Ice Hotel - Sweden

Jaime-V

Anyone been?

Thinking of going for 3/4 nights Jan/Feb 2009 myself and H.

I know its expensive so any tips or where to book would be appreciated.

Any advice?
TIA:beer:

ickster

Don't have any tips but a friend of mine went there for her 40th. Said it was great but, as you say, expensive. A real talking point!

Jaime-V

Thanks! hopefully someone on here will have been.

:beer:

0james0

I'm looking to go myself with the mrs, probably end of feb or march so thought best to bump this thread.

Flights are not a prob (£50 return each on the flight checker!) Looks like an amazing, but slightly expensive experience.

Checked direct and came to about £1200 for both for 3 nights, in one of the better rooms.

Has anyone been/ know of good place to book?

discoinferno_99

Where are you finding £50 fares to Kiruna? (The nearest airport to the Ice Hotel) Anything below £300 return is pretty cheap to there from the UK.

I stayed at the Ice Hotel a few years ago and it is well worth the trip, but as already mentioned it is very pricey.

A few tips:
- Only do 1 or at most, 2 nights in the Ice Hotel itself. Spend the rest of your stay either at the hotel across the road, or in one of the wooden cabin lodges.
- The Absolut ice bar is a must. Yes a drink costs a few bob, but it is all part of the experience. Quaffing a hot or cold drink out of an ice glass is great
- It is a great chance to see the northern lights. Doing an evening husky tour under the clear night sky means you may well see them
- Make sure you stay at the Ice Hotel complex for 3 long days, or ideally 3 nights if possible to really take it all in and enjoy some of the experiences
- And finally, if you do get caught short in the night it will be a cold trip to the loo. However the loos are at least heated!

Tricia_^^

I agree discoinferno - I think Ojames maybe needs to go back and recheck the flights, maybe 1/2 months ago you may have got a very cheap flight with Sterling - Gatw - Arlanda - but they are no more!

Everything in Sweden indeed Scandinavia is VERY expensive - I know first hand. But it is a beautiful country in winter and in summer !

0james0

discoinferno_99 wrote: »

Where are you finding £50 fares to Kiruna? (The nearest airport to the Ice Hotel) Anything below £300 return is pretty cheap to there from the UK.

You right about that! Just realised I was looking at flights to stockholm and that was it, under estimated the size of Sweden!

Think could prob do it for £250 each but gonna need some major shopping around.

Cheers for the top advice, exactly what I was after. Doesn't seem too expensive cuz we'll be busy doing stuff during the day, huskys etc. Only going for 3/4 days so wouldn't be too bad.

pboae

We went a few years back, we only did one night in the Ice Hotel and stayed in Kiruna for the others. I'd rather have stayed longer at the Ice Hotel but we were one a really tight budget and couldn't afford it. One night in the Ice Hotel proper is definitely enough though, but the warm accomodation they have is lovely.

We flew in to Stockholm with Ryanair and then up to Kiruna with SAS. SAS do good flight deals that they call tourist prices, but you need to spend some time messing about with their online price checker to find them, they all have different conditions. The ones we went for meant we had to stay 3 nights, including a Saturday, but there were other variations.

We went husky sledding, but I liked the kick sleds best, and there was charge for them. My OH and one of our friends went ice swimming, but I'd cut my hand up just before we went away, so I was all bandaged up and couldn't do it. Basically there is a crazy guy who builds a wood fired sauna and hot tub on the lake, and cuts a hole through the ice. You go in the sauna, then run out dive into into the hole into the water, and climb out and get into the hot tub. Oh, and you do it all naked as well. They had a fantastic time and although I don't know if I'd have the nerve even if I could've done it, I regret missing out on it now.

We went mid March and there were spectacular Northern Lights every night.

One thing to watch out for, make sure you book a table at one of the restaurants. They get full, we ended up eating at gone 10pm because we hadn't booked and couldn't get a table, one of the restaurants took pity on us in the end and let us in even though they were closing.

0james0

That seems to be the way forward, mix and match flights to get to Stockholm and then a seperate booking up to the Ice hotel.

I considered using an agent to arrange us a whole package but I know my lazyness would probably prove costly, so much once in a lifetime stuff to do -cant wait! I've not come across one person who has given it negative feedback, even about the cold!