Ice hotel
Ice hotels are promoted for adventurous travelers who are interested in novelties and unusual environments and are comfortable with the outdoors.
[3] Lobbies are often filled with ice sculptures, and food and drinks are specially chosen for the circumstances.
Construction typically begins between November and March when snow can be compacted and thick levels of ice form.
[2] The walls, fixtures, and fittings are made entirely of ice or compacted snow, and are held together using a substance known as snice, which takes the place of mortar in a traditional brick-built hotel.
85 rooms are furnished with ice beds covered with deer furs and mattresses and equipped with arctic sleeping bags.
"[8] Beds are constructed of ice, which are topped with "a wooden boxspring and mattress",[3] and mummy-style sleeping bags are provided.
[3] The hotel offers paid tours, the participants of which are allowed to use the ice bar until midnight.
[9] The hotel is equipped with fire alarms that are built into snow walls, as required by the city of Montreal.
[10] The style of the facility, including the theme, shape, size and decorations, changes annually.
[10] The Lainio Snow Village is located 150 km north of the Arctic Circle in Lapland.
[11] The Alpha Resort Tomamu in the Shimukappu village of Hokkaido Island in Japan builds and opens an ice hotel every year.
A night in the snow hotel is combined with a special dinner prepared on an open fire.
[19] It is Europe’s northernmost ice hotel, as it is in the Finnmark region and is approximately 250 kilometres (160 mi) from the North Cape.
[22] Local artists imitate sculptures by Romanian modernist sculptor, Constantin Brâncuși.
Typically the hotel is completed in December and is open until it melts in late March or April.
The Bâlea Lake Ice Hotel is Romanian owned, but has a relationship with a travel company Untravelled Paths Limited, based in the United Kingdom.
[1] In addition to the entrance hall, the hotel has a chapel[1] and an ice bar named Absolut Icebar.
In spring 1990, French artist Jannot Derid held an exhibition in a cylinder-shaped igloo in the area.
In 2013 there were more than 200 applications submitted from a wide range of artists to design and build an Art Suite.
IGLOOTEL consists of different IGLOOs, for example Sleeping-IGLOOs, Event-IGLOOs, an Ice-Bar and an Aurora Spa Area with a wood fired Outdoor Sauna and Hot Tubs.
[27] Engravings in the snow and ice walls, illuminations and other art varies and creates a new, individual theme each year.
Natural materials, for example local woods and reindeer skins are used to establish a comfortable atmosphere.
The beds in IGLOOTEL Lapland are built on wooden platforms with mattresses and reindeer skins.
