The much-anticipated Icehotel #30 has officially opened in Jukkasjärvi, and it has been designed this year by 33 artists from 16 different countries.
The exhibition of snow, ice and light has 15 art suites with an eclectic range of designs. For example, visitors can check into a frozen West End theatre production, spend the night in a subterranean ice room with giant ice ants, settle down in a frozen feline lair or wake up in the Greek island of Santorini.
The design teams built the hotel under the guidance of the hotel’s new creative director, Luca Roncoroni. The theme for the main hall is ‘Brutalism,’ celebrating the construction of the hotel, and the Ceremony Hall's theme ‘Gingko’ highlights the ginkgo tree, which is seen as a symbol of hope, strength and longevity.
A Night at the Theatre has ice curtains, reindeers, a model of the hotel entrance in the centre and a frozen bed nestled amongst miniature theatre seats in the auditorium. There are also six life-size ice seats for guests to sit on.
Icehotel #30 marks 30 years of the popular attraction in Swedish Lapland. It began in 1989, when founder Yngve Bergqvist decided to turn his summer business offering white-water rafting, saunas and mountain biking into a year-round experience. He added a small igloo allowing visitors to stay during the winter months, and three decades later, the Icehotel has welcomed a million visitors and has become one of the world’s most famous and unique places to stay.
Icehotel #30 has been created from what staff call "sn-ice," which is a mixture of giant ice blocks made from water harvested from the Thorne river and snow. When it melts in the spring, the water will return there. To mark the 30th anniversary, the hotel has built an ice-carved observation deck, offering views of the surrounding frozen landscape across the Torne River.
A stay at the Icehotel offers the chance to combine sleeping on ice in one of these unique suites, with various winter adventures including husky-sledging, ice-sculpting, snowmobiling, reindeer sleigh rides, Northern Lights photography classes, wilderness dinners and guided Swedish sauna rituals. For those who want to visit at other times of the year, the Icehotel has also opened a permanent ice and snow experience.
"As proud partners of the original Icehotel, we are excited to see the new designs and artistic expressions carved into the ice," says Jonathan Cooper of Visit Lapland. "This sustainable and beautiful destination remains a firm favourite with travellers to Swedish Lapland, and with each year's new designs comes a fresh perspective. Each room tells a story that the designers want to share with the world and every year people are enchanted by the new stories that emerge."
For further information on visiting the Icehotel, please see Discover the World here. Dates for the 2020/21 season are bookable now!