Being somewhere extremely cold such as Lapland, you think you’d be crazy for wanting to stay in the cold. However figuring it was a once in a lifetime sort of experience, we thought we’d try staying in one of those ice hotels. I’m sure that most people have heard of Sweden’s famous Snow Hotel and being even further north, Finland has its fair share of places like this. So we decided to stay a night at the Snow Village found in Lainio.

The main part of the Snow Village is made out of snow compacted together to form an entire building which changes design every single year. Despite the extreme temperatures outside (-20 degrees Celcius), the insides of the Snow Village maintain a comparably warm 0 degrees Celcius, just perfect for the ice beds that you sleep in. This year’s theme was focused on different elements and colours, with four different corridors representing different themes. Here’s some of the examples:

This corridor was based on a Fire-theme, hence the bright red colours:

This one was based on Water, thus the blue:

And then Forest clearly green:

And finally an Air-theme completely white:

Despite all the layers of clothing, when it’s -20 degrees Celcius outside, the insides feel strangely warm as a result. Fortunately the different corridors are built as one big structure so the temperature inside stays relatively constant. It’s a different story on the outside where you are exposed to all the elements such as snow and wind. It still looks pretty spectacular from the outside.

Just like any ice hotel should have, there’s an ice bar where you can sit on blocks of ice and even a dance floor completely made out of ice. During the early parts of the evening it doubles as an ice restaurant where you can eat your food whilst enjoying the ice atmosphere. Don’t worry if you don’t want to eat in the cold because they also have a proper building with plenty of heating to keep you warm if you find it far too cold.

Part of the experience of the ice hotel is really staying over in one of the many rooms dotted along the different corridors. They offer two types rooms, the deluxe suites which are all custom made and unique with different characteristics and varying structures, and the more ordinary ice rooms. Since you actually get to see all the suites we stayed in one of the normal rooms with ice beds that look like this:

There’s a mattress to protect you from the icy bed, although you are also given a sleeping bag and thermal fleece to take into the room when you are ready to rest your weary head. The suites are pretty spectacular and the following knight and castle-themed room was definitely my favourite.

I can definitely recommend the experience, even if you do it for just one night.