Arctic Snow Hotel

Have you ever heard of the Danish author Hans Christian Andersen? If you have, you most likely know his most famous tale called "the snow queen". The story tells us about two children, one of which became frozen by the Snow Queen. Well, this entry is not about the fairy tale itself but about the places of this fairytale. If you want to feel yourself a part of the miracle, come to Rovaniemi (Finland) and visit the Acrtic Hotel!

Your journey will start from the center of Rovaniemi because this is usually the place where Arctic Snow Hotel picks up their guests. Take into consideration that picking up is possible only when you overnight in the Hotel and not only visiting it. Anyway, the Hotel is located 20 minutes from the center of Rovaniemi, in the forest.

You will first see the private igloos. This is one of the places you can reserve in order to see the beauty of Aurora Borealis. Igloos are quite small, for just a few people, however, they have all the proper facilities. Igloos are not the most famous and most interesting parts of the journey.

Straight behind the igloos you will see the big beautiful palace made of ice. This is the famous Ice Hotel with ice restaurant inside. Behind the hotel, there is a normal building with the reception. You need to pay first for the visit and then enter the palace. I personally strongly suggest to pay more and have a diner in the ice restaurant, it will b worth the money and the experience.

When you enter the palace, you will be amazed by the beautiful ice creatures, carvings and sculptures inside. You will also find out that the palace inside is much bigger than it looks outside. An interesting fact is that this Ice Hotel melts every spring and then is built again every year from the very beginning. The owner didn't want to start this business and studied completely different discipline. According to his stories, he was lacking the credits for elective studies so he decided to take some additional from the engineers faculty. The course he chose was ice crafting. The man became so interested in ice business and engineering that he decided to open his own ice hotel. This business is already around 10 years and has captured some attention from various international newspapers and magazines. He also won several competitions for the most interesting and unusual place in Finland.

Anyway, what you can see in the Ice Hotel is loads of different tonnels and corridors with rooms. Rooms vary from the simple to the suits and everything there is made of ice. There are no doors so each room is covered with a piece of fabric. There are also no toilets or bathrooms there, they are located in the warm places in the normal building. Rooms have only beds with reindeer skin on it and sometimes some decorations like lamps, ice hills for children and bedside tables. If you want to overnight in this place, you will be given warm clothes, however, it is still quite cold to sleep. Usually people overnight for just one night just to experience the atmosphere of the ice palace.

If you go a bit further, deeper in the palace, you will find the ice restaurant which is so famous that you need to book the table in advance. The menu for the day is always fixed in advance so it is not possible to order something different. The menu usually consists of a starter, soup, main dish, a dessert and a drink. The tables and chairs are also made of ice.

It is possible to order some strong alcohol drinks from the ice bar which is located not far from the restaurant. Shots are served in ice as well.

Ice Hotel and Ice Restaurant is a famous place for different events, like birthday parties, corporate parties and, of course, weddings. Here you can find even the small chappel with nice carvings. After the party people enjoy relaxing in the snow sauna which is surprisingly very hot. Ice sauna is an innovation of the year 2014 and has already brough many tourists to the place.

It is worth mentioning that the prices are considered as high so make sure to save enough money for this experience.