Ever heard of the ice hotel?
By siliconindia   |   Monday, 18 July 2011, 23:59 IST   |    1 Comments
Printer Print Email Email
Ever heard of the ice hotel?
Bangalore: Open your eyes to the soft, mellow light of fiber optics and dawn. Ice surrounds you -- some of it carved into furnishings and figurines, some of it in enormous blocks that make up the walls, the ceiling and even the floor. Spend the night in a mummy bag on a slab of ice. The exquisiteness, the icy and the quick morning escape are all part of the typical Ice Hotel experience. The Icehotel in the village of Jukkasjarvi, about 17 km from Kiruna, Sweden was the world's first ice hotel. These Ice hotels are outsized, extravagant and exaggerated igloos. Solid blocks of ice make up their formidable, barrel-shaped structures. But indoors, ice hotels dazzle with intricate ice furniture, ice bars and even ice glasses. Vibrant lighting makes the structures look more like magical snow castles than frosty arctic dwellings. Sweden's Ice Hotel is built from scratch every year. A new design, new suites, and a brand new reception - in fact the whole thing in it is crisp and innovative. The Ice Hotel is located on the shores of the Torne River, in the aged village of Jukkasjarvi in Swedish Lapland. 10 000 tons of crystal clear ice from the 'ice manufacturing plant', the Torne River, and 30 000 tons of pure snow bigheartedly supplied by Mother Nature are needed to build the Ice Hotel every year. The ice is used for creating Icebar designs and ice glasses, for ice sculpting classes, events and merchandise launches all over the world whilst the snow is used for constructing a sturdy structure for the building. About 1,000 tons of what is left is used in the building of the next Icehotel. The ICEHOTEL is accessible from mid-December to mid-April. The view, as you unbolt the main, reindeer-skin clad doors, is purely spectacular 'a majestic, ice pillared foyer illuminated by glittering ice sculptures and stunning ice-carved chandelier. The interior, at between -5'C to -8'C, in fact feels quite pleasing, especially when exterior temperatures can drop to around -37'C! Walk past a number of ice sculptures and ingeniously lit ice art towards one of the most popular rooms - the Absolut Ice Bar. With its domed ceiling, ample number of ice block seating (covered in reindeer skins) and see-though bar, it serves a striking range of colourful vodka cocktails, naturally served in chunky ice glasses. Hot cocktails are also available! The ICEHOTEL Restaurant, situated just across the road from the main reception, offers a widespread breakfast and lunchtime buffet plus an a la carte dinner menu. It also houses a Champagne Bar. The hotel includes The Ice Sauna, Swedish Sauna Academy, Genuine, traditional sauna and tub bathing. Activities one can indulge in whilst in Icehotel include snowmobile tours, dog sledding, and Skiing and snow shoes. Sami culture, Arctic Trail snowmobile safari, driving adventures, Northern Light tours, Esrange Space Center, ice sculpting, winter conferences and events are the other highlights of the hotel. The Icehotel is inspired by every season of the river, whether it is crystal clear ice, white water shooting on a riverboat or a glorious, lately caught grayling. And this exactly what the hotel promises to offer the rest of the world; with Jukkasjarvi and Torne River as a starting point, expand and offer rich, exciting and exclusive experiences within art, nature, housing and gastronomy. That reflects all seasons of the year. You can visit the other Ice Hotels located in Romania, Finland, Norway and Canada as well which are just as beautiful. The Icehotel isn't just a hotel they build each winter, it is a transient short-lived, art project. They do not create a menu for every season; they cultivate the many flavours of Swedish Lapland.