Trip to Jokkmokk Part 4: Ice Hotel

The front door

North Star in the wall

The Ice Hotel was close to Jokkmokk and so I thought - hey, while Im there I might as well....Although it wasn't that easy.  I wasn't sure I wanted to go.  Paulina was TOTALLY enthralled with the place and kept saying how wonderful it is and how amazing and she was really selling it.  I looked at the photos and went on line - it sounded cool.  Buuuut each Swedish person I talked to, they didn't seemed too impressed.  Additionally Tuija also wasn't as eager to go either. It was 2.5 hour drive northe from Jokkmokk.  There were opportunities to take a day trip from the market up there (700kr for the ride there and back...oh yeah 700kr = about $100).  I didn't know what the market was going to be like and I didn't want to Cram it all in to the 3 days we had and I didn't want to miss the reindeer race and I was just unsure if I wanted to do it until Thursday evening, I decided that going on Saturday would be a good idea.

Church

The flower room

To be honest, I am very glad I did something else because there really was not much to do at the market that was free or that was in English that I had not already done...except see the parade which that only lasted 20 minutes.  Paulina and Kenichi made a special last minute trip from Umea just to join in for this trip to the Ice Hotel.  As we had a car it was easy transport and less complicated that if you were to take the train, bus taxi combo just to get there.  I guess the area is also interesting to visit because of the space station thing up there and a couple of other smaller sights but I can't recall....

Beam me up

Anyway, the hotel is interesting.  You can pay >$1,000 a night to stay in the "cheaper" rooms.  You do not bring any of your personal items into the rooms they are kept in lockers in the non-melty part of the hotel.  There isn't even a bathroom.  Literally, the room is walls and a platform with reindeer skins on them for bedding.  Some of the rooms have beautiful walls (those are more expensive).  There are about 20 or so rooms that are sculpted "specially".  You can submit an entry design/concept every year - you don't even have to know how to ice sculpt!  They have people hired to bring your creation to life.  Just send in a drawing or two as entries.  You can tell some of the artists really thought about the lighting and how that would all work with and without flash photography.  My favorite for this  being the room named "Beam Me Up".

Kenichi and Paulina in Dragon room

There was only one room that was really amazing in the detail - the "Dragon Room".  The bar was funny to enter - only because of the massive amounts of tourists who were in there drinking the drinks that were associated with their favorite room.  The most popular drink being the hot lingonberry and vodka drink (150kr).  The novelty of the drink is that the glass is ice.

hot lingonberry and vodka

I left my mark

You are probably waiting for it - the BUT in the story well here it is....I would likely never return.  This place was cool, but for someone who has seen the ice sculptures in Fairbanks this place was nothing compared to those.  There is so much potential and yet there are only 20 rooms that get carved and most of them aren't that detailed.  I don't know, there was just something about it that wasn't that impressive.  The kicker to it all is that it cost $50 to get in the door.  Thus one of the major reasons I would likely not return.  I am totally amazed that Paulina and Kenichi go back almost every year.  A place with an entrance fee like that either better have multiple roller coasters, free drinks, or somebody getting naked!  I realize on a good night out on the town I may drop $50 but thats for dinner, dancing and drinks.  The other drawback is that if you ended up at the same time as a tourist bus - holy crap! you'd never get a photo of the room or even into some of the rooms.