Hotel Casino Premier — Category

Ice Hotels

One honest entry in the world's smallest hotel category.

SnowCastle of Kemi

Kemi, Finland

The SnowCastle is rebuilt from snow and ice every winter on the shore of the Bay of Bothnia in Kemi, and every year it is a different building — a new plan, new vaults, new carved rooms — because nothing from the previous season survives the spring. The accommodation is part of a larger complex that also holds a chapel, a restaurant with ice tables, and corridors of sculpture, all held at a steady temperature a few degrees below freezing.

Snow rooms are exactly what the name suggests: carved chambers with a bed platform, a sleeping bag rated for the conditions, and no plumbing, with heated facilities a short walk away in the service building. Guests are briefed before they turn in, and the practical advice is taken seriously. A separate year-round SnowExperience building next door keeps a smaller ice environment going through summer, and warm-room accommodation is available for anyone who wants the site without the cold night.

  • Bay of Bothnia
  • Rebuilt annually
  • Carved snow rooms
  • Heated facilities nearby

A note on this section: ice hotels are genuinely rare. There are only a handful of operating properties in the world, they run for a few months a year, and most of them already appear in other editions of this index. We would rather publish one entry we can stand behind than fill the page with attractions that are not hotels or with properties we have invented. The section will grow if the category does.