Sweden’s Icehotel has opened its doors to guests for its 30th winter season with 15 brand-new one-of-a-kind suites.
Each year since 1989, the Icehotel has been built and rebuilt using just snow and ice in the village of Jukkasjarvi, 125 miles north of the Arctic Circle next to the shores of the Torne River.
To celebrate its 30th anniversary, this year’s Icehotel has a new layout, new activities and even a special ice-carved observation tower at the entrance.
Sweden’s Icehotel has opened its doors to guests for its 30th winter season. Pictured is a suite called A Night At The Theatre, which features ice-carved curtains, reindeer waiting in the wings, an impressive scale model of the hotel entrance in the centre and a frozen bed. It was created by father-daughter duo Jonathan and Marnie Green
A frozen cat sits at the foot of the bed in this suite, called Feline’s Lair. It was created by Brian Alvin McArthur and Marie Detarando
The IceBar, called Torneland, has ice-carved roller coasters, games and hot air balloons
The IceBar was designed by Luc Vosin, a landscape artist and interior designer, and Mathieu Brison, an urban planner and architect. Both are from France
A new tower sculpture that stands at the entrance to the hotel. It has been designed by Jens Thoms Ivarsson and Mats Nilsson
Artists from 16 countries used 30,000 cubic metres of snice – a mixture of snow and ice – to construct the building, which is the equivalent of 110 million ice creams.
They spent weeks constructing the hotel under the guidance of the new creative director, Luca Roncoroni.
Among the 33 artists were two British teams – father and daughter duo Jonathan and Marnie Green and professional sculptor Robert Harding – both of which have created suites for Icehotel before.
Jonathan and Marnie’s suite celebrates 30 years of Icehotel with a West End-themed production called A Night at the Theatre.
This brand new suite is called Golden Ice and is inspired by the aurora. It was created by Nicholas Triboulot and Jean Marie Guitera
Edo-Kiriko – a traditional Japanese glass cutting technique – was used to create this kaleidoscope in a suite by Natsuki and Shingo Saito
British artist Robert Harding’s suite, called Bone Room. It celebrates the natural melting process of the Icehotel each spring as it slowly dissolves back into the Torne River. It has giant ice-carved bone sculptures overlooking the frozen bed
The Ceremony Hall has been given a Gingko theme and pays homage to the Chinese Ginkgo Tree, which symbolises hope, strength, longevity, and features 30 stars carved into the ceiling
The Spring Dream suite designed by Lei Zhao and Yong Zhao. The pair wanted their suite to ‘evoke some energy and a yearning for the soft, spring breeze through the differences in visual and physical perceptions’
The Clear Water suite has an amazing sculpture of two lionesses and their cubs drinking from the ice. It was created by Swedish artists AnnaSofia Mååg and Niklas Byman
It features ice-carved curtains, reindeer waiting in the wings, an impressive scale model of the hotel entrance in the centre and a frozen bed nestled among miniature theatre seats in the auditorium, with six life-size ice seats for guests to sit on behind.
Robert’s suite, called Bone Room, celebrates the natural melting process of the Icehotel each spring as it slowly dissolves back into the Torne River.
It aims to highlight the ‘beauty found in the cycle of life’ with giant ice-carved bone sculptures overlooking the frozen bed, each glowing from within thanks to an under-floor white light.
This suite is called Ruossut and ‘pays tribute to the incomparable light and sounds of the Arctic’. It was created by Anna Ohlund and John Pettersson
A suite called The Day After by Marjolein Vonk and Maurizio Perron. It features an ice chandelier
Subterranean is the name of this suite by Jörgen Westin and Daniel Rosenbaum. The pair describe it as a ‘humbling venture into a vital, yet concealed part of our planet’
Russian artists Vladimir Barsukov and Ekaterina Barsukova created the suite on the left, which is called The 6th Feeling. The suite on the right is called Echos of the Torne River and has been designed by Chilean-German artist Francisco Cortés Zamudio. Inside guests will hear specially recorded sounds of crunching snow and cracking ice
Other suites include a cat-inspired room called Feline Lair, a room featuring an ice-carved kaleidoscope and an insect-themed room called Subterranean.
The Ceremony Hall pays homage to the Chinese Gingko tree and features 30 stars carved into the ceiling – one for each year of Icehotel.
While the IceBar, called Torneland, has ice-carved roller coasters, games and hot air balloons surrounding the bar.
The Icehotel has also unveiled a fresh new restaurant team this season led by the food and beverage manager Henrik Lööv alongside chefs Samuel Jahn and Sebastian Olsson.
Clive Stacey, Managing Director of Discover the World, which manages bookings for the hotel, said: ‘Right back from those early years we knew that Icehotel offered something incredibly special for our clients, which was the driving force behind us launching our own direct flight to Kiruna in 2006.
‘We wanted to make it more accessible for weekend breaks and take out the hassle of connecting flights.
‘And 13 years later it’s just as popular thanks to the continued innovation by the Jukkasjärvi team who, year after year, manage to create a totally unique hotel, harnessing the creative talent from around the world.’
While Yngve Bergqvist, founder of Icehotel, added: ‘It has been a fantastic journey with a lot of pride and joy, and the reason for this is that we have had such great employees throughout the years who have really made an effort to give guests, coming from all around the world, life-enriching moments during their stay.’
Inside the suite called White Santorini, which is inspired by the Greek island. It was created by Haemee Han and Jaeyual Lee
Polish artists Tomasz Czajkowski and Aleksandra Pasek created this suite, called Warm Up. They say it urges you to rest your mind and allows you to indulge in your own presence
German designer and artist Franziska Agrawal created this suite, which is called Tip of the Iceberg. Each year since 1989, the Icehotel has been built and rebuilt using just snow and ice in the village of Jukkasjarvi, 125 miles north of the Arctic Circle