Seasonal hotels cut and cast from snow and ice each winter, always with heated buildings standing alongside them.
Port of call no. I
Icehotel
Jukkasjärvi, Sweden
The original of the type, built again every December from ice cut out of the Torne River and returned to it each spring when the walls melt. Artists are invited to design individual suites, so no two rooms in a given winter repeat, and no winter repeats the one before. A permanent wing, chilled through the summer by solar power, keeps the idea available outside the season. Warm accommodation, a sauna and a restaurant stand a short walk away across the snow.
Logged — Rebuilt each winter since 1989 · Ice drawn from the Torne River · Year-round wing held below freezing by solar cooling
Port of call no. II
Hôtel de Glace
Saint-Gabriel-de-Valcartier, Quebec, Canada
North America's version of the idea, raised each January outside Quebec City and dismantled by the spring thaw. Vaulted corridors are sprayed over formwork and carved once set; a chapel, a bar with glasses cut from ice, and a slide through one of the halls have become fixtures of the plan. Guests sleep on ice plinths in insulated bags after an evening briefing that most people take seriously. A heated pavilion nearby holds the washrooms, lockers and hot tubs.
Logged — Rebuilt annually since 2001 · Roughly a month of construction each winter · Ice chapel and ice slide on site
Port of call no. III
Kirkenes Snowhotel
Kirkenes, Finnmark, Norway
Far up on the Barents coast, a snow hotel rebuilt each winter beside a fjord, with carved rooms whose themes change from season to season. The property keeps a large kennel of huskies and a herd of reindeer, so a stay usually involves being outdoors for most of the day. Alongside the snow building there are heated glass cabins used through the year, angled for the aurora. The restaurant leans heavily on king crab pulled from the fjord.
Logged — Rebuilt each winter near the Russian border · Carved snow rooms plus year-round glass cabins · Working husky kennels on the property
Port of call no. IV
SnowHotel at the SnowCastle of Kemi
Kemi, Finland
The SnowCastle at Kemi is rebuilt each winter on the shore of the Gulf of Bothnia, and the hotel is one quarter of it, sitting beside a snow restaurant, a chapel and halls given over to carving. Rooms are held a few degrees below freezing and equipped with proper expedition bedding; a heated building next door holds the showers and the breakfast room. A separate year-round wing keeps a smaller version of the castle standing through the summer.
Logged — Part of the annual SnowCastle on the Gulf of Bothnia · Snow rooms alongside a chapel and restaurant · Year-round SnowExperience 365 wing