The story
From the northern lights to the midnight sun - ICEHOTEL is a frozen icon since 1989.
It all started in Jukkasjärvi, a small village in northern Sweden, where the winters are long, cold, dark and quiet. At the time, most tourists visited during the summer, to paddle the Torne River and enjoy the beautiful midnight sun.
But back in 1989, ICEHOTEL’s founder Yngve Bergqvist had a vision and a strong belief that the polar winter could be just as amazing for people to experience. After a trip to Japan, Ynge invited artists to create an exhibition of ice art on the frozen Torne River. In the Arctic Hall, where French artist Jannot Derid displayed his work, an igloo was built.
Visitors came in hundreds to enjoy the exhibition and late one night a few people decided to stay over in the igloo. They spent the night in sleeping bags and on reindeer hides in subzero temperatures, surrounded by luminous ice art. Much to everyone’s surprise, they woke up exhilarated and well rested, claiming the experience had been both warm and unforgettable. And that was the moment ICEHOTEL was born.
Today, more than thirty years later, ICEHOTEL is famous around the world as the first hotel made of ice and snow.
From a humble igloo, it has grown into a 2,500 square meter palace built from the pure Torne River ice, featuring a grand hall with columns and chandelier, a ceremony hall, unique art suites and ice rooms.
Since 2016 it is possible to enjoy this magical experience all year around – in ICEHOTEL 365 you can stay in frozen art suits even when the summer sun sits high over Lappland. There, you can also enjoy the exquisite ICEBAR BY ICEHOTEL. This striking bar is built entirely from snow and ice, and even your drinks are served “in the rocks” – in glasses carved from the Torne River ice.
THE STORY OF THE WORLD'S FIRST ICE GLASSES
The year is 1995 and Åke Larsson, ICEHOTEL’s architect at the time, is standing in ICEBAR together with then creative director Arne Bergh. They were drinking whisky from plastic cups, when a question dawned on them: “why settle for plastic cups, when we’re surrounded by ice?”. Out into the cold and dark night they went to find a piece of ice each, from which they carved two glasses. Back in the bar, they poured a whisky into the new ice glasses – the expression “in the rocks” was born!
It didn't take long before they abandoned the knife carving method and came up with a more efficient way of producing the ice glasses. That first winter, a thousand glasses were made and the development process continued. The glasses were designed to resemble the ice blocks that are taken from the Torne River every spring. With over a hundred thousand ice glasses produced each year, they are one of our largest export products, and the original design remains essentially unchanged.