Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

My trip to the Icehotel in Jukkasjärvi, Sweden

Links on Head for Points may support the site by paying a commission.  See here for all partner links.

After two days of serious articles about the future of Avios and BA Executive Club, I thought we’d do something lighter today.

I visited the Icehotel in Jukkasjärvi, Sweden yesterday and thought you might like to see some pictures and a video.  We didn’t plan to come here but it turned out to be near to where we are staying so we took a trip over.

What most people who have only seen the odd random photo don’t understand is that Icehotel is really three hotels in one.  You have:

the temporary, annual, Icehotel, created from scratch each November by a team of artists – many of whom have not worked in ice before – flown in from around the world (whilst we were there, they were cutting ice blocks from the river behind the hotel to put in storage for this November)

the permanent Icehotel 365, which looks like the temporary Icehotel when you are inside but is actually a standard concrete block building with an exceptionally strong cooling system!

a standard hotel which, in this part of the world, means a collection of simple wooden cabins, very similar to what we are staying in ourselves in Kiruna

You do NOT stay in the Icehotel for your full stay.  It is obviously impractical.  Most people book a cabin for a few nights and then choose to spend a night on the ice, with all of their luggage etc remaining in the cabin or, if it is the first or last night, in storage.

The temporary Icehotel is just a collection of rooms plus a wedding chapel.  Icehotel 365 contains the Icebar and some larger, and arguably more impressive, rooms.  The standard hotel has the usual mix of bars and lounges.

Day visitors are welcome.  The hotels are empty during the day with the rooms left open as guests move across from their cabins in the evening and leave at breakfast.  A family ticket for four to tour both Icehotels was 699 Kr (£60).

(I cannot begin to explain how expensive most things are in Lapland.  The 10-minute taxi ride from the station to our hotel was £30.  All of the hotel activities, eg husky riding, are £500 – £1000 for a family of four for a 3-4 hour trip.  Using the hotel pool costs £90 for the four of us – it is not included in the room rate – because it is technically in the spa.  The shuttle bus ride to the Icehotel, 15 minutes each way, cost over £100 return for the four of us.  And so on.

If you have any concept of the value of money you should leave it at the airport.  The best one was when we found that our hotel charges £20 to sit in the lobby in the evening because you have a decent view through the windows of the Northern Lights should they turn up.)

You need to treat Icehotel as an art gallery rather than a hotel.  And, from that perspective (since it is clearly hopeless as hotel, having no facilities other than blocks of ice to sleep on) it is a huge success.

I made a video of some of the more impressive rooms which you can find below.  Here are some photos.  This is the central corridor, from which four side corridors contain the rooms:

My trip to the Icehotel in Jukkasjärvi, Sweden

This is a sea-themed room.  Note the reindeer skins on the bed which cover you at night:

My trip to the Icehotel in Jukkasjärvi, Sweden

Another room:

My trip to the Icehotel in Jukkasjärvi, Sweden

This is from a space-themed room:

My trip to the Icehotel in Jukkasjärvi, Sweden

This room had some casual chairs for guests:

My trip to the Icehotel in Jukkasjärvi, Sweden

This one had a travel theme, with the bed in a boat:

My trip to the Icehotel in Jukkasjärvi, Sweden

The hotel is a popular wedding venue.  This is the chapel built into the hotel this year:

I’m genuinely not sure I’d want to spend a night here.  As a work of art it is fantastic, but as somewhere to stay ….?  The cabins in the main hotel are also low on luxury, but this tends to be the ‘back to nature’ style in this part of the world and we have something similar at our own cabin at our hotel.

For a better view of the hotel, take at look at the video below.  This also includes some shots of Icehotel 365, the all-year hotel next door.  If you can’t see the video below, you will find it on our You Tube page here.  You can also subscribe to our channel via the same link.

The hotel website is here if you want to find out more.  Kiruna Airport handles 2-3 daily flights from Stockholm from SAS and, depending on season, Norwegian.


best hotel loyalty promotions

Hotel offers update – February 2025:

Want to earn more hotel points?  Click here to see our complete list of promotions from the major hotel chains or use the ‘Hotel Offers’ link in the menu bar at the top of the page.

Want to buy hotel points?

  • Hilton Honors is offering an 80%-100% bonus when you buy points – no closing date is given. Click here to buy.

Comments (42)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • Ralph says:

    Yes, these ice hotels are just a gimmick, but people who have paid a lot of money for the “experience” rarely say so! We went to Harbin northeast China for the ice festival and the Shangri-La where we were staying had an ice bar and restaurant extension built each winter. We had booked in the restaurant but my wife took one look at the miserable looking seriously heavily dressed people and baulked. She was very right! The bar was good fun for a short while with glasses made of ice that you throw against the wall after the drink.

  • David says:

    How’s the plumbing?

  • TravellingJake says:

    This looks great but for a much cheaper alternative, try Levi in Finnish Lapland. We booked a whole week there through Inghams ski company on half board with almost daily activities for a lot less than the sky high prices listed here.

    • Mike L says:

      Completely agree, Levi is stunning too

    • @mkcol says:

      Thirded – been twice about 15 & 20 years ago and would happily return.

