Hotels in Kiruna

In addition to the hotels listed, Jukkasjärvi Wärdshus och Hembygdsgård at Jukkasjärvi rents accommodations.

The Ice Hotel

Since the late 1980s, the most unusual, and most impermanent, hotel in Sweden is re-created early every winter on the frozen steppes near the iron mines of Jukkasjärvi, 200km (124 miles) north of the Arctic Circle. Here, the architect Yngve Bergqvist, financed by a group of friends who (not surprisingly) developed the original concept over bottles of vodka in an overheated sauna, uses jackhammers, bulldozers, and chainsaws to fashion a 60-room hotel out of 4,000 tons of densely packed snow and ice. The basic design is that of an igloo, but with endless amounts of whimsical sculptural detail thrown in as part of the novelty. Like Hilton's worst nightmare, the resulting "hotel" will inevitably buckle, collapse, and then vanish during the spring thaws. Despite its temporary state, during the long and frigid northern midwinter, it attracts a steady stream of engineers, sociologists, and the merely curious, who avail themselves of timely activities in Sweden's far north: dog-sled and snowmobile rides, cross-country skiing, and shimmering views of the aurora borealis. On the premises are an enormous reception hall, a multimedia theater, two saunas, and an ice chapel appropriate for simple meditation, weddings, and baptisms.

Available for occupancy (temperatures permitting) between mid-December and sometime in March, the hotel resembles an Arctic cross between an Arabian casbah and a medieval cathedral. Minarets are formed by dribbling water for about a week onto what eventually becomes a slender and soaring pillar of ice. Domes are formed igloo-style out of ice blocks arranged in a curved-roof circle. Reception halls boast rambling vaults supported by futuristic-looking columns of translucent ice, and sometimes whimsical sculptures whose sense of the absurd heightens a venue that visitors describe as surreal. Some of these are angled in ways that amplify the weak midwinter daylight that filters through panes of (what else?) chain-sawed ice.

Purists quickly embrace the structure as the perfect marriage of architecture and environment; sensualists usually admire it hastily before heading off to warmer climes and other, more conventional hotels.

What's the most frequently asked question on the lips of virtually everyone who shows up? "Is it comfortable?" The answer is "not particularly," although a stay probably will enhance your appreciation of the (warm and modern) comforts of conventional housing. Upon arrival, guests are issued thermal jumpsuits of "beaver nylon" whose air-lock cuffs are designed to help the wearer survive temperatures as low as -8°F (-22°C). Beds are fashioned from blocks of chiseled ice lavishly draped, Eskimo-style, with reindeer skins. Guests keep warm with insulated body bags that were developed for walks on the moon. Other than a temporary escape into the hotel's sauna, be prepared for big chills: Room temperatures remain cold enough to keep the walls from melting. Some claim that this exposure will bolster your immune system so that it can better fight infections when you return to your usual environment.

The interior decor is, as you'd expect, hyperglacial, and loaded with insights into what the world might look like if an atomic war drove civilization underground to confront its stark and frigid destiny. Most rooms resemble a setting from a scary 1950s sci-fi flick, sometimes with an icy version of a pair of skin-draped Adirondack chairs pulled up to the surreal glow of an electric fireplace that emits light but, rather distressingly, no heat. Throughout there's an endearing decorative reliance on whatever bas-reliefs and curios its artisans may have decided to chisel into the ice.

There's lots of standing up at the long countertop crafted from ice that doubles as a bar. What should you drink? Swedish vodka, of course, that's dyed a (frigid) shade of blue and served in cups crafted from ice. Vodka never gets any colder than this.

Interested in this holiday on ice? Contact the Ice Hotel, Marknadsvägen 63, S-981 91 Jukkasjärvi, Sweden (tel. 0980/668-00; fax 0980/668-90; www.icehotel.com). Doubles cost from 3,800SEK to 4,900SEK ($760-$980/£380-£490) and suites from 5,800SEK to 7,000SEK ($1,160-$1,400/£580-£700) per day, including breakfast. Heated cabins, located near the ice palace, are available from 2,700SEK to 3,100SEK ($540-$620/£270-£310) per night for a double. Toilets are available in a heated building next door. From Kiruna, head east immediately along Route E10 until you come to a signpost marked JUKKASJÄRVI and follow this tiny road northeast for about 2.5km (1 1/2 miles).