It feels like there is nothing impossible for a group of people who created a unique hotel made of snow and ice in a tiny village which is around 200 kilometers above the Arctic Circle. But wait a minute. Is it a fairly tale or a real castle? How it works? What is the main advantage of the place? Why should I visit it?
I think this list of questions is long enough to be answered to satisfy all of your interest. So let’s start our steps to the legend discovery!
ICEHOTEL
Some of you might argue that there is nothing special about the hotel built of ice and snow as there are several of them now. But if this comes to the first and the biggest one in the world, there is nothing to be proved. No surprise that the place couldn’t be left without an unusual story which will be definitely told.
Just imagine a cool local river Torne which flows right in the middle of the village, the cold arctic climate, The Northern Light and the Midnight Sun which will appeal you with their charm.
Every season brings a unique and various atmosphere to the place. This doesn’t mean that there is a specific season for visiting the place but rather it’s good to know what to expect of each season.
The ICEHOTEL is not only one of the upper creations of the human brain, but also a great combination of the human effort and the natural wonders.
You cannot simply call it a seasonal creation- it’s simply an art masterpiece which is being enhanced and richen every winter – creating a Swedish Lapland fairy tale.
If relying on the customer comments each of them gets so much of impressions that the sharing of them influences to the visit of their friends to this unique white snow castle.
Jukkasjärvi
Jukkasjärvi is a cute village of 400 year history, which has only 1000 inhabitants, but soon after you get introduced with some of them you simply get amazed. You’ll never guess that they have a list of very interesting stories to tell. The local miffs and the fairy tale creatures create a unique atmosphere around the place. The name of the village if translated sounds like “a gathering place”. If taking into account the fact that the villagers here are rather practical- the naming is not a coincidence. It is a gathering place where people over the country arrive to participate in annual fair.
The place is truly a culture mixture of Sami, Finnish and Swedish traditions. This adds even more exotic feeling to the place. You’ll never have a feeling that you are in Europe and not at the end of the earth. The winter is even more appealing here than the summer time. It’s the season of skiing and skating and also making fun with the snow and art combination.
The summer time here is rather quite. It’s an ideal place for those who are seeking to peace and silence, while associated with great food and the wilderness of the mighty river Torne.
History
In late 70s and the early 80s the main resource for the place was considered to be the water rafting, soon some other types of activities were added such as training over the survival of the region, fishing tips and canoeing. That’s the main reason why large groups of tourists started to make their vacations spent here. If at the beginning there were only business conferences and midnight sun viewers to visit the place, soon the picture shifted right to the opposite.
The main problem to be solved was to make something gorgeous to make the tourists to visit the place also during the winter time. This sounds to be a tough issue. And actually it was. The thing is that the neighboring countries were too popular to leave a spot for such a tiny village.
That’s how one of the local employees got the idea that they “are not using all of the ice in the Torne River”. Not long after some Japanese snow and ice masters visited the place. They organized a special seminar over the ice sculptors. The locals got really enthusiastic over the project and decided to try themselves in this field.Only a year after the first awesome building was created in the place. It was an art exhibition. The tourists flow to the place increased multiple times.
1992 was the starting point for the guest hosting. The thing is that the small village hotel didn’t have enough rooms and one of the employees suggested to host some of the guests in the exhibition room. The only thing that somehow bothered the exhibitors was the fact how the guests will handle the overnight stay in this icy room. That’s why a detailed instruction of security was told to the guests and they were given sleeping bags.
The upcoming morning was not only a surprise for the exhibitors to hear a long list of anxious comments but also for the guests – to receive a special diploma of -5C temperature survival. This was the most exciting PR action for the hotel. The tourist flows to the place never stopped until now.
Starting point
The starting point for the creation of the hotel is various year by year- the main hint is the time when the temperature goes below the zero by several degrees. That’s when the most creative artists all over the world visit the place to show their abilities.
As the local culture is unique- none of the artists uses anything else rather than the pure water-ice of the Torne River.
All of this takes a lot of effort and hard work for several days and sometimes even several weeks. The buildings turn out to be so fabulous that none of the creators thinks about the fact that it will be melted together with the spring sun rays- the impressions and the reactions of the tourist are just unforgettable together with the charming photos.
