Ice, ice BABY

Sweden’s iconic Icehotel offers anything but a warm welcome, though Laura Millar says it still makes guests feel special

Why go?

It takes a certain kind of person who is willing to spend the night on a block of ice, but since the creation of Sweden’s fascinating Icehotel in 1989, there’s been no lack of guests happy to bed down on a chunk of frozen water. It’s the brainchild of local entrepreneur Yngve Bergqvist, who’d been happily welcoming summer tourists to the village of Jukkasjärvi in northern Sweden for years, with activities such as white-water rafting and canoeing on the nearby Torne river, but wanted to attract them in the winter, too.

Considering temperatures here, 125 miles above the Arctic Circle, can plummet to -7C, and that there are only a few hours of daylight, it was a challenge to make the place appealing over these cold, dark months. But after a trip to Japan, which led him to discover the art of ice sculpture, Bergqvist hit on the idea of holding a similar exhibition at home, with local artists creating works with ice from the river, which freezes solid all winter.

Bedding down