I’m shivering on a bed of ice, nothing but the chattering of my teeth and the sound of howling huskies as company. The temperature is -4°C and the zip on my sleeping bag has jammed. I am, quite literally, freezing.
It’s not everyone’s idea of a luxury holiday, but that’s exactly what’s on offer at the Snow Hotel Kirkenes, an ice and igloo hotel near a remote Norwegian town that feels untouched by the frenzy of urban life.
I should start by saying that subzero temperatures are not my thing. But with the rise of ‘coolcations’ – the trend of traveling to destinations that offer a reprieve from stifling weather – Metro was keen to see if a night in the world’s most northerly snow hotel is worth your time and money.
It certainly won’t be the most comfortable sleep of your life, but it might well be the most memorable.
Inside the Snow Hotel Kirkenes
Some 250 miles north of the Arctic Circle, the hotel is set in dramatic surroundings beside a fjord, making it a great place to see the Northern Lights. It’s the permanent home of hundreds of huskies, whose affectionate howls greet you on arrival.
There are two ways to stay here. There are achingly cool cabins that could have been plucked straight from the set of a Scandi noir series: sheepskin rugs, sleek wooden furniture and floor-to-ceiling windows, perfect for aurora watching.
Then there is the snow hotel itself, a separate building hidden under a mound of snow.
It has 20 rooms, each separated from the corridor by a curtain — not exactly private, though I can’t imagine anyone feeling the urge to get frisky in here. All are individually themed; some have characters from Frozen, one a gigantic cat.
I had imagined the rooms to be cosy, something like an igloo, but the open corridor and curtain in lieu of a door suggests otherwise.
Ice sculptures line the hallway, and temperatures remain at a stable -4°C (you can see your breath as you fall asleep). The star of the show are the beds, giant blocks of what I can only assume is chemically treated ice, with a thin but surprisingly comfortable mattress and reindeer skin on top.
Unlike other ice hotels which are rebuilt each winter, this one stays open year-round, welcoming guests long after the fairy lights come off the Christmas tree.
There are two restaurants (one serves the best crème brûlée I’ve had in years) and a traditional Sami hut called Gabba, where you can try reindeer and warm lingonberry juice over a crackling fire.
During the day, there’s plenty to keep you occupied — activities include dog-sledding and king crab safaris. By night, it’s all about aurora hunting (you can read about that here).
What nobody tells you about staying in a snow hotel
Despite its remote location, the Snow Hotel receives a steady stream of guests. Much of that is due to Kirkenes being the final stop for Hurtigruten cruise ships sailing the Norwegian coastal route. Passengers can add a night at the hotel to their voyage, and many of the hotel guests Metro spoke to had done just that.
To prepare us for a night on the ice, we were given a late afternoon tour of the snow hotel.
It felt colder inside than it did on the fjord, and the discovery that one corridor leads directly outside – again, no door – raised the group’s collective eyebrow.
At one end of the hotel is a slightly shabby ice bar where someone had spilled a drink, leaving a crimson trail on the floor. The bar is connected to a tunnel that brings you to the main building (not made of snow). Here you’ll find bathrooms, a large luggage store and crucially, central heating.
It’s also where you get kitted out for bedtime: sleeping bags, bedsheets, balaclavas and knitted boots are provided.
Once you cross the threshold ice-side, there are no creature comforts: no wardrobe, not even a bedside table, only frozen blocks to rest your head. Moisturiser and serum are applied in the luggage room before you bid farewell to your belongings.
As we changed into nighttime gear, one person got cold feet and asked to switch to a cabin. I can’t say I wasn’t tempted to bail out, but the rest of us soldiered on.
Hauling a heavy sleeping bag down an icy hallway wasn’t the most relaxing way to unwind before bed, and shimmying into a sheet in subzero temperatures was a bit of a struggle.
But eventually I was in, every inch cocooned apart from my nose. Then I realised I’d forgotten to turn off the light.
Try as I might, sleep would not come under the clinical glare of the blue lamp.
This left me no choice but to untangle myself from my shroud and hop on stocking feet across the ice to turn it off. The boots were too cumbersome to put back on.
Shattered with teeth chattering, it took 30 minutes to get comfortable again. In the end, I nuzzled my face under the sleeping bag for warmth, and drifted off after wondering why the hell I had agreed to sleep here in the first place.
The verdict
After the light fiasco, the room was dark and quiet. Despite the flimsy curtain, I wasn’t disturbed by the snores of my fellow ice dwellers.
The bed was surprisingly comfortable, and I slept without waking — some of our group needed to use the bathroom in the middle of the night, and that dash across the glacial floor sounded less than ideal.
Would I do it again? No. Would I recommend you try it once, if you ever have the chance? Absolutely.
I’d go back to a snow hotel for the magic that comes with it: husky sledding, snowmobiling and chasing the Northern Lights. But next time around, I’ll be booking a cabin.
Alice Murphy was a guest of Hurtigruten and the Snow Hotel Kirkenes.
Ice rooms at the Snow Hotel inclusive of breakfast and dinner start from £275 per person per night; Gamme cabins start from £280 per person per night. For the month of April, all rates are 30% off.
