Four buildings of ice and packed snow in Sweden, Finland, Norway and Switzerland, each raised for one winter and described from published sources.om new material the following year, so no plan repeats. Where the operator also keeps rooms that work all year, that is stated in the entry rather than assumed.
Icehotel stands beside the Torne river at Jukkasjärvi, in the far north of Sweden. Each winter a building is raised from river ice and from snow packed into vaults; it serves one season and melts back into the river when spring arrives. Artists cut and carve the rooms inside it.
The same operator also keeps a year-round building on the site, cooled through the summer, so cold rooms are not limited to the winter months. Warm rooms, a restaurant and service buildings stand nearby. Sleeping in the cold rooms is arranged with insulated bags and reindeer hides, as the hotel describes it.
What's around
Jukkasjärvi is a short drive from Kiruna, which has the nearest airport and railway station. The village holds a wooden church and the river itself. Ask the hotel which buildings are open in the winter season you have in mind, since exact dates shift from year to year.
CategoryIce Hotels · LocationJukkasjärvi, Sweden · CheckedSeptember 2026
SnowCastle of Kemi
Kemi, Finland
The SnowCastle of Kemi is built each winter on the shore of the Bay of Bothnia, in the town of Kemi in northern Finland. Walls, vaults and courtyards are formed from snow and ice, and the structure holds a hotel, a restaurant and a chapel. The thaw takes it down and it is built again.
The operator also runs a year-round snow building at the same harbour, so part of the site does not depend on the season. In the winter castle guests sleep in snow rooms; warmer glass rooms and heated buildings also stand on the ground, as the operator sets out in its own material.
What's around
Kemi lies on the coast road and rail line between Oulu and Tornio, and the harbour sits at the edge of the town. An icebreaker also works from here through the winter. Confirm opening dates, room types and what a night includes with the operator before travelling.
CategoryIce Hotels · LocationKemi, Finland · CheckedSeptember 2026
Sorrisniva Igloo Hotel
Alta, Norway
Sorrisniva Igloo Hotel is raised beside the Alta river in Finnmark, in northern Norway. The igloo building is cut and moulded from ice and snow each winter and dismantled when it melts, so its plan and its carvings are new every season. It stands on a riverside property outside the town of Alta.
That property also carries year-round buildings, including a lodge with heated rooms and a restaurant, which stay open outside the winter months. Within the ice building, bedrooms, a bar and a chapel are formed from the material itself. The operator describes the bedding used in the cold rooms.
What's around
Alta has an airport and lies on the road along the fjord; the hotel is a short drive up the river valley from town. The rock carvings at Alta are nearby. Ask about winter road conditions, transfers and which buildings are in use during the season you choose.
Iglu-Dorf Davos-Klosters is a village of snow domes built for the winter season on a mountain site above Davos, in the Swiss canton of Graubünden. The operator raises several such villages in the Alps, and this is one separate site among them. The domes are packed from snow and vanish with the thaw.
Sleeping domes are shared or private, and a common dome is used for eating and sitting. Because the village stands high on a mountain, access depends on the weather and on the transport serving the area; the operator sets out how guests reach it. Nothing here stands from one winter to the next.
What's around
Davos and Klosters lie in the valley below and are reached by rail from Landquart. Restaurants, shops and stations are down there rather than at the village. Ask the operator about arrival times, what to carry up and what happens if the weather closes the mountain on the day.
Buildings of ice and snow work in winter only, and each is raised again from new material every year, so nothing described here survives the thaw. Dates, room types and access change season by season. This independent site is not connected with any operator, sells nothing and books nothing; ask the operator directly.
