What you see at the Icehotel in summer and in winter

One hotel, two buildings

The Icehotel in Jukkasjärvi has two parts that visitors often mix up. ICEHOTEL 365 is a permanent building kept cold all year, while the winter Icehotel is built new each season and melts away in spring.

Which of them you see depends only on the calendar. Between about December and mid-April a visit covers both, and for the rest of the year you get the permanent building alone.

The story goes back to 1989, when the first ice building went up in the village. What started as a single structure of ice grew into a hotel that rebuilds itself every winter, with the year-round wing added much later.

ICEHOTEL 365, open all year

ICEHOTEL 365 opened in 2016 as the part of the hotel that does not melt. Cooling keeps its rooms below freezing through the summer, and according to the hotel that cooling is partly powered by the sun.

The ICEHOTEL Entrance Ticket at ~$33 lists these parts of the permanent building.

• Art suites, each one designed by an artist
• Deluxe suites
• The Icebar
• A room that explains how the hotel began and how it is built

Because 365 does not melt, a summer visitor still walks through carved rooms. The ticket is valid for one day and comes without a guide, so you set your own pace.

The Icebar sits inside the permanent building, so a drink in the cold is possible in any month. If you come without a guide, start in the experience room, which explains how the hotel is made before you see the suites.

The winter Icehotel, rebuilt from the river

The winter building is made from snow and from ice of the Torne River, which flows past the village. The ice is usually harvested from the river in late winter and kept in cold storage until building starts again.

Artists from around the world design its suites, so no two winters look alike. A room you saw in someone's photos from an earlier year will not be there when you arrive, which gives repeat visitors something new.

The ticket listing gives the winter season as December to mid-April. In spring the building softens and melts, and its water runs back into the river it was cut from.

That cycle is the whole idea behind the winter hotel. Each spring the art returns to the river, and each winter a new set of rooms rises in its place from the same water.

A summer visit, 365 only

From late spring to autumn only the permanent building is open. You still see carved art suites and the Icebar under one roof, though the winter halls are not rebuilt until the next season.

Summer has its own draw. Kiruna lies well north of the Arctic Circle, and the midnight sun lasts roughly from late May to mid-July, so the light outside holds while you are in the cold rooms.

The guided tours we compare describe a snowy day with warm clothing on the list. Ask the operator whether a tour runs in summer before you plan around it, or go with the ticket and a taxi.

Summer visitors skip the hard cold outdoors, but not the cold inside. The rooms of 365 stay below freezing in July too, so carry a warm layer and a hat even on a mild day.

Getting to Jukkasjärvi in either season

Jukkasjärvi lies about 17 km (11 miles) east of Kiruna, roughly 20 minutes by van. In winter the guided tours handle the drive, while the ticket leaves the trip to you in any month.

A taxi or your own car covers the distance, and a regional bus runs between Kiruna and the village, with times from Länstrafiken Norrbotten. Our guide to the four ways there compares them.

A winter tour that adds the reindeer stop and the old church fills half a day. Summer visits run shorter, since only one building is open and a morning in Jukkasjärvi covers it.

A winter visit, both buildings

From about December to mid-April a visit covers both buildings, and the guided tours are built around these months. The 3-hour Sámi-guided tour at ~$182 gives about 70 minutes inside, and the 4-hour Lights of Vikings day about 1.5 hours.

That is enough to walk through both parts at an easy pace, though not to linger in every suite. The ticket alone runs to no clock but the opening hours. Our tour-versus-ticket comparison sets out the difference.

Winter brings cold outdoors as well as inside. The ice rooms stay below freezing in every month, and our clothing guide covers layers for both the walk in and the rooms themselves.

Which season suits you

• Winter, for both buildings plus a guided tour with reindeer, as in our reindeer stop guide
• Summer, for 365 alone under the midnight sun, with no snow on the roads
• Late winter, when the building is complete and the days are longer, as our timing guide explains
• Any month on a tight budget, since the ticket costs far less than a tour

Sleeping in the ice is a separate choice from visiting it. Our guide to a night in the Icehotel covers whether one cold night beats a daytime visit.