    • Yuff says:

      Was thinking that when I read the article. Didn’t remember paying that much for the husky rides or seeing santa.
      Combined it with some skiing but the skiing wasn’t that good, but too flat 🙂

  • Matthew Lawson says:

    Sadly, I think you have missed a lot of the detail about the Ice Hotel, which I have visited and stayed at 3 times. Yes, you stay one night ‘on the ice’ as you put it – but you are issued with fantastic thermal sleeping bags – large ones – so you are not covered by the reindeer skins, which form a layer between you and the ice. You change in warm, private cloakrooms and then walk through into your room. There are toilets, showers and a sauna in this area so you are not cold when doing any of those things! The ‘Warm Rooms’ in the permanent hotel are very comfortable, with all modern facilities. It is an expensive stay – but the setting inside and out is simply stunnng. Generally, in February when we were last there it is -40 outside (but for all excursions you are issued with thermal layers, hats, gloves and jackets) and -5 inside the hotel and Ice Bar (which, strangely, makes inside feel warm…). The restaurants are excellent at the Ice Hotel, with excellent use of local cuisine. We were lucky to experience several Northern Lights displays – once during dinner, when everyone just went outside to enjoy the spectacle. I have no connection with the Ice Hotel, other than a very happy guest on each visit, and I wouldn’t want anyone to be put off by comments about cost or comfort!

    • Jo says:

      Agreed! Was the trip of a lifetime for us and we remember our night at the ice hotel very fondly. We had one night in Abisko in an overpriced hostel but guaranteed northern lights and one overnight husky adventure and wilderness cabin. My only regret was spending £350 each on SAS/ Norwegian flights to Kiruna. Using RFS to Stockholm and train didn’t cross my mind. ???? nothing was cheap about the trip but excellent memories!!! Oh don’t make the mistake we did which was to rely on Public transport – simply not reliable. Thank goodness we found a taxi driver in the middle of nowhere one day! It’s too cold for hound children and we left our infant with grandparents but looks fun for much older kids!

    • Mac says:

      +2
      Fully agree with Matthew and Jo. As someone who’s also stayed several nights at the Ice Hotel (not simply visited as a day tripper) this review comes across as very jaded. Of course everything is expensive, rural Swedish Lapland isn’t exactly abundant with cheap foreign labour! We went snowmobiling, took an ice sculpting class and ate in the themed restaurants knowing how much these activities cost before arriving, none of it was a surprise. The key is to pre-plan transfers and activities to get the best rates, once you’re there you’re a captive buyer like you would be in any other tourist destination. Also as a guest you get free access to areas day visitors have to pay admission to. Their operation and infrastructure needs to be viable for 12 months of the year even though the visitor season is little more than 3 months. We knew full well how expensive the trip would be, still it’s one of the most memorable and enjoyable we’ve ever done and wouldn’t hesitate to recommend anyone to save up and immerse themselves in the experience.

      • Rob says:

        As you say, “We knew full well how expensive the trip would be”. Probably because someone like me told you. I’m certainly not saying don’t do it, and I’m not saying ‘don’t go to Lapland’ – I am just flagging up a key point.

        We are spending about 3x more than hotel bill per day on other stuff. That figure is usually about 0.5x.

  • Shazza says:

    I don’t mean to be rude or lower the tone but that second photo down……..

  • @mkcol says:

    This icehotel reminds me of Hotel de Glace in Quebec province where my husband & I married just over 8 years ago – they have the same concept of annual temporary ice hotel set in the grounds of a regular hotel plus cabins. Staying in Hotel de Glace for our wedding night was genuinely magical & nothing at all to do with having just got married (I’m not sentimental like that).

    Also to echo another comment above – try Finnish Lapland instead & don’t get gouged like it seems you have been in Swedish Lapland. I’ve twice stayed at the Hotel Levitunturi in Levi too.

    • ankomonkey says:

      We stayed there last Feb. The whole area has a lot to offer. We had no complaints.

  • Graham Walsh says:

    Taxis are the same in Norway. 15 minute walk or about 1 mile in cab is £15. Thankfully when I took my kids at half term, they wanted to walk to the hotel and play in the snow 🙂

  • Peter Cashen says:

    We were in Lapland this December with the kids. We stayed up north in Saariselka.

    We went to the bar on the first evening; beer 8 Euro, Sprite for the kids 4 Euro… and then the wife asked for a prosecco!! Out came the credit card.

    To my absolute surprise, a glass of prosecco was 3 euros, and the bottle was 10! This is for a full sized bottle! Not everything is expensive ha

    • Rob says:

      Agree, I am surprised that alcohol is reasonable (by London standards). Just been quoted £55 for a shuttle bus to the airport (15 minutes away) for four so we are taking a taxi at the bargain price of £35.

      • Alex Sm says:

        Alcohol is made elsewhere and doesn’t require local labour cost, while driving a bus or a taxi does. And London markup on alcohol is ridiculous as people see it as making easy money with doing nothing + taxes and duties which make up to 3/4 of unit price in the UK

        • Rob says:

          Norway is the most expensive country in the world to buy alcohol and the border is just up the road! I was expecting the same here but it isn’t the case, although it is illegal for supermarkets to sell alcohol – the Government has a monopoly at retail.

        • Riku says:

          Supermarkets in Sweden sell alcohol just like they do in Finland. But they cannot sell anything with more than 3.5% alcohol content. That is where the state run off licence chains have the monopoly.
          Over the counter medicines like aspirin receive a similar monopoly at pharmacies in Nordic countries and supermarkets can’t even sell you a packet of Strepsils (which are counted as “medicine”). Thanks to that the prices for things like aspirin are 10x what you pay in the UK.

        • Crafty says:

          Prosecco isn’t…

        • Crafty says:

          Wait, sorry. I misread your comment as “alcohol is made everywhere”! Ignore Or delete please.

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

The UK's biggest frequent flyer website uses cookies, which you can block via your browser settings. Continuing implies your consent to this policy. Our privacy policy is here.