ICEHOTEL 35 Is Open for the Season. Here’s a First Look at Its Stunning Interior.

The veneered ICEHOTEL in Jukkasjärvi has opened for the season. Celebrating its 35th anniversary, the hotel has started welcoming guests to its one-of-a-kind experience, made entirely out of ice and snow. News this year includes the ICEBAR’s theme, “In Orbit”, created in collaboration with Swedish astronaut Christer Fuglesang. 

A gallery filled with ephemeral art—each spring melting back into the river from which it came. ICEHOTEL in northern Sweden is a hotel made entirely out of ice and snow, sourced from the Torne River. At this bucket-list destination, guests can sleep in Art Suites made out of ice, and wander in a sub-zero fairytale setting. As if that wasn’t enough, the hotel also boasts a grand Ceremony Hall made out of ice, an ice and snow cinema, one bar, three restaurants, and five wilderness camps.

This year, ICEHOTEL celebrates its 35th anniversary. On December 13, the doors opened to this season’s iteration of the hotel. The Art Suites of the hotel are designed anew every year by artists from all around the world, all under the guidance of Creative Director Luca Roncoroni. 

Constructing a Masterpiece

Building the 35th ICEHOTEL took six weeks, from start to finish. In order to construct the masterpiece, builders used 500 tons of ice from the Torne River, Sweden’s largest national river, and 10 Olympic-sized swimming pools of "snis", a mixture of snow and ice.

– A warm November delayed the start of the construction season, making this winter particularly challenging, but once again, an amazing team succeeded in finishing ICEHOTEL 35 just in time for the opening. The artists' commitment resulted in 14 unique art projects, which will perfectly celebrate our 35th anniversary, says Luca Roncoroni, Creative Director at ICEHOTEL. 

The creation process started in the spring when ice blocks were harvested. They have since been stored at ICEHOTEL's ice production hall. A dedicated team totalling 76 people—ranging from builders, artists, and lighting designers to ice production, and artist support team—has worked intensely to complete the hotel.

From Art Suites to Space Bars

Visitors at the hotel of 2024/2025 can look forward to falling asleep in a range of creative and breathtaking suites. Every year, the hotel opens up an international application for anyone to participate in the creation of the coming ICEHOTEL. Being known as a fusion of art and design, every new version of the hotel is always unique—and only exists once. The selected designs are chosen on creativity, innovation, feasibility, and on the experience provided to the guest.

This year’s suites were created by 26 artists from 13 countries, like Canada, Ukraine, South Korea, South Africa, and more. Some of them feature a huge rhinoceros, like the Art Suite titled “WHOOPS WRONG ROOM!!”; others, like the suite “Hideaway,” offer a refuge in the immersive art of the room; and some showcase fascinating Sámi craftsmanship, like the suite “Áhku Fáhcat,” meaning “grandmother’s mittens” in Sámi. 

In addition to the Art Suites, there are also 20 ice rooms, a Ceremony Hall filled with icy floral splendor for weddings and events, and the iconic Main Hall, almost 30 meters long with crystal chandeliers created from 220 handcrafted ice crystals. In the year-round open part of the hotel, ICEHOTEL 365, there are an additional 18 art and deluxe suites, an ice gallery, and the newly imagined ICEBAR In Orbit.

True to its name, the ICEBAR in Jukkasjärvi is a full-scale bar made out of ice and snow. The new space-inspired design, named "In Orbit", was made in collaboration with Sweden’s first astronaut, Christer Fuglesang. It was created by Christian Strömqvist, Karl-Johan Ekeroth, and PinPin Studio, in collaboration with Fuglesang. ICEBAR “In Orbit” is an experience where guests can sip on a drink next to a life-sized ice and snow astronaut, or make a quick exit via a slide carved from ice and snow. 

Celebrating 35 Years

The first ICEHOTEL opened in 1989. In addition to being a hotel, it acts as an art exhibition with ever-changing art made out of ice and snow. The hotel is created in a new guise every winter; when the season's hotel has melted back to the river in the spring, a part of the hotel remains. This way, visitors can experience the ice and snow year-round.

ICEHOTEL was an idea born from its founder Yngve Bergqvist’s desire to create an experience on nature's terms. He wanted something that used the materials naturally available around Jukkasjärvi—snow, ice, and cold temperatures. Today, ICEHOTEL has welcomed more than a million visitors from all over the world and continues to be a place of art, creativity, and unforgettable experiences, year after year.

Art Suites and Artists of ICEHOTEL 35:

“Áhku Fáhcat”, by Elisabeth Kristensen, Norway; “WHOOPS WRONG ROOM!!” by AnnaSofia Mååg, Sweden; “ZIG and ZAG”, by Nicolas Triboulot & Clement Daquin, France; “Flight”, by Laura Marcos, Argentina & Coralie Quincey, France; “Change Through Time”, by Rob Harding, UK & Timsam Harding, Spain; “Näcken”, by Tjåsa Gusfors & Sam Gusfors, Sweden; “Antique Myths”, by Viacheslav Iemelianenko & Bogdan Kutsevych, Ukraine; “ICE KILN”, by Jaeyual Lee, USA & Daeho Lee, South Korea; “Give Us a Kiss”, by Carl Wellander & Malena Wellander, Sweden; “Come Warm Up”, by Isabelle Gasse & Joelle Gagnon, Canada; “Hideaway”, by Pieke Bergmans & Peter de Wit, Netherlands; “Yesterday’s Tomorrow”, by Corban Warrington & Daniel Afonso, South Africa; “Main Hall: Quasar”, by Wouter Biegelaar, Netherlands & Viktor Tsarski, Bulgaria; “Ceremony Hall: Gaia’s Bloom”, by Lisa Lindqvist & Kate Munro, UK; “ICEBAR: In Orbit”, by Christian Strömqvist & Karl Johan Ekeroth.