LIST: IGLOOS & ICE-HOTELS

Alta Igloo Hotel	Definitely one of the most elaborate ice hotels, the Alta is located high up in the Arctic Circle in Northern Norway. It has twenty bedrooms, lounge areas, a bar and a chapel.
Aurora Ice Museum	The world's only 'year-round' ice hotel, located in Chena Hot Spring, Fairbanks, Alaska. It was originally called the Aurora Ice Hotel when it first tried to open in Dec 03 with six bedrooms, a bar, and a wedding gazebo, but the local fire authority ruled that it didn't meet hotel fire regs causing much hilarity in the local press. The deadlock-breaking compromise was a fire extinguisher and smoke detector in each room. Since then, to avoid onerous the fire regs it has been called a 'museum' not a 'hotel', although it is still possible to stay there. The 134 foot long by 42 foot wide building has four ice galleries with elaborate ice sculptures, ice beds and the obligatory Ice Bar. It came to a sticky end in summer 2004 when hot weather overpowered the refrigeration units and styrofoam panels that were supposed to keep it intact, but since then they seem to have sorted out the refridgeration problems.
Hotel Arctic	Stay in one of five luxury (heated) aluminium igloos overlooking the sea in a remote part of Greenland 250 km north of the Arctic Circle. You want me to be more specific? OK, you'll find Hotel Arctic at 69º 14' 40" North, 051º 03' 44" West. You simply don't get much more 'away from it all' than here!
Hotel Igloo Village	Ice igloo hotel built each year in December next to the airport hotel in Kangerlussuaq, Greenland. It comprises a large central igloo with ice tunnels leading to individual igloos for sleeping.
Ice Hotel	Located in Jukkasjärvi, Swedish Lapland, this is the original 'Ice Hotel' and the one that most people refer to when talking about ice hotels. It features in all the winter activity brochures to Lapland. It is re-built each year (09/10 is its 20th re-incarnation) and is getting bigger and more glamorous all the time. It started at 60 sq m, it now covers 5500 sq m. Highlights are the famous Absolut Ice Bar, an exhibition hall and a wedding chapel.
Ice Hotel - Quebec	AKA 'Hotel du Glace', Canada's version of the Swedish Ice Hotel (above) now (2009) in its 9th season. It has over thirty bedrooms (19 rooms & 13 suites), an Absolut Ice Bar, a wedding chapel, cinema, and exhibition hall/lobby area. Its 19 rooms and 13 suites are entirely constructed from ice each December to be ready for a January opening. But the season is a short one. It is closed again in April.
Igloo Village Krvavec	A 'hotel' with multiple bedrooms, dining room & bar, constructed each year near the lifts at Slovenia's Krvacec ski resort.
Iglu Dorf	German company (with English speakers) who from 1996 have been building igloo villages (dorfs) for skiers in the Swiss resorts of Scuol and Zermatt (and the Iglu Bar in Davos). Now they've expanded and there are also dorfs in Engelberg & Gstaad and the German resort of Zugspitze (Garmisch-Partenkirchen).
Igloo Village, Kakslauttanen	Twenty igloos, an Ice Bar, an Ice Chapel and a gallery. There's also a heated glass igloo where you can lie awake watching the northern lights. The Finnish tour operator Wild & Free organises trips there.
Kanata Igloo Village	In the French Alpine resort of Orcieres 1850, on the edge of the national park of Les Ecrins, the igloo village of Kanata is accessible from the ski lift of Rocherousse. It is mostly a place to visit, holding exhibitions and where you can learn how to build your own igloo and learn about the mountains. For the adventurous, it is possible to spend the night including a 'full moon' evening with aperitif, meal in a mountain refuge, a night in an igloo with breakfast at the refuge and return to the resort for 54€. Special equipment is provided.
Kemi Snowcastle	The fortress walls of the SnowCastle of Kemi on the northern coast of the Gulf of Bothnia (Finnish Lapland) enclose an exhibition area, the Mammut Snow Hotel with 15 stylish rooms, a restaurant (seats are covered with reindeer fur) and a chapel. The Finnish tour operator Wild & Free organises trips there.
Lainio Snow Village	Lainio Snow Village in Finnish Lapland near Levi, has an ice bar, a maze and a snow hotel with seven igloo shaped rooms. It has been operating since 2000. The Finnish tour operator Wild & Free organises trips there.
Village Igloo	Overnight experience in an igloo just outside Quebec City, Canada. The igloo is comfortable but basic, but there's a heated lodge on site with a restaurant, showers and toilets!

Notes

• Independent travel agency, Robert Broad Travel, is now specialising in icehotel holidays in Canada and Sweden under the brand, Icehotels.co.uk (0845 003 22 11).
• Unusual Hotels of the World is a collection of 120 bizarre and unusual places to stay around the world including igloos and ice hotels, but also treehouses, underwater lodges, & caves, which you can book online.
• In 2006 a new 8-room ice hotel was built beside Balea Lac in Romania's Carpathian mountains. Sadly no website.
• The Ice Palace Hotel - "first ice hotel on Canada's West Coast" - failed to open as planned in December 2005 at Sun Peaks Resort in British Columbia. The developers were looking for another site for the 06/07 season.