Ice Hotels

THE PLACE | The village stands high in the Bernese Oberland, on the Stockhorn above the Simmental valley. Guests come up from Erlenbach by cable car and walk the last part in the open, and the settlement they arrive at is a cluster of domes rather than a building with a corridor. Nothing here has a lock.

THE BUILDING | Iglu-Dorf assembles the whole village out of snow at the start of the season and clears it away when winter ends, so the accommodation exists for a few months and then stops existing. The operator runs Stockhorn as a site of its own, separate from any hotel at the valley station, and reachable only by the mountain railway.

WHY IT IS LIKE THAT | Nothing permanent could stand at this height and be worth the trouble of keeping it open in summer. Building from snow lets the operator put the village where the mountain is interesting rather than where a foundation would be possible, and the site changes slightly every year.

WHAT IT ASKS OF YOU | You carry what you need up the mountain yourself and dress for a night spent at altitude. The last cable car sets the shape of an evening here, and guests are asked to arrive before it rather than to arrange a late approach on their own.

WORTH A NOTE | Bring clothing you can wear for a full evening outdoors; the village has no heated indoor room to retreat into.

THE PLACE | These igloos stand at Rovaniemi, on the line of the Arctic Circle itself, within reach of the visitor village that has grown up around it. Each unit sits apart from its neighbours in the open, so the walk between reception, dinner and bed happens outdoors in whatever the night is doing.

THE BUILDING | The accommodation is a glass-ended unit set in the snow, closed and warmed inside while the sky stays visible from the bed. The property presents itself as igloo accommodation at the Arctic Circle beside the visitor attractions of Rovaniemi, and the units are the whole of it rather than rooms cut from a larger building.

WHY IT IS LIKE THAT | Winter darkness here lasts most of the day, and the aurora appears without notice. A glass unit answers both: it lets a guest wait for the sky from a warm bed instead of standing outside, and it can be sited in open country rather than inside a town.

WHAT IT ASKS OF YOU | Outdoor clothing and a torch, and the patience to walk between the buildings rather than along a passage. Because each unit stands alone, guests are asked to sort out what they need for the night before they cross the snow to it.

WORTH A NOTE | Rovaniemi has an airport and a station, but the last stretch to the igloos is still a walk in the cold.

THE PLACE | Ranua is a small place in southern Lapland, known chiefly for its wildlife park, and the igloos stand beside a lake a short way out of it. The cabins face the water in a row, close enough that the lake is the view from every one of them and far enough apart to be private.

THE BUILDING | Each cabin is a small glazed unit raised clear of the snow, warm inside and open to the sky at one end. The property publishes itself as lakeside igloo accommodation near the wildlife park, and what a guest books is one of those cabins rather than a room inside a shared building.

WHY IT IS LIKE THAT | A lake gives an open horizon, which is what an aurora cabin needs; trees would close the sky. Putting the cabins on the shore also keeps them away from the lights of the village, and the site can be cleared and reopened as the season allows.

WHAT IT ASKS OF YOU | A short drive, since Ranua is not a place you reach without one, and the willingness to be somewhere with a wildlife park and very little else. Guests are asked to keep noise down by the water, because the cabins stand close together.

WORTH A NOTE | Supper and supplies are worth arranging before you arrive; the nearest shops are in the village rather than on the site.

THE PLACE | Saariselkä sits far north in Finnish Lapland, at the edge of the fell country, and the village of aurora cabins stands just outside it. The cabins are arranged along tracks through open snow, with the restaurant building at one end, so the settlement reads as a small hamlet rather than a hotel.

THE BUILDING | Each cabin is a heated unit with a glazed end above the bed, standing on its own in the snow. Northern Lights Village runs Saariselkä as one of its separate sites, so the name alone does not tell you which village a booking belongs to, and it is worth confirming that before travelling.

WHY IT IS LIKE THAT | This far north the winter sky is the reason people come, and the fell country around Saariselkä is dark and open. Spreading heated cabins across it, rather than stacking rooms in one block, puts every guest under the sky without anyone having to leave the warm.

WHAT IT ASKS OF YOU | Proper winter clothing, and an evening organised around the weather rather than the clock. The village asks guests to walk between the cabins and the restaurant rather than to drive, and to leave outdoor gear where the snow can come off it.

WORTH A NOTE | Saariselkä is a long transfer from Ivalo; arrange the journey in both directions before you commit to a night here.