Icehotel

When it comes to finding rooms with that little something extra, the Icehotel is hard to beat. This hotel and art exhibition was first built in 1989 and has been redesigned and built from scratch every year since.

Water from the River Torne provides ice for the hotel and a team of skilled and hardy workers chip, carve and chisel until the building is complete. There is a mix of warm and cold rooms in which to sleep, the latter lingering between -5 and -8°C on the thermometer. The highlight for most guests is the chance to bed down in one of the cold rooms, where a thick mattress covered in reindeer skins sits on top of a huge bed of ice. Snuggle up in your thermal sleeping bag then wake up in the morning to a steaming cup of lingonberry juice before jumping in the sauna before breakfast.

New for 2016 is the Icehotel 365, a permanent structure that is kept cool in summer by solar panels. Inside are luxury suites, each with their own bathroom as well as art suites designed and hand carved by artists from around the world.

Despite its frosty nature, there are plenty of cosy corners in which to warm your fingers and toes. Set up camp in front of the crackling fire in the Jukkasjärvi Homestead, a timbered building that dates back to 1768. Here you can enjoy beef and salmon steaks hot out the charcoal-fired oven, or head to the hotel restaurant to sample traditional Scandinavian fare with locally sourced fish, game and berries.

Then there is the ice bar, where everything from the glasses to the tables, chairs and bar itself is made from ice. Enjoy the totally unique surroundings and sip on what is likely to be the crispest glass of champagne or cocktail you’ll ever drink.