated and stands through the year.

The reason

The Torne River

Jukkasjarvi, Norrbotten, Sweden

The river is the building material. Ice is cut from it in March, stored through the summer and used to build the following winter's hotel, which makes the Torne the only supplier of its kind in this guide. In winter it is a frozen road; in the warmer months it runs fast and clear past the village. Standing on it and knowing the room you slept in came out of it is the reason to come here rather than to a copy.

The catch

The winter suites are seasonal, and this is 200 kilometres inside the Arctic Circle.

Best months December, January and February Ask us about this pair →

14 Ice Hotels

Hotel de Glace

Saint-Gabriel-de-Valcartier, Quebec, Canada

Hotel de Glace, Saint-Gabriel-de-Valcartier, Quebec, Canada

The room

Hotel de Glace is the only ice hotel in North America, rebuilt each winter at Valcartier, about half an hour north of Quebec City. It works to a theme each season, with carved suites, an ice chapel and a bar where the glasses are cut from ice as well. Rooms are snow and ice throughout, so you sleep in an arctic bag on an insulated pad and use the heated pavilion next door for everything else. The season is short, usually January to late March, and the building comes down at the end of it.

The reason

The fortifications of Old Quebec

Vieux-Quebec, Quebec City

Old Quebec is thirty minutes away, and it is the only walled city north of Mexico. The ramparts run about four and a half kilometres, and you can walk the circuit past the Citadelle and along the terrace above the river. It takes a couple of hours in the cold. Pair it with a hotel that will not exist by May and you get both extremes of the same place: four centuries of stone, and a building with an expiry date.

The catch

Winter only, and you need a car or a shuttle from Quebec City.

Best months January, February and March Ask us about this pair →

15 Ice Hotels

Snowhotel Kirkenes

Kirkenes, Finnmark, Norway

Snowhotel Kirkenes, Kirkenes, Finnmark, Norway

The room

Snowhotel Kirkenes sits near the Barents Sea in the far north-east of Norway, close to the Russian border, and it is held at around minus four degrees all year rather than only in winter. The rooms are snow and ice with carved walls, and you sleep in a thermal bag. There are warm cabins on the same site for guests who would rather not, along with a restaurant, and huskies and reindeer are kept on the property. Kirkenes has an airport and is the turning point of the coastal ferry route, so arriving is easier than the map suggests.

The reason

The Kirkenes fjord and the Barents Sea

Kirkenes, Finnmark, Norway

The fjord is at the bottom of the hill, and it is the reason the town exists at all. This is king crab water, and the sea here does not freeze, so the working boats run through the winter under whatever light there is. In December there is no sunrise; in June there is no sunset. Standing at the edge of an Arctic fjord that stays liquid, beside a hotel made of frozen water, is a contradiction worth the flight.

The catch

Remote, and winter daylight runs to a few hours at most.

Best months January, February and March Ask us about this pair →

16 Ice Hotels

Arctic SnowHotel & Glass Igloos

Lehtojarvi, Rovaniemi, Finland

Arctic SnowHotel & Glass Igloos, Lehtojarvi, Rovaniemi, Finland

The room

The Arctic SnowHotel stands at Lehtojarvi outside Rovaniemi in Finnish Lapland, and it is rebuilt each winter with snow rooms, an ice restaurant and a bar. The snow rooms hold at about minus five, and you sleep in a rated bag on a bed of ice, with warm facilities, saunas and an ice sauna in the buildings alongside. There are glass-roofed cabins on the same site for people who want the sky and the heating at the same time. Rovaniemi airport is around half an hour away by road, and the site sits on a lake that freezes hard enough to walk on.

The reason

The Arctic Circle at Rovaniemi

Rovaniemi, Lapland, Finland

The Arctic Circle crosses the ground a few kilometres north of Rovaniemi, and the line is marked. It is a line on a map made physical, and it explains everything about the place: the polar night in December, the sun that does not set in June, and the reason a hotel here can be built out of snow at all. Walk across it, then look at the forest and the frozen lake on either side. The line is the reason and the weather is the proof.

The catch

Snow rooms are seasonal and the site is 20 kilometres out of town.

Best months December, January and February Ask us about this pair →

Details change. Everything here is accurate to the best of our knowledge as at August 2026. All property names belong to their owners; we have no commercial relationship with any of them.