The Icehotel (Igloo) Jukkasjärvi near the city of Kiruna in Sweden is, without a doubt, the best Icehotel in the whole of Scandinavia. I have already visited the Sorrisniva Igloo hotel in Alta, Norway but Jukkasjärvi Igloo is way more spectacular and to my surprise, it is opened all year round. In the summer, only the museum part of the Igloo is opened to the visitors.
We were visiting Abisko and after spending a night in Abisko, we drove in a rented car to Jukkasjärvi to see this stunning piece of art.
How to Get There
As I mentioned earlier, we had a car which we rented at the Evenes Airport in Lofoten Norway and drove to Abisko and Icehotel. It is the best way to discover the region especially in winter. I wrote a complete blog on how you can get to Icehotel and Abisko from either Kiruna Airport, Stockholm or Narvik/Harstad in Lofoten, Norway. See here
How to Visit Icehotel (Igloo) - Our Experience
The Igloo is 115km from Abisko and takes 1½ hours to reach Jukkasjärvi. The road is in good condition even in winter, we didn't face any problem. There is very light traffic and the scenery is quite beautiful all the way. There are two parts of the Igloo, one is the museum for day visitors and in front of the museum is for the guests who want to stay overnight.
The entrance fee for day visitors is SEK 349 (around 32 €) and opening hours are between 10 am and 6 pm. When I visited Sorrisniva Igloo hotel in Alta, Norway there was no entrance fee so I was thinking it is free to visit as well and luckily for us there was no one at the entrance to check our tickets so we got in for free. We only came to know while we were outside and talked to the girl standing at the entrance gate. For more details, visit the Icehotel website.
There is a beautiful bar just next to the entrance, even though it is expensive but it is a great experience to have just one drink.
Near the bar, you will see a number of incredible sculptures made out of Arctic Ice. But the most beautiful part of the Igloo is a collection of different rooms designed by individual artists from around the world. We spent a couple of hours only to go through those stunning rooms. They do change these rooms after every couple of years.
We stayed inside the hotel for only 3 hours and it was pretty cold, the temperature was -7°C which is maintained year-round but we felt really cold even though we were wearing our winter jackets. Due to cold, my nose was constantly running and I couldn't stay inside much longer. Plan to stay at least a couple of hours to see all the areas.
Overnight Stay inside the Icehotel (Igloo)
It will be a very unique experience to stay overnight inside the Igloo but it might not be very comfortable. I haven't stayed there overnight myself but after spending only 3 hours inside the museum part of the Igloo, I was kind of relieved to get out. I myself wouldn't stay there overnight but you should find out yourself.
