Cool Love: Ice Hotel
In a super-luxury penthouse with a private butler lurking over your shoulder 24 hours a day? On some secluded island in the middle of the ocean with no phone or TV? Or in a tiny country in Europe where you will be treated like royalty? The answer is clear, so escape to uncharted northern Europe and be indulged at Norway’s Igloo Hotel.
Nestled on the shore of the Arctic Ocean in Finnmark, in the extreme northeast of Norway, is the Alta Igloo Hotel, as isolated as it is beautiful in all its winter finery of ice and snow. In the winter, Nordkapp, as it's known in Norwegian, is only accessible by organised tour since the last stretch of road has to be cleared by snowplough.
Honeymooners who come in winter can expect an experience unlike any other. Guests are transferred to the location by shuttle bus, which drives behind a snowplough as it blasts its way up the isolated road. It is a unique experience, especially guests coming from a tropical country.
Ice Palace
While many people assume the hotel is located in the town of Alta, it is actually in Sorrisniva, about 20 kilometres from the centre of Alta. To reach the hotel, overnight guests are transported by shuttle bus from the Rica Hotel Alta in Alta, leaving at 5 in the afternoon. It is highly recommended that you book in advance.
It is about a 20-minute drive along the snowy banks of the Alta River. Once you arrive, you check in at the reception of the hotel main building, just next to the Igloo Hotel. This heated service building also contains a luggage room where your bags are stored safely during your stay. Guest rooms in the Igloo Hotel contain only beds, while other facilities like toilets, changing rooms, showers and a sauna are in the toasty comfort of the service building.
Arriving at the hotel is a stunning experience, to come upon a magnificent building carved out of ice, rising up out of the snowy landscape. It is magical. Everything in the hotel is made of ice, from the lobby to your room. There are also ice sculptures everywhere, and because the whole thing melts away in the summer, each stay at the Igloo Hotel truly is a new experience.
Honeymooners are a focus of the hotel, and it provides an ice chapel for a totally unique wedding. From the end of January until the end of March, the hotel offers a one-of-a-kind setting for celebrating your one-of-a-kind love. The ice chapel is consecrated by the bishop of Nord-Halogaland, and the local parish priest conducts ceremonies and services, so you will be legally married, if a little cold.
Northern Lights and the Blue Season
From November to January, the sun never rises above the horizon in Finnmark. However, even during this dark season, there are a couple of hours of twilight, which can be incredibly beautiful. Norwegians call it the blue light.
During the autumn and winter, when the skies are clear, you can experience the fantastic Aurora Borealis, the Northern Lights, which dance across the skies in hues of green, pink and purple.
The Northern Lights have long had mystical connections, particularly in days of old when no one knew what they were. Some believed the Northern Lights to be a warning of punishment or an admonition to be law-abiding citizens. Others believed the Northern Lights were a warning of war or the plague. The Sami people believed the Northern Lights were the souls of those who had passed on, waving down to earth, while others believed them to be unmarried women dancing in the skies. However, there is another legend about the Northern Lights. It was said that when a couple became intimate when the Aurora Borealis appeared in the skies, they would not only have great children, but their love would last forever!
Icy Excitement
Even though you are staying in the middle of nowhere, you don’t have to worry about getting bored at the Igloo Hotel. There are plenty of activities worth trying, especially for guests from the tropics.
What could be more thrilling than staying in a lavvo, a kind of traditional tent, in the middle of the Finnmark Plateau, watching the Northern Lights up close and enjoying fresh fish caught under the icy lake just a few hours earlier? Well, not much, if you ask me. And it is difficult to pass up the chance to camp out in five-star comfort in the middle of the icy hemisphere.
If heading out into the wilderness is too much for you, you could try the Snowmobile Safari. The weather on the Finnmarksvidda mountain plateau varies from a few degrees above zero to really cold. The hotel cannot promise windless days and clear skies, but whatever the weather, the scenery up on the plateau is magnificent.
A fun activity for a couple is Dog Sledding. There is a dog sledding farm located on a small piece of land in the middle of the frozen Alta River, and guests are welcome to meet the dogs, cuddle with puppies, learn how to put on all the gear and eventually drive their own dog sled.
And don’t worry, you won’t be eating ice cubes during your stay. The restaurant Laksestua is located inside the heated service building next to the ice hotel and provides a pleasant setting for wedding parties or quiet time for two. If you want an even more intimate atmosphere, you can try the hotel’s smaller restaurant, Gabo. The final touch to your special day is of course the wedding night inside the Igloo Hotel. The happy couple will spend the night in the bridal suite. In the morning, the sauna will already be heated and a breakfast buffet will await.
Love Beneath the Northern Lights
Igloo Details
Sleep well
Beds consist of reindeer fur and warm sleeping bags to keep guests comfortable in the hotel’s constant inside temperatures of between minus four and minus seven degrees Celsius.
The bathrooms
No icy toilet seats here. A large wooden building next to the hotel houses the bathrooms. They are warm and link through to the sauna. Take a stint there before running outside across the icy decking and into the bubbling hot tub.
Food and drink
Laksestua restaurant, constructed from wood in the shape of a tepee, stands next to the igloo and serves breakfasts of porridge, eggs, cheese and ham, and dinners of reindeer stew and fish dishes. The hotel bar serves one drink only, bright blue vodka served in ice glasses.
Always Different
The Igloo Hotel in Alta has a new theme every year. In 2004, it was a Viking theme, in 2005, Norwegian fairy tales, and in 2006, the theme was wild animals of the region.
Operational Period
The Igloo Hotel opens its doors in January each year and melts away again in the spring.
Keeping Warm
Wearing woollen underwear and a hat during the night is recommended.
Cool Stuff
The Igloo Hotel is the only one of its kind and was built for the 13th time in 2012.
Blue Seasons
The best period for observing the Northern Lights is from October to April.
.