Kiruna
Oct 15th, 2002, 05:51 AM
#3
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My husband and I stayed in Kiruna for one night last January before spending a night at the Ice Hotel. <BR><BR>If we went again, we would try to book the Ice Hotel for 2 nights, with one night in the Ice Hotel cabins, one night in the ICe Hotel itself. I can't recommend the Ice Hotel highly enough - it was wonderful and a great adventure. We couldn't get 2 nights - it books up very fast - so we decided to stay one night in Kiruna, then one night at the Ice Hotel.<BR><BR>Kiruna is a small town and we found it quite bleak. The streets were really icy and steep. It was warmer than we expected - about -2C, but the week before it'd been -20C! It was dark most of the time, and hard to find anywhere with food, but it didn't matter too much because we were jetlagged and tired anyway. There didn't seem to be much to do. We stayed in a simple but very clean hotel recommended by the Ice Hotel. If you are interested, I can try to find the name of it. We flew from Stockholm to Kiruna, then caught a taxi up to Jukkasjarvi the next day - I think it's about 20 minutes from Kiruna.<BR><BR>If you want to know more about the Ice Hotel let me know, but that's a longer post!<BR><BR>Cushla.
Oct 16th, 2002, 11:33 AM
#5
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[Part 1]<BR>Wow – getting married in the Ice Chapel sounds amazing! I think you’ll have a great time. There was a wedding the day we stayed, and the bridal party were in the bar in the evening and were having a great time. We saw the chapel, and it was beautiful.<BR><BR>We crammed a lot of activities in to our stay (January 2002). We arrived from Kiruna at about 3 pm. As soon as you check in (in a nice warm normal building very near the Ice Hotel) you are given all the special clothes to wear for the activities and for hanging out at the Ice Hotel – fur hat, snow suit, boots, gloves etc. Then we were off in a group of dogsleds – 4 people on each one, with a driver for each team. The dogs really moved quite fast. We sledded over the frozen lake behind the Ice Hotel and into a forest, where we stopped for coffee and cookies in a tent (with a fire). We were lucky with the temperature – it was about –2 C – but even so, the wind was cold. With all the snow there was a beautiful glow even though it was nearly dark.<BR><BR>After the dog sledding we came back and were given the group tour of the ice hotel. Most people there seemed to be from the UK (we’re New Zealanders). The tour felt a bit like being at an expensive school camp – they are quite particular about what you do and don’t do. The rooms and suites in the Ice Hotel are open for anyone to look around during the day (the suites are really beautiful and are full of ice sculptures). That means that rooms must be vacated by (I think) 8.30 am. Maybe if you’re on your honeymoon you sleep in the warm cabins and don’t get woken up? It’s best not to take your suitcases into your room, because your clothes will freeze. <BR>
Oct 16th, 2002, 11:35 AM
#6
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[Part 2]<BR>After the guided tour we went snowmobiling. This too was great fun, but was a big contrast with the dogsledding – suddenly the air was full of snowmobile fumes. We had dinner in the middle of a forest, cooked by the guides, and snowmobiled back to the Ice Hotel feeling a bit chilly. A few vodka drinks at the Ice Bar warmed us up nicely, and we ended up staying at the bar till it shut at 1 am! The bar is the only part of the ice hotel with metal support in it to keep the dome in one piece. All the alcoholic drinks have Absolut vodka in them, and the glasses were made of ice. We loved it.<BR><BR>Finally we picked up our sleeping bag and headed for our suite. I can’t tell a lie – neither of us slept very well, and I don’t think it was related to the vodka! The sleeping bags are great, but somehow air still seemed to get in, and it was cold air…One of the funniest moments was trying to find the light switch – the rooms do have electric light. It was buried in a wall somewhere and took a while to find it. The beds aren’t made of ice, but everything else in the room is – the floor’s covered in snow. Before someone out there asks, there are real bathrooms in the hotel. You go through a doorway and find yourself in an ordinary bathroom with electricity and warm water (I briefly considered spending the night in there.) Eventually we slept, but only till 7.30 when Marina (the tour guide) appeared with hot lingonberry juice for us and explained where the showers were. The day before, she’d raved about how great it was to go ice swimming, and in a moment of holiday-induced craziness I’d agreed with Tim to do it. We realized when we saw the look of admiration on the guide’s face that we were about to do something unusual…and later found out that she hadn’t worked up the nerve to try it herself!<BR><BR>We got up, put our snowsuits back on and bathing suits and headed out round the back of the ice hotel to a little hut that contained a sauna and a naked guy who was in charge of the ice swimming. We could see a hole cut in the ice, about 12 feet by 6 feet, but couldn’t see any other lunatics. Next to the hole in the ice was a spa pool. The idea is that you get really really hot in the sauna, then run out, jump in the hole in the ice, scream loudly and get out as fast as you can, then jump into the spa pool (only about 22 C but felt great). Still can’t believe I did it. It was freezing!! All this is done naked (I suppose there’s no reason not to wear a bathing suit, but nobody we saw was dressed). For your efforts you receive a certificate when you check out! The guy who runs it is apparently Sweden’s ice swimming champion, and can stay in for 14 minutes. <BR><BR>By then we’d worked up an appetite for breakfast, which thankfully was at a warm, nice, normal restaurant across from the Ice Hotel. By mid-morning we were on the bus to Kiruna airport and back to Stockholm for a few days in a warm hotel. It’s the most amazing holiday we’ve had and I’m sure you’ll have a great time too. If you have any questions, feel free to email me at [email protected].<BR><BR>
