Arctic Snow Hotel: an exciting wonder of snow world

The Arctic Snow Hotel entirely built with snow and ice opened for boarders on December 20 and will continue its operations till March 31. The glass igloos of the hotel had opened earlier, on November 20, which will also continue to take in boarders till March 31, hotel sources said.

The hotel has added four new Saunas this year to ensure a more luxuriant stay of its guests.

The Arctic Snow Hotel is one of the best tourist attractions of the City of Rovaniemi and is getting more and more popular by the day, said Kariina Kemppe, the on-duty receptionist at the hotel.

She said, “We have included four new Saunas this year. Other facilities remain as in the previous year.”

Thousands of tourists hit the place every year to experience its unique and exotic snow construction and to watch the Northern Lights, among other things, Kemppe said.

The 74-bed hospitality complex also offers 30 more beds in glass igloos.

More than 95 per cent of the guests here are foreigners and the glass igloos are most suitable for enjoying the Aurora Borealis or Northern Lights, hotel officials said.

The hotel at Sinettä, 28km from Rovaniemi, hosts a number of activities, including snow sauna and hot tub, ice fishing in the Lehtojärvi Lake, and snowshoe hiking during the tourist season.

Ville Haavikko and his wife Heidi founded the hotel in 2008 as a family business.

The heating expenses at the Arctic Snow Hotel are nearly non-existent, as the entire structure is made of snow and ice. Over 10,000 lead lamps light up the hotel. The temperature stays between 0 and -5 degrees Celsius, even if it is -30 degrees Celsius outside, as the walls, which are made of snow, insulate the temperature.

The hotel is also very ecological, as all the materials in its structure come from nature.

The building of the hotel starts in late October or early November with ice lifted from the near-by Lake Lehtojärvi.

All the snow needed for the structure (about 30,000 cubic metres) is created with snow machines.

After thousands of working hours and by using metal, plastic and wood of different shapes, a new Arctic Snow Hotel is built every year.

Every year the hotel opens in December and runs until March or April, depending on the weather condition.

It has also been adopting new concepts and products every year to offer something exceptional to its visitors and guests, with the first glass igloos being built and opened for guests in December 2014.

All the igloos are equipped with shower, toilet, and adjustable twin beds.

There is also a unique service inside the igloos – aurora alarm. You can simply turn the alarm button on and you will hear a beeping sound notifying you that there are Northern Lights dancing in the sky.

During unusually warm winters, as in 2014, the hotel has to be maintained on a daily basis to make its ice restaurant, snow saunas, and its own structure last